22 October 2015

Illuminating York
28 – 31 October 2015, 6 – 10pm

As the nights start drawing in, York is gearing up for the annual celebration of light that is the illuminating York Festival.

Now in its 10th year, the Festival was one of the first of its kind in the UK and it continues to pursue new ways of showing this beautiful historic city in a new light.

Inspired by the UNESCO International Year of Light, the 2015 Festival celebrates light in all of its forms, from the flickering flame to the light emitting diode. Illuminating York is officially supported by TalkTalk Ultra Fibre Optic Broadband.

For the first time, the Festival has been programmed by two artistic directors who have commissioned and selected a series of artworks across the city, once again transforming York after dark.

For 2015, Hazel Colquhoun and Andrew Knight have conceived a Festival Promenade with installations created by five sets of artists along the route, culminating in the Museum Gardens where York’s botanical gardens will be transformed.  Specially selected lamps in shop and business windows will feature along the route between the artworks.

Join the Revolution – Shambles  is created by leading artist / design duo Freshwest, animating one of the country’s oldest and most beautiful streets.  Reflected showers of light will stream from mirror balls throughout the length of this amazing street creating an intense and all-encompassing experience that gives glimpses of the Shambles medieval past while also reflecting its present.

Taking inspiration from the candle as a symbol as well as a beacon,  artist Nayan Kulkarni’s piece Three Graces explores the concept of ‘one into many and many into one’.

This artwork uses three of York’s churches as canvases for different digital artworks, each using the image of the candle as its starting point.  From the image of a single burning candle placed high in a niche or a tower to the illusion of hundreds of candles flickering on the pavement , audiences will discover this work along the route at the churches of St Helen’s, All Saints, Pavement and St Michael le Belfrey.

Shadowing by Jonathan Chomko and Matthew Rosier is an award-winning artwork produced by Watershed, that invites passers by to play with shadows.

Seven streetlights around the city are ingeniously modified, giving them a memory that allows them to record and playback the shadows of those who pass beneath.  Visitors can also step out of the light for a while and see the lamp begin to dream, recalling a procession of earlier visitors.

Suspended in the Mansion House passageway is Flown by Esther Rollinson. This cloud-like light installation hovers above the audience, animated with delicate patterns of movement using hand-folded acrylic forms and a complex programme of LED lights.

The only ticketed piece in this year’s Festival is in York’s beautiful Museum Gardens where it is night-time, but not as you know it, the birds are wide awake and the plants are dancing.  Trophic Cascade presents Illuminati Botanica transforming the gardens with a series of installations.

Created by international artists, Mark Anderson, Jony Easterby and Ulf Pederson the 10 acre botanical gardens will be transformed with a series of installations allowing you to see and hear nature in a whole new light.

Now in its third year, SPARK, the programme that takes emerging artists and with mentorship and support helps them develop their work, returns with pieces by two pieces created by fine art graduates from the University of York St John, installed in York’s historic Guildhall.

As ever the Festival is also supported by many different celebrations of light throughout York’s world-class visitor attractions from torch-lit and candle-lit tours in some of Yorks attractions to events such as; Conjuring Tommy: Viewing the First World War through the magic lantern at York Army Museum or a special children’s Halloween tour at York Dungeon.

Hazel Colquhoun, co-artistic director of the 2015 Festival:

‘Light has the ability to transform how you see a city or a landscape, it can be contemplative or dramatic, and festivals like this can create a fascinating cityscape after dark.  By commissioning a range of artworks and placing them across the city, this year’s event will be very different from previous years and give audiences the chance to see parts of the city lit up as you’ve never seen them before.’

Kate McMullen, Head of Consumer Products and Marketing, Make It York :

‘This 10^th anniversary Festival celebrates York in all its beauty.  The new Festival Promenade creates a walking trail so that audiences can explore York and see the city’s space lit by creative artworks along the route.  In this UNESCO Year of Light, it is a fitting celebration of York and also of the city’s UNESCO, City of Media Arts designation.’

illuminating York is co-ordinated by Make It York on behalf of a city-wide steering group, and is supported by Arts Council England, York St John University, English Heritage, The Institute of Physics, Explore York, York Museums Trust, York University, National Railway Museum, York Archaeological Trust and City of York Council.

Tickets for Illuminati Botanica are £6 adult (advance ticket booking), U16 £5 (advance ticket booking), under 5’s free.

They will be available from York Theatre Royal from 25 September.  For more information go to illuminatingyork.org.