🗞️ Light Night – Our top picks off the beaten path

Light Night festival is returning to the streets of Leeds this week, draping the city in a technicolour display for two nights. The UK’s largest annual arts and lights festival will be taking place on the 12th and 13th of September, inviting people to see the city as it’s never been seen before. Demonstrating the power of light and dark, Light Night will combine large scale light projections, interactive art installations, as well as live dance, street and music performances throughout the city.

With the city bursting with vibrancy, you best believe the options for celebrating Light Night are endless. As such, we’ve pulled together our top picks for enjoying off the beaten path…

Try Somewhere New

Light Night is a celebration of Leeds as well as art, stretching into the far corners of our magnificent city and demonstrating the beauty it truly holds. Whilst historic venues such as Millenium Square and The Headrow are key parts of the celebration, there are also plenty of places just out of the centre zone offering their own installations to enjoy. 

The Junction (Whitehall)

Location: The Exchange, Whitehall, Leeds LS12 1BU

The Junction is a brand new neighbourhood in Whitehall, welcoming a new community of renters to enjoy modern living in stylish accommodation. As part of the Light Night festival, The Junction has partnered with renowned artist Ulf Pederson to showcase a stunning suspended ‘Droplet’ installation, as well as working with mental health brand Feel Good Club to project positive messaging to the community in support of mental health week. To complement the projections, The Junction is also having a host of exciting events throughout the evening, including food from Three’s A Crowd and Homeboy’s Pizza, as well as live entertainment from James Branter.

Heofon Light Maze (Stourton) 

Location: Stourton Park and Ride, Wakefield Road, LS10 1FF

The Heofon park and ride sits just outside the city centre, making this the perfect spot to head to just before you enter the city centre for all of your light night fun. Here, you can find yourself amidst an immersive art display brought to the city by  Ben Busche, Brut Deluxe, and Ilmex S.A in collaboration with ARRO Lighting. The 2.5m maze consists of mirror like panels, transforming the maze into an infinity room with ever changing colours. This never ending cosmos is the perfect place to find yourself getting lost in just before you venture into some familiar hotspots.

Luminosi Trees (Elland Road)

Location: Elland Road Park & Ride, Beeston, LS11 0EY

Built into the football hub of Leeds, Luminosi Trees is a large-scale installation combining the power of light and sound. Two six metre high trees, formed of luminous light panels, are accompanied by music composition using gamelan gongs. The lights of the trees respond in real time to the music playing, demonstrating the movement of music through thousands of LED pixels. As such, the trees invite calmness and relaxation, with a never repeating playlist comprised based on the Fibonacci sequence of numbers. 

Go Big, or Go Home

Sometimes when it comes to art, bigger really can be better. Leeds Light Night is proud to welcome a host of artists, some of whom bring with them the installations on a phenomenal scale. From illuminating towering buildings to lining the docs of Leeds, these art pieces are set to blow you away.

Evanescent 

Location: Armouries Square, Leeds Dock, LS10 1PZ

Evanescent is set to be a showstopping piece from award winning Sydney artists Renzo B. Larriviere and Zara Pasfield. Taking place at Armouries Square, this 8m tall display invites you to take a walk underneath vibrant bubble structures, which illuminate with multi-coloured LED’s to completely encase you in the art surrounding you. Accompanied by an ethereal soundscape, this larger than life art display is set to completely immerse you in the power of light.

Theatre of Illumination

Location: Leeds Civic Hall, Millennium Square, LS1 1UR

One of the key drivers of the Light Night extravaganza, the Leeds Civic Hall is returning once again to showcase its stunning digital display. Offering a gorgeous light demonstration on it’s very walls, the Leeds Civic Hall combines art and heritage to showcase a futuristic and captivating performance. With a firework display. 3D optical illusions and projection mapping combined with immersive surround sound, this explosive event is one that will take you on a journey through time and space. 

The Shape of Light 

Location: Leeds Dock, LS10 1PZ

The Shape of Light is expected to illuminate the Leeds dock with an interactive display of colour. Taking place outdoors, this Light Night special combines contrasting elements of large three dimensional steel shapes, with soft light running throughout. A simplistic and alluring spectacle, The Shape of Light is set to entice passers by, making a gorgeous backdrop along the Waterways trail.

Don’t Just Watch It. Be It

The visual artistry of Light Night can leave city-goers breathless, and for good reason too, with breathtaking installations totally transforming Leeds. However, the wonder and awe of the celebration doesn’t need to stop at just vision, with many events offering immersive experiences for guests to enjoy. Combining light, sound and touch, these special pieces will invite you to enjoy Light Night like never before. 

Light Lines

Location; Hunslet Road, LS10 1JQ

This collaborative installation combines movement, light, sound and drawing, following a ten week development of experimentation with light and line in response to movement. Held together by a bespoke soundspace, this vivid mark making display appears to be floating in space, adding a futuristic take to your Light Night. Immersive and collaborative, you can watch drawings come to life before your very eyes, before heading over the The Tetley Bar and Kitchen for street food and drinks.

Emergence 

Location: The Tetley, Hunslet Road, LS10 1JQ

Emergence is a large-scale sculpture brought to the city by artists Harriet Lumby and Alan Hayes. Situated at The Tetley, this immersive installation incorporates moving light and an original soundscape by The NYX, an electric drone choir exploring a spectrum of collective voices as an instrument. This experimental experience will allow you to dance with 8ft tall globots, and bop with pixel heads whilst you surrounding yourself with first of its kind light and sound.

The Drop

Location: Howard Assembly Room, 32 New Briggate, LS1 6NU

Leeds Light Night isn’t just about stunning visuals – it’s about welcoming you to places you’ve never been before. In this captivating art demonstration, The Drop will plunge you to the unknowable depths of our oceans, inviting you to explore the unexplored in a tidal wave of stunning displays. To accompany the underwater exploration will be a a hybrid ensemble of strings and percussion by singer, violinist and composer, Alice Zawadzki.This truly unforgettable venture will be one to take away forever, and will be taking place at The Howard Assembly Room in Briggate.