Enlighten Manchester
Manchester City Centre
December 2015
This stunning festival lit up the dampened dark nights before Christmas, drawing people of all ages in from the cold. Embracing all aspects of lighting from the architectural to projection mapping to interactives, presented alongside a programme of new music, the Curated Place team worked closely with key cultural venues and organisations in the city to radically re-imagined how light art could transform public spaces.
Following a successful pilot the year before, the festival returned in 2015 with Manchester Central Library the Bridgewater Hall as its main venues, bringing together exciting local and international talent, skills and energy with an ambitious programme. Enlighten Manchester 2015 brought a stellar programme of world premieres, award-winning installations and international artists to the north-west city. Featuring over 20 installations, talks and performances across three days - coinciding with UNESCO's International Year of Light - the festival transformed these well-known spaces through an immersive and inspiring cultural celebration.
As night fell, outside Bridgewater Hall visitors’ imaginations were sparked by a series of origami birds soaring above-head creating the effect of birds flying along the street; a cutting edge sound and light installation created by prominent audiovisual artist Kathy Hinde. Manchester Central Library on St Peter’s Square was transformed after hours with a carefully curated experience of immersive and sculptural light art, which featured Scotsman Poet of the Year Adelle Stripe’s work from Beyond the Silver Pit featured alongside world premieres by acclaimed light artists Paul Friedlander and Ulf Pedersen.
Visitors also enjoyed the nightly concerts, which began with the world premiere of The Bremen Town Musicians, a music and live animation work inspired by bestselling author Philip Pullman’s translation of the Brothers’ Grimm fairy tales. The concert included a specially commissioned score by celebrated film composer Enrica Sciandrone for new music ensemble Psappha. Kathy Hinde and Matthew Olden also presented a live performance of Piano Migrations, a work that sees the inside of a recycled piano transformed into a kinetic sound sculpture. Visitors watched enthralled as dozens of small birds landing on piano strings appeared to flutter and settle causing the strings to resonate, creating a delicate and ever changing musical score.
Featured in Creative Tourist, The Skinny, That’s Manchester TV, Manchester Evening News and BBC News.
Visible Words by Invisible People
Neon Artist Richard William Wheater worked with RECLAIM to produce new neon works for Manchester Central Library and around the City Centre.
Focusing on the silenced voices of youth in society the project creates a series of neon statements from participants to be placed around the city with a centrepiece in the library.
Supported using public funding by Arts Council England.
Light Wave Power KIC 8462852
A light sculpture and a professional development project developed in collaboration with Manchester Central Library and the kinetic artist, Paul Friedlander.
This site specific, kinetic light sculpture was presented in the library’s main entrance hall and consisted of an overhead kinetic wave light display, which allowed visitors to walk underneath.
Supported using public funding by Arts Council England.