Luminarium Portsmouth Review: "Immersive experience transports you to a whole new world"
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We step into Luminarium and give our review of the immersive experience
If you're walking across Victoria Park in Portsmouth over the next few days it will be hard to miss the enormous inflatable grey structure over on its western side.
There's something distinctly alien-looking about it - like a giant bug squatting in the city centre's green space.
This is the Luminarium, the third installation making up The Point Is Portsmouth, a year-long programme by Crying Out Loud as part of the city's centenary. Other parts of the programme included 432 Fratton in June, then Circus in Motion, which transformed the Historic Dockyard into an immersive circus.
It aims to celebrate creativity, community and international collaboration across Portsmouth. Bringing together artists, local organisations and communities, the programme transforms everyday spaces into places for creativity, connection and shared experiences.
At the Luminarium, once you've taken your shoes off and entered the first chamber, there's a curiously organic feel to the installation - like you've entered a living organism.
There's no set route from A to B, you can wander through the interconnected chambers as the whim takes you. Visitors are encouraged to explore at their own pace.
Stop, sit down, lie down in one of the many nooks - or heck, even in the middle of the floor, and just absorb the atmosphere.
Light enters through a variety of coloured panels. Each chamber has a different name - green helix, blue tree, golden column, and so on - each bathed in a different hue. Hundreds of handmade panels combine to construct this unique space.
In the background ambient music plays unobtrusively.
It is is designed by Alan Parkinson of Architects of Air. They're a Nottingham-based enterprise which began in 1992 and have since staged more than 600 exhibitions in 40 countries, from Australia to the Arctic circle.
As a friend says to me while we're wandering around: "It feels like I'm on Tattooine" - Luke Skywalker's home planet in the Star Wars saga. And yes, there is a science-fiction vibe to it all.
It's also like wandering into the biggest sensory room you've ever seen, but people of all ages can gain something from the experience.
Adults may enjoy the tranquil sensation, the ability to embrace the calm in this urban oasis - the outside world could be, yes, a million miles away.
Kids, meanwhile, will love the vibrant colours and tactile surfaces.
It is above all inclusive.
The Luminarium is open through the weekend, and on Sunday coincides with Rawkus City Festival in Guildhall Square, which will provide a wider programme of outdoor arts and cultural activities.
The event is supported by: Arts Council England, Portsmouth City Council, Portsmouth Creates, Victoria Park and Sustainable Conservation Trust.
What you need to know:
- A typical visit lasts approximately 20 to 30 minutes.
- It is open midday-4pm on Friday, 1-5pm on Saturday and 10am-4pm on Sunday.
- Remaining tickets are available at £8 for adults from the event’s website here.
- Children under 16 must be accompanied and supervised by an adult, a minimum of one adult for every four children.
- Some walk-up tickets will be available on the day.
- The Luminarium is wheelchair accessible.
- No eating, drinking, smoking or vaping inside.