PROJECTS > LUMIERE, THE ROSE

Electric Pedals collaborated with artist Mick Stephenson on The Rose for Lumiere London, the capital’s major light festival celebrating public art and architecture.

The installation reinterpreted the rose window of Durham Cathedral as a large-scale illuminated artwork constructed from thousands of recycled plastic bottles. Powered entirely by public participation, the piece explored themes of light, access and collective action.

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The Installation

  • Members of the public generated electrical power using pedal-powered generator bikes positioned within the installation.

  • As the audience pedalled, the outer segments of the rose illuminated first. With increasing electrical output, additional inner segments were progressively lit, moving from the perimeter toward the centre until the entire window was fully illuminated.

  • The bottles forming the window were developed through workshops with local school children, linking community engagement with renewable energy generation in a large-scale public setting

Impact

  • High visibility illuminated public engagement at Lumiere – The Rose

  • Clear physical link between human effort and lighting output

  • Participants directly empowered to shape the installation’s luminosity

  • Enhanced night-time activation driving footfall and public interaction

Outcome

  • Delivered reliable and responsive live lighting installation

  • Provided a memorable, participatory architectural lighting experience

  • Set a benchmark for human-powered public lighting activations in festival contexts

  • incredible feedback from audience and organisers

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