Name in Lights

The first of the Fierce Festival items for this year launched today. Name in Lights is a competition whereby someone will have their name installed in giant illuminated letters on the side of the Central Library building. The whole thing is the brainchild of artist Joshua Sofaer and the winner will be chosen by a panel of judges including “advertising guru Trevor Beattie, cultural commentator Mark Lawson and celebrity interviewer Alison Hammond.”

Here’s the skinny:

Ever since Music Halls and Hollywood Cinemas flashed the titles of their leading lights across hoardings in illuminated letters, we have had a fascination with seeing names in bright illuminated signs. Many a would-be star has dreamed of gazing up and seeing their name in lights.

With fly-on-the-wall television shows like Big Brother we now make stars out of the person next door, sometimes discovering their hidden talents and sometimes just valuing them for who they are, with all their quirks and oddities. What makes you vote for one contestant over another? Do they make you laugh more? Do you fancy them? Do you agree with their politics or what they stand for?

In our celebrity obsessed culture who do we really want our role-models to be? Do you think you have what it takes to be looked to by others as an example, or know someone who should be? Perhaps you simply want to become famous for the sake of it. Well here is your chance.

Interestingly there’s an RSS feed which lists the last ten submissions along with their reasons for doing so. It wouldn’t take much to turn this into a rolling stream and project it somewhere. Maybe it could be displayed on the Big Screen rather than the incessant football and news that’s always blaring out? (Sorry – bugbear of mine…)

The competition closes on April 17th and the sign will be unveiled on May 18th forming the centrepiece of the festival.