moonGARDEN, the immersive light installation by Montreal-based company Lucion, will be presented for the first time in Australia as part of Illuminate Adelaide 2025. Founded over two decades ago by Bernard Duguay, Lucion has been exploring the infinite possibilities of light and shadow to create poetic and participatory worlds since its inception. Inspired by set theory, shadow theatre and the fragility of the underwater world, moonGARDEN transforms simple inflatable spheres into a living ecosystem, vibrant with light, shadows and silent stories. At the crossroads of art, science and imagination, this work invites young and old alike to rediscover the magic of poetic craftsmanship and the power of imagination… with almost nothing.
Bernard, you’re the founder of Lucion, which you created in 2000. Why did you found the company at the time, and how have things changed over the past 25 years?
That’s a big question. I was a director for advertising and production agencies and I used to work until 3 a.m. I thought to myself, if I’m going to work so late, I might as well do it on my own. And in the end, not much has changed!
I had a sort of desire for creative freedom, which I was able to pursue, I would say. But there are other imperatives that come into play. You know, you end up running around. You always have to be well equipped, have insurance, have phone lines. So you know, you become a manager despite yourself. Well, that’s how it is, but I’m very happy, we’ve been in business for 25 years. It’s gone very well, actually. We’ve had some great projects.
Yes, I’ve seen and can see that. Your creation moonGARDEN is coming to the Illuminate Adelaide festival next month. It is said that these luminous spheres are inspired by set theory, a branch of mathematics that illustrates concepts of sets and membership. Do you have a background in mathematics, or how did the idea of working on something based on this theory come about?
Actually, I learned about it at school when I was quite young. And it was beautiful to see how circles could combine and create additions of colours, subtractions of colours. So the circle provided a way of understanding the universe differently than in a linear way. And then for me, it was an inspiration because then, by combining circles, we realised that each circle could maintain its identity, but also become bigger, become part of a larger group.
So for me, it was really about that in our world today, that without losing our identity, we are stronger as a group. It symbolises community, it symbolises our countries, our ways of living together, in fact. The circle is a beautiful object. I find that many artists use it to guide themselves a little. There is something magical about the circle, because it’s always the same formula that tells us how far we are from the centre. So it brings me back to the centre, a lot.
And then I was also inspired by shadow theatre. I had seen an exhibition by Yann Boltanski. He plays with shadows a lot, so I went with that. Then I think I went further, actually. I said, ‘What can we do with this?’ because I love the idea of telling a story with just an object and a lamp. So I found that low-tech techniques were more inspiring than high-tech techniques. So it’s kind of moonGARDEN’s desire to really stick with things that anyone can do.
It’s a bit old-fashioned.
Exactly. That’s kind of the challenge we’re taking on: if we can inspire people to go home and do something with the things in their kitchen. A small lamp, a small electric train? Tinker with something. Art is born from many things, in fact.
That’s kind of what we often try to do at home, in different ways, to stay away from very dazzling things that create a distance, a kind of vertigo, in the audience. And in doing so, we meet a lot of artists who think the same way.
Is there a message you want to convey with moonGARDEN? Is it about belonging, or the fact that we are stronger together, or is there no message at all?
Definitely. In fact, the more we focus on the messages we convey on moonGARDEN, the more it becomes about creating an environment. It’s an ecosystem. So what we’re going to see in Adelaide is an underwater ecosystem that creates beautiful shadows, but is also very fragile. We’re going to see a whale, which is kind of crying out for help. How can we draw attention to all the problems and dangers posed by climate change? How can we be a little more alert? We really need to be a little more aware of all this now, you know.
I was just going to ask if the festival had chosen a story or a theme. So did they ask for something about climate change or animals?
There was a desire to talk about coral, how fragile coral is, because we had just done an exhibition in New York that was about underwater life. ‘What could underwater life be like now, with everything we find down there? So it was the story of a small colony that had built a little village out of all kinds of discarded bits and pieces. Lots of rubbish, in fact. So the rubbish had become useful to this colony. And then it was a slightly caricatural vision of what it would be like to live underwater now.
So we suggested that the coral reef is still more interesting than that. We try to protect that too. So we did something very bright in relation to the coral reef and the dangers that threaten it.
So you have shadow and light that bring it to life? Is there a deeper metaphor in moonGARDEN in its light and darkness in the human experience, for example?
