Green Space Dark Skies finale peaks at the majestic Slieve Donard

Surrounded by the beautiful Mourne Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), participants aka Lumenators gathered on Saturday 24 September 2022 to take a final creative adventure into the mountain landscape of Slieve Donard, looked after by National Trust, for Green Space Dark Skies, produced by outdoor art experts Walk the Plank as part of UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK.

Green Space Dark Skies has enabled people from all walks of life, across the UK, to forge new connections with the countryside by supporting those who experience cultural and physical barriers to access to join in.  From April to September, hundreds of people from across Northern Ireland became Lumenators at secret locations.  Carrying specially designed low impact Geolights they created patterns in the landscape which were recorded on film and photography.  These gatherings celebrated the countryside, people’s right to explore it as well as encouraging our responsibility to take care of it for future generations.

Slieve Donard was the fourth and final chapter of the Green Space Dark Skies finale which included the UK’s highest mountains Scafell Pike, Ben Nevis and Yr Wyddfa/Snowdon.  It also marked the close of the Green Space Dark Skies experience in Northern Ireland which featured Giant’s Ring (April), Gortin Lakes (June) and Giant’s Causeway (July).

Led by Mark Murphy, Green Space Dark Skies finale writer and Director, and supported by a team of mountaineers and performance captains, Lumenators carried specially designed high-tech, low impact Geolights, developed with graduate engineers from Siemens.  They walked to The Saddle of Slieve Donard, where the path meets the Mourne Wall. The Mourne Wall, managed by NI Water, is celebrating its centenary this year. Here Lumenators created a series of patterns – phases of the moon, a footprint and an outline of the four mountain peaks featured in the finale – in the landscape at dusk.  

Groups and individuals from across Northern Ireland participated in this physical challenge including Kingdom Youth Club Kilkeel, Saintfield Women’s Institute and Wee Binians walking group as well as teams from some of the event partners – NI Water and National Trust NI. Both partners provided information stands at the Basecamp reminding Lumenators of the importance of protecting this beautiful landscape. NI Water also provided special 100 year Mourne Wall reusable water bottles and anniversary pins.

As with all Green Space Dark Skies events, there was no live audience, but the action has been captured on film including use of drone cameras, and will be accompanied with a score by composer Nainita Desai, Ivor Novello nominee and Royal Television Society award-winning composer.  This finale film will be broadcast as part of a BBC Countryfile special later this autumn and will be available to view on the Green Space Dark Skies website following this broadcast.

Everyone, including Lumenators have been encouraged to share their own connections to the landscape and the local areas through Green Space Stories, a free online story archive, that with the short films will form a valuable legacy for anyone interested in our relationship with land and our responsibilities to the landscape.

Speaking about the Green Space Dark Skies films creative producer John Wassell from Walk The Plank said:

“The films celebrate the diverse landscapes shaped by the extraordinary geology beneath our feet wherever we stepped across Northern Ireland. Our journeys have taken hundreds of people around mythical lakes, followed in the footsteps of giants, ancient gathering sites and a majestic mountain landscape. Artists and scientists have brought their poetry, their learning and their imaginations into the work – and the films convey what can happen when we add ordinary people who took part in an act of collective endeavour rooted in landscape.”

Tom Freshwater, Head of Public Engagement Programming at National Trust, added:
“National Trust has been working with Walk the Plank as supporting partners enabling access to eight National Trust places including Slieve Donard.  This finale has been extra special and what a way to close the experience than in the majestic mountain landscape of Slieve Donard. The National Trust is for everyone, forever and events like these connect thousands of people to nature as part of a truly unique cultural experience. Green Space Dark Skies goes beyond observing the artwork – people can actually be part of it.”

Martin Green CBE, Chief Creative Officer of UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK said:
“This Green Space Dark Skies finale gathering encapsulates the brilliant innovation and creativity we have seen harnessed through this year’s UNBOXED projects. By engaging artists, engineers, landowners and members of the public to create a series of unique experiences, Green Space Dark Skies enhances people’s understanding of our natural environment and relationship to the countryside as well as show the power of creativity to inspire change.”

UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK is funded and supported by the four governments of the UK and is commissioned and delivered in partnership with Belfast City Council, Creative Wales and EventScotland.

Follow the Green Space Dark Skies journey and watch the films here https://greenspacedarkskies.uk/.  Follow on Twitter: @GreenSpaceDS,

Facebook: @GreenSpaceDarkSkies, Instagram: greenspacedarkskies #greenspacedarkskies.