The city of Nimes puts on a light show at its main monuments that is a stunning display of video artistry. For a full week spanning Christmas, the light shows run continuously for three hours, starting right after dusk. The one on the clock tower was around the corner from our apartment. Every night the crowds got larger, as people stood, jaws dropped open, as it appear a young man in jeans and a red sweater was sauntering around the tower’s edge, 60 feet above the ground.
Because the images were full of movement, I had a hard time catching them, but did manage to get enough good ones to give you an idea of what Nimes put together. Considering that Nimes is just a small town, we were impressed to the tips of our cold noses that they invested (or squandered?) so much public money on these projects. We made sure to enjoy every bit of them.
First, here’s the clock tower as it looks when unadorned:
Now here’s the clock tower under the influence of the multi-camera moving video:
After watching the clock tower display families wandered the five minute walk to the arena, where they saw a continually moving, shifting version of the stills below. if you think about how irregular and crumbly a 2,000 year old arena is, it’ll give you an idea of what a feat of creation this video is, where every colorful projection matches the arches, stones and columns of the arena perfectly.
