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2020 Visions
​Nich Smith Lighting Design

2020 Visions asked what the future of our neighbourhoods could be and presented it as a series of scenes in nine sites around the Tron Theatre, Glasgow. 

Street level windows were taken over with installations inspired by the stories and ideas of local people, who contributed to the project online and through social media by sharing their hopes and dreams for the future.

Part promenade, part treasure hunt, part collective dream, 2020 Visions empowered us all to reflect and imagine a brighter future during the darkest week of the winter.

2020 Visions is a concept where anything is possible. 

The creative team transformed ideas submitted by the public into temporary reality, working with local businesses and community interest companies to renovate the streetscape.

A core feature of 2020 Visions is collaboration with emerging artists from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds. 

Visual artists Sekai Machache, Samuel Temple, and Saoirse Anis joined with the 2020 Visions team of theatre technicians, lighting designers, and set designers in a creative mash-up which produced curious and playful artworks in response to the question ‘What does our future hold?’. 

Visions have been reflective, resonant, thought provoking, and fun.

Three dimensional, staged artworks allowed shops to become temporary bedrooms and living rooms, investigating the repurposing of our high streets as housing. 

A “Reparations Spa” appeared in a district developed by tobacco merchants. The revival of our high streets could be explored experimentally in and by the communities they exist within, at full scale and in real time.

The mechanism of providing free access to designers, technicians, and equipment to the local public is an innovation which empowers true community led design. 

Life size projected interiors allow experimentation with different types of use, from the ‘real; such as a restaurant interior, to the unreal such as a space station. 

Projections are easily changed, presenting hundreds of ideas each evening and in response to suggestions by the audience.

Lighting installations added drama and spectacular vibrancy to the streetscape, further broadening the footprint of 2020 Visions and transforming the neighbourhood in to a dynamic and attractive environment.

As the days got shorter and night came earlier, 2020 Visions populated empty spaces with light and re-animated the Trongate neighbourhood with hope.

The judges applauded what they termed a playful and imaginative concept with a lot of social value.