Every Thursday in the run up to Christmas last year, starting on 27 November and finishing on 18 December, Boston was hit by a massive wave of temporary artistic interventions under a project called Light Waves. Light Waves was a programme of exciting digital light commissions especially for Boston, complementing the traditional Christmas association with light. In partnership with Pescod Square and St Botolph’s, Transported invested £20,000 in commissioning artists Chris Squire (of Impossible) and William Lindley to create several new artworks in Boston in November and December.

William’s work was based within the gorgeous setting of St. Botolph’s Church and took the form of awe-inspiring light projections onto the church’s architecture. All the images were based on drawings that William had created as a result of multiple visits to the church, including architectural features, old plans of the original vaulted ceiling and even a sketch of a window that had originally been at St. Botolph’s and now is housed at Trinity Church in Boston, Massachusetts. The installation at St. Botolph’s went out with a bang on the 18 December, when, with the help of Andy Johnson-Smith of Popcorn Media, William added some additional projections onto the exterior of the church, which illuminated the church for miles around.

Each week Chris Squire brought something different for people to enjoy while shopping in Pescod Square. Installations included Lightweight, Codex, Silver Screen and Rogues Gallery. All of these works had interactive elements; for example Codex consisted of a giant book that told the history of Boston, but also allowed viewers to ask a question via Twitter, which the book would then attempt to answer.

See more amazing images at our Light Waves gallery.

This was, we hope, the first year of many Light Waves in Boston. During this initial year we learned a lot, especially about the best times for these scheduled events to happen during the Christmas season. For instance the first night that we began coincided with Boston’s Christmas Light Switch On, which brought thousands of people into the town centre, who consequently experienced Light Waves. The remaining late night shopping Thursdays however, were much less populated. While this provided greater opportunity for a more contemplative and individualised experience of the installations, ideally we’d like even more people to have the opportunity to enjoy our investment in the arts for Boston.

Conversations about Light Waves 2015 are already happening, so if you’d like to get involved, then please contact me on TransportedElizabeth@litc.org.uk or 07747 271825!