January
24, 2015.
Finally..
the day we’re all waiting for.
Mons
welcomes you with open arms to celebrate the coming of the great makeover!
Since
there were so many things going on during the evening, I will make different
posts.
Illumination is the theme of the
Mons 2015 grand opening ceremony.
At 6 pm, the party kicks off, and we started
wandering around the streets.
The first thing we did was trying
to find that silver poncho made by Belgian designer Jean-Paul Lespagnard. Only available 18,000 and distributed for free. Said when we put it on, we’ll be turned into a living
mirror ball. Kids and grown ups all excited and try to make it works. The
information tent in Marché aux Poissons were starting to get busy when we got there. Beside the
poncho, they also gave us map with events informations, attached to a lanyard.
Brilliant idea and so practical.
Our first stop was to see the Keyframes at Marché aux Herbes, where a hundred robots hanging from the building fronts dance to the beats. Then to the Grand Place. It wasn’t so busy that time.
We decided to have a look inside Théâtre
Royal where they have a Studio Photo.
A group of people can be photograph together. Each of them given a word and
they have to compose into a phrase.
Then we move to the next spot, the
Square Roosevelt to see the Surround,
a bizarre musical campsite with transparent
igloo tents, lit from within, placed in a circle in front
of St Waudru’s Church. In each of them, a dummy musician plays an
instrument. When we take a step closer to one of the tent, we would listen the
sound of an instrument and when we positioned at the centre of the
circle then we would listen the whole band playing. While in the corner of the
square, a luminous The Cloche-Marie
Montoise looked floating in the air.
The hardest and time consuming part of the
night was when we tried to get inside the St
Waudru’s Church. The stairs at the main gate was packed with people with only one door opened. It was a slow move and we’re stuck for about an hour
until we were able to see The Best is
Yet to Come. To enter the church, we need to pass through the maze created by the famous
Flemish visual artist Filip Gillissen. It’s a 30-meter corridor which fills up with gold thread and closes in like luxury primeval forest. Inside, the beautiful Polyphonic Installation #2 welcomed us.
Four giant screens at the cardinal points of St Waudru’s Church. Four
singers from the
Renaissance ensemble Vox Luminis. And their voices, mingling at the centre of
the nave.
When we got out from the church, it’s
about time our friends came and found ourselves in no time.
All visitors have to park outside the city center, at the
Grand Large area with free shuttle buses available. They said it’s crazy. Suddenly
there were so many people. Seeing the line to get up to the Belfry’s garden to
see an illuminated installation was no longer an ambition. While walking down
to the Grand Place took a while. It was wall to wall with other
people. A young radio journalist approached and interviewed us while we’re struggling
in the middle of the crowds. Couldn’t even remember what he asked.
Just when we got into the Grand Place area,
it’s just the perfect spot and timing for us to see the Envolée chromatique, a
monumental urban opera that transports us to an irresistible world of
acoustic and visual enchantment. White balloons that lift accordionists off the
ground and dance slowly over the main square. Such a feast for the eyes!
When it’s over, a crane lifts a disco ball so
it seems floating in the middle of the Grand Place. A dj started to play his
mix of cool tunes to keep everyone dancing until 2 am. It's the Electro Night organized by Pure fm.
The night still young and we’re feeling
romantic, so we walked to Place du Parc. It’s a real illumination. The park was
set ablaze, lit up by thousands of candles on its fire
installations. A band accompanied us to dance the night away. Until one point we decided to see the fireworks at Place Nervienne. We rushed there and only few minutes before it finished and skip the dance on an interactively-lit dancefloor, made by Electrabel, Belgium-based
energy corporation.
Along the way, the fanfare and dragons were going around the streets. The organisers of the Ducasse de Messines (the ‘other’
Ducasse de Mons) have a unique collection of all the dragons of Europe. They
parade ten of them through the streets of Mons. They’re all different kind of dragons, including that
Chinese barongsai.
Actually I’ve already planned our route ahead
and thought we can manage to see everything and go home earlier to see the
fireworks from the roof top. But what happened was beyond expectation! At least
100,000 people was around. The crowd at Doudou seems like nothing compared to
this!
The last thing we visited was the Hot pots finlandais. Then tried to
get in to Alhambra was impossible.
At midnight, we’re freezing, tired and hungry.
Most shows were finished. And we missed few of
them
Almost all restaurants and bars were opened and
full with people queueing.
This is probably the most exciting day during our stay in Mons.
Welcome to Mons, European Capital of Culture 2015!