The ‘Northern Lights’ Are Heading To Notre Dame—In Summer?

Image via Paris L’Été

The mystical aurora borealis only shows itself in the winter, under skies with low light pollution. Yet, the phenomenon—or at least a manmade version of it—is making its way into busy Paris in the summer.

Swiss artist and activist Dan Acher has been recreating the dazzling Northern Lights across cities around the world in a traveling project called Borealis. As unpredictable as the natural lights can be, Acher’s interpretation does have a fixed location and dates—Borealis will move on to tower over Notre Dame during the Paris L’Été festival for two nights only, on July 30 and 31, and will be free for the public.

The show will be a swirl of fog and light beams of various densities, colors, and movements, each dancing in tandem with the changing weather conditions. Borealis has toured many cities, but each phenomenon is unique due to the environment it throws itself in. In Paris, the installation will be accompanied by music by the composer Guillaume Desbois.

Here’s a preview of what will be in store:

It’s not just something for the ’gram, though. According to Time Out, Borealis is also a commentary on climate change as the appearance of the lights in Europe—and in warmer weather, to boot—would be unnatural. 

There’s at least one similarity between the real and artificial Borealis—they’ll both be gone before you know it. On the two nights that Acher’s work will greet the public, it will start at 10.30 pm and run for only two hours. The entire Paris L’Été festival, however, has all sorts of programs lined up from July 11 to 31.

Image via Paris L’Été

[via Time Out and Sortiraparis.com, images via Paris L’Été]