10 March 07 Auckland Domain. Ever since the Chinese invented gunpowder a thousand
years ago, fireworks have been dazzling us with their fiery brilliance. Producing
fairy-like visions, grandiose ceremonies, simulations of war - or ethereal vessels
to carry our dreams into space - pyrotechnics has become the theatrical experience.
In 1992, a few French pyrotechnists decided to make it their art. Their aspiration
was to explode old conventions, create a cornucopia of conflagration, using fire as
a creative medium.
In a few years, Groupe F's artistry has spread round the world like wildfire; the
Eiffel Tower, December 31 1999, the Stade de France at the football World Cup 98,
the Millennium Bridge in London, the Montmorency Falls in Quebec Transfigured by
fire, these prestigious monuments, towns and natural landscapes have become the
sites of extraordinary pyrotechnical events.
