Lasers form 'global rainbow' to mark start of the Cultural Olympiad ahead of the 2012 Games


Beams of light in the colours of the rainbow have been illuminating the North Sea coastline to celebrate the Olympics coming to Britain.

The spectacular laser projection, called Global Rainbow, shines five miles out to sea, and was turned on from St Mary's Lighthouse in Whitley Bay, in the north-east of England.

The show has been created by American artist Yvette Mattern and consists of seven parallel beams of laser light in the spectrum of the traditional colours of the rainbow. Mattern said the installation symbolises 'diversity and peace'.

Stunning: Yvette Martin's Global Rainbow which symbolises hope lights up the north-east coastline to celebrate the London 2012 Olympics coming to Britain this summer

The five day show, which began on this year's leap day, has wowed crowds watching it blast across the night sky against the backdrop of the North Tyneside coastline.

Alison Clark-Jenkins, regional director for Arts Council England, said: 'Global Rainbow is the perfect way to mark the start of this year's cultural celebrations of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in the north-east of England.

'Not only is the project delivering art on a very large scale to many thousands of people, but it's welcoming an international artist to the region, and is the culmination of a great deal of careful planning and creative programming.

'This is just a taste of what's to come over the course of what is set to be a groundbreaking year for culture in the north-east.'

Major laser: A rainbow of colours has been projected in the north-east of England to mark the London 2012 Olympics and a series of events across the country

Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain: The colours of the rainbow blur to make a magnificent arch of white light depending on where spectators are standing



Audiences can either see all seven colours in the 'Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain' order or blurred together so it transforms into a white arc.

On International Women's Day, the rainbow will be moved and projected over the city of Preston for four nights.

It will be one the first events in the Preston Guild Festival which dates back to 1179 - England's oldest festival which takes place every 20 years.



Starstruck: This stunning photo of the Global Rainbow taken by photographer Mike Ridley also captured the meteor shower which lit up the night's sky last night

Glowing: Whitley Bay in the north-east of England where the laser show has been projected from to celebrate the London 2012 Olympics

Spectrum of colours shine out to sea to mark London's Cultural Olympiad in the north-east of England

It will then move to the landmark site of Scrabo Tower, in Northern Ireland, in time for St Patrick's Day where for four nights it will shone over Newtownards and the picturesque eastern shore of Strangford Lough.

The artwork was originally created in 2009 to celebrate Martin Luther Day in New York where it was projected from the pyramid top of the 14 Wall Street skyscraper in downtown Manhattan.