[LAUGHTER] Yes. But in fact, what we’re trying to do is create beauty with very little. So it’s about using the things we have at our disposal to create a world that is very beautiful and that ultimately lifts us up rather than making us anxious. Then, you’ll see, there’s a kind of little locomotive that carries a light that creates a whole sequence of shadows, which are generated by all the algae living at the bottom of the water. And in fact, it’s really a bit of a nostalgic return to the question ‘what can we do with our imagination?’ And it’s not much. In fact, if there’s one message we want to leave, it’s that.
moonGARDEN was created in 2012 for an event in Montreal. Since then, it has travelled around the world. And now it’s coming to Australia. How do audience reactions change depending on the country or, for example, religion or things like that?
It’s very interesting, actually, because as we travel with the work, we meet the public and also all the teams that put it together. And it’s really insightful to see how all the teams work to set it all up. You really see the cultural differences.
So yes, the audience participates. But then you end up seeing a little bit of the other side of the coin, not just the audience watching, but if the audience were working, what would they be doing? For example, when we went to Moscow a long time ago, people were working non-stop. There were no breaks. How do they survive? We didn’t understand how they could work so much. There are other countries where you have to do everything from scratch, bring in electricity. There are countries that are hyper-organised, but the union is very, very strong, so the work rules are immense. Everyone has their own particularity and it’s very appreciable.
It gives you a good idea of what the audience is doing. I can’t wait to see how – so far, the people at [Illuminate Adelaide] are absolutely great. The organisation is fantastic because often, if you go to private sites, it’s less welcoming. Whereas a festival that hosts several artists, that’s where the interest lies. The interest in where these people come from? What do they have to say?
Like the questions you ask, they’re fun because, you know, it’s not just a matter of how much it costs and how much electricity it uses. You know, there’s a whole message we’re trying to communicate. Actually, I’m really looking forward to going there because there are companies that make inflatables, but Australia is really the master of this art. I’m really looking forward to meeting the people who do this.
I read that the installation is very popular with children. Do you design the work to appeal to all generations? Or do you have children in mind?
That’s right. Well, it’s like focusing on children first. If we wanted to eventually do something for adults, because that would be really interesting musically, with darker themes if we want things, the problems we face every day. But we’re not going there, we’re really going for wonder. We try to go there right away so that children can light up. Then, of course, adults end up leaving with stars in their eyes too. But one day, it would be fun to make moonGARDEN much more daring.
Do you make everything for moonGARDEN yourselves?
Actually, we have a supplier who makes the spheres. It’s a very sturdy vinyl. It’s welded, but we make everything else. We often cut and laser-cut all the pieces—sometimes they’re made of wood, sometimes acrylic… We also try to use biomaterials so that we can recycle and not always throw away what we’ve just made. And that’s it. There are a lot of these materials. But now, even with bioplastics, we 3D print certain bioplastics to stop consuming what you find in the big stores.
Can it be shipped by plane? Or is it transported by boat?
Well, this one came by boat. Apparently, it’s already arrived there, but it still took two months. And then there are certain things we don’t do. There are certain spheres that are in Switzerland. But most of the spheres are made in Montreal. But we’ve travelled all over the place with them. We went to China another time. The only continent now is Africa, we haven’t been there, but we’d like to go there, you know. The Middle East…
But the idea, perhaps what drives us, is to find partners, people with whom we could develop things and stay in Australia to continue. Because, you know, what we do isn’t really a manufacturing approach. It’s more about creation. If we can find local musicians, illustrators, poets, the idea is to participate, to invent something with local artists we like.
You mentioned music. Is the music with moonGARDEN live or pre-recorded?
No, it’s pre-recorded. We’ve already had a live band outside. It becomes a really interesting stage set. So if we want to have theatre performances in front of this ensemble, it would be really fun. And it could be interactive, where people turn it on and off depending on where they are. It’s a canvas that you can do all kinds of things with. So far, we’ve done some wonderful things and it works, but we could do anything.
Because you can also project images onto the moonGARDEN spheres.
Yes, absolutely. We’ve made a lot of videos in there. We’ve made stories. We made a big story about the end of the First World War. It was a story of mourning. It’s about a woman who learns that she’s losing her husband, who was a soldier in the war, and how she experiences her grief. And then the story was displayed in several spheres like that. And it’s captivating, because the soldiers who went to war sang with her in the spheres. It was a really interesting staging.
How many people are there at Lucion?
Well, we’re a small team, usually eight of us. Then there are freelancers who join in. But we like being a very small team. That way, we can reinvent ourselves quite easily. Of course, some projects become huge. Sometimes we can go up to 30 people, but generally we like it that way.
