Weekender: Digital installations set to shine at Light Night Leeds
A visual arts installation is set to take visitors on a journey to a digital dimension at this week’s Light Night Leeds festival.
Entitled I Infinite, the installation will explore the boundaries between the artificial and the real as well as the digital and non-digital worlds.
Set in a white cubed space, the installation consists of a solo dance performance and invites audiences to roam the area in and around the dancer.
Created by Tom Dale Company and presented in association with Leeds Dance Partnership, the digital installation will be held at Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre at Northern Ballet on Thursday and Friday night at 6pm, 7.30pm and 9pm, with performances lasting fifty minutes.
The piece is set in the event’s SOYO zone, which is the product of some of the city’s most prominent cultural organisations coming together to create and present an exhilarating programme of art, music and dance.
Further installations which can be found in the event’s SOYO zone include two atmospheric services at Leeds Minster.
On Friday night, the minster will be hosting a service entitled Requiem by Candlelight, which will be marking the centenary of the end of the First World War with an evening of musical extracts from the newly written Penthos Requiem by Hannah Stone and Matt Oglesby (performances from 7.15pm-8.45pm).
Visitors will also be able to catch a glimpse of the figures which make up the ‘There but not there’ installation in the minster, which represent the men of Leeds who went to war but never returned.
The SOYO zone will be home to another installation by Gillian Hobson entitled Mirror Stage, which combines moving image, colour and light. Through the use of transparent and reflective media, this installation will transform the concept of home from a site of familiarity to a site of strangeness. This installation will take pace in St Peter’s Square between 7.30 – 11pm.
Alternatively, there are also a selection of dance pieces situated in the SOYO zone. A piece, entitled One Last Dance is a two-month travelling dance between Guildford (where she lived when she first arrived in the UK in 1994) and Cloughjordan (the Irish village she’s moving to).
As she dances across the UK she will stay with other EU citizens, who will choreograph, walk and dance part of the way with her. Each performance will feature all the sections created up to that point.
Another dance installation is Student Showcase. Hosted by Yorkshire Dance, visitors will be able to see three new dance works by the students of Leeds’ Dance Conservatoire on Friday at 6.30pm, 7.45pm and 9pm.
There’s also a silent disco organised by Buffet and taking place at St Peter’s Place from 7:30-11pm.
Councillor Judith Blake, leader of Leeds City Council said: “Over the past 14 years, Light Night Leeds has continued to evolve, growing into an event of such impressive ambition and creativity that it has become one of the benchmarks for culture and innovation in Leeds and beyond.
“As Light Night once again brings thousands of people together, we hope that the event is not only a celebration of culture and artistic endeavour, but also of the unity, diversity and collective civic pride which are part of the foundation of Leeds.”
Myles Hartley, managing director of Caddick Developments Ltd said: “Light Night is one of the city’s most innovative and fastest-growing events. It’s really important for us to be supporting these kind of forward thinking celebrations of culture as we look forward to bringing the vision of SOYO to Leeds.”
