The Yello Site Forum

Boris is producing a 10 minute instrumental track for the inauguration
of an innovative light installation at Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse, called
"The world's largest timepiece".
Date is November 23, 2005 at 7 pm Zurich, Paradeplatz.
The event is open for the public.
Afterwards, there's reception nearby, but by invitation only.

The above info came from Jonas Wårstad



I hunted around and found more info included below.

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Inauguration of «The World’s Largest Timepiece»

«The World’s Largest Timepiece» will be ceremoniously inaugurated on Wednesday, November 23, 2005 at 7p.m. on Paradeplatz, venue at 6:30p.m. The first minutes of the illumination will be accompanied by music of Boris Blank / Yello.

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Christmas City

The Christmas season will soon be upon us: snow-covered rooftops and church spires, ice crystals on the jetties along the banks of the lake, all characterize Zürich’s wintertime scenery. This year, the city’s magical lights will attract special attention. New light sculptures set new accents, displaying Zürich in a more magnificent light than ever before: from the brand new Christmas illuminations, “The World’s Largest Timepiece“, along the Bahnhofstrasse to bridges bathed in a magical light, through to the sparkling lights on the city’s Christmas trees. Christmas markets and shows, as well as special Sunday shopping, round out the broad range of Zürich’s Advent attractions. On New Year‘s Eve, Zürich’s hoteliers will be staging a gigantic fireworks display over Lake Zürich, whilst partygoers in Zürich can celebrate the largest outdoor New Year’s Eve party in Switzerland.

Find further information and an updated list of events at www.zuerich.com

Light Art

New: illumination highlight of 2005 – “The World’s Largest Timepiece”
The brand new state-of-the-art Christmas illuminations, “The World’s Largest Timepiece”, will cast a new light on the Bahnhofstrasse’s shopping mile and also bring to a close a 33-year old lighting tradition: starting this year, the hundreds of light bulbs along the Bahnhofstrasse will be replaced by “The World’s Largest Timepiece”. The most fascinating feature of this concept is that as Christmas draws nearer, the lighting moods cast by the illuminations will alter constantly. At the beginning of the Advent season, a gentle, calm light - resembling clouds drifting by - prevails. Finally, on New Year’s Eve, the band of light will emit effervescing sparks of light, almost like a fireworks display. Each day, new aspects of the illuminations will captivate visitors to the Bahnhofstrasse and locals alike. Responsible for the new illumination concept are Matthias Kohler and Fabio Gramazio. These two innovative, young architects from Zürich, both graduates of the Federal Institute of Technology Zürich, prevailed against renowned competitors from abroad with their project idea, a shining example of how Zürich is in the international vanguard as a trendsetter in modern-day concepts. Inauguration of “The World’s Largest Timepiece“ will take place during an official ceremonial event in Paradeplatz. The festival will offer numerous attractions on two evenings.

Further information www.bahnhofstrasse-zuerich.ch
Dates November 23, 2005 – January, 2, 2006
Inauguration November 23, 2005, 6.30 – 10.00 pm
and November 24, 2005, 7.00 – 10.00 pm, Paradeplatz

Hi,

Apparently there was a competition to find new Christmas lights for Zurich. Zurich was always known for their Christmas lights and had the same lights since 1971. (see pictures below) The new seasonal lights will be an amazing piece of light art called "The Worlds Largest Timepiece" (also shown below)
The lights are able to pulsate in different rhythms. Boris will be there to do a 10 minute instrumental for the opening of the show. What a great way to spend a Yello Christmas.


Old Zurich Lights



"The Worlds Largest Timepiece"

Got confirmation today that the 10 minute track that Boris is playing for this event is material from the next album. No CD will be released of the track. It will be played live from tape once for the show.

Hope someone can be there and record it.

Hi everyone!

I currently live in Zurich and was down at Bahnhofstrasse/Paradeplatz when the new Christmaslights were inaugurated. The ceremony itself took something like 15 minutes and Yello music was playing all the time. It all began with some new stuff (like Jon said) which was a very cool ambient thing (can't describe it). At the same time these light-rods came to life and started to show different patterns (like falling snow, waves, pulses etc). There were also some instrumental parts from the Eye (mixed stuff from Bouganville and I think Unreal or Time palace). The lights are really spectacular and should be seen in real life. They run through the whole central part of Zurich and adds a very special atmosphere to the place I did not see Boris Blank at the ceremony though.

Arfken,

Thanks so much for the report.

Here are some new pics of "The Worlds Largest Timepiece"