And for moonGARDEN at Illuminate Adelaide, are you coming to Australia with members of your team?
I’m bringing my wife and a technician with whom I’ve travelled around the world quite a bit. We’ve seen it all, so we’re ready for anything. We feel really well supported here in Adelaide, but we’ve been to countries where, wow! We arrived and there was no electricity. Wow.
It’s a big installation; there are lots of spheres. There’s an interactive part where you can do light painting with the lamps that are there, and then you can add yourself to the light painting if you light yourself up. So that’s brand new. It’s an improved version that we’re bringing over there. We can’t wait to try it out. I think it’s going to be pretty popular.
We took it to Latvia, and in Latvia it became a kind of official family photo, so everyone came: the dog, the grandmother – and were taking photos. And then it was like a family photo album. Whereas here, the colours are much funkier. And it’s a bit Pink Floyd, there.
So moonGARDEN is often set up in natural or urban parks. How do you perceive the relationship between artificial light and the natural world in your work?
Actually, artificial light can do so much in a natural world. Light is a subject that is constantly changing, in the sense that we’re now dealing with quantum physics, photons… Light isn’t just light, it’s energy. So light is something we study a lot from a scientific perspective, to see what light can do on a microscopic scale. It’s quite important. Even for plants, even birds.
But it also gives humans an opportunity to see things we would never see otherwise. You know, at one micron, two microns, three microns, the things that happen there are amazing. It’s both light and the lens. You know, if we can find ways to look at nature more and more.
Without light, we wouldn’t have shadows.
Exactly, that’s right. There’s poetry, but also science involved. I study quantum physics a lot. I’m fascinated by it because photons strike different protons, for example, and this creates small explosions. In any case, light is still a big field.
If you could present moonGARDEN anywhere in the world or collaborate with a particular artist or city, what would be your dream?
It would be the North Pole, really. It’s kind of a dream we have that the spheres end up in places that need help. It’s like all of a sudden, they appear at night to draw attention to places that really need help. It would be fun to do something at the North Pole. Obviously, in the Middle East, places that never get the attention they deserve.
So, we wanted to do them as flash mobs, actually, to suddenly install them without telling anyone during the night and suddenly they’re there. It’s very peaceful – the spheres look a bit alien. When they’re installed there, they just add a little splash of colour and bring a kind of interesting peace. We’re used to seeing things that sparkle, that are angular, that are designed. But here, it’s not about design. It’s really just nature breathing.
Yes, like a heartbeat or breathing. And why should people come and see moonGARDEN at the Illuminate Adelaide festival?
It’s an example of other artists who have done things with very little. How to nurture the artist within. So it’s about telling my children that today, we can do something in the kitchen with a pair of scissors and a candle. We do a lot of workshops with schools.
Actually, I was wondering if you are going do any in Adelaide.
Maybe I haven’t heard about it yet, but it’s quite possible. But we’re open to it. Because the beauty of shadow is that it can become immense with just a tiny bit. It’s just the scale that changes. So it ends up telling stories with a lot of scope, with very little. So that’s kind of what we’d like to awaken. Artists and craftspeople don’t need big, wonderful artistic things. It’s about how to tell a tiny story with few objects. And then, it helps us… it touches us.
That’s the magic! It’s also the things our parents did for us when we were children, creating animals on the wall with their fingers.
Yes, exactly, that’s it. It’s far from phones, far from everything. It’s just our bodies, a little light. Of course, we have a little more technology here. But what’s interesting to see is that you’ll see an object inside that’s maybe ten centimetres tall, but can become ten metres tall because of the shadow. It’s the path of the light that makes the difference.
Are you going to visit other Australian cities while you’re here?
Probably Melbourne, because we want to meet potential partners there too. And we’re going to Cairns and then to the centre of the desert.
Alice Springs, in the centre of Australia?
Yes. I’d also like to meet indigenous peoples. I work a lot with indigenous peoples in Canada. So I’m very interested in what they have to say, the wisdom they can share with us.
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We thank Bernard Duguay from Lucion for this interview and we can’t wait to discover moonGARDEN at Illuminate Adelaide from the end of next week.
KEY INFO FOR MOONGARDEN
WHAT: moonGARDEN at Illuminate Adelaide
WHEN: Each night from 5:30pm from 4 to 20 July 2025
WHERE: South Australian Museum Lawns, North Terrace, ADELAIDE
HOW : Just go !
HOW MUCH: It’s free like all of the City Lights installations
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