Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Students set to light up Leeds
Led by Leeds Met Alumna Hannah Butterfield and Learning Support Officer Matt Skyes Hooban, the team, which includes students from all year groups on Leeds Metropolitan's Performance and Dance courses, has devised a 'roaming' performance entitled 'The Wagon, which was also recently unveiled at Latitude Festival this year.
Hannah, who graduated from MA Performance Works last year and has returned to work freelance at the University, said: "It's been great working with a group of students that I haven't met before. The really interesting thing about this group is that they are a mix of first, second and third year students, as well as from different courses. It is a brilliant opportunity for the students to collaborate on their work and a chance for them to see that the external aspects of their courses can provide such a big learning as well."
Course Leader Gillian Dyson commented: "It is great to see students take ownership of a project and have opportunity to showcase in their home town. Performing Arts have a reputation for delivering really engaging live works for Light Night".
You will be able to catch 'The Wagon' in Millennium Square from 7.30pm on Friday.
Also set to make an impression this Light Night is, 'Momentous', the centrepiece of this year's event which has been designed by Leeds Met Alumnus Rob Vale and brother Matt.
The two Iluminos artists, who specialise in creating dramatic artworks in unusual spaces, have been gathering film footage this summer at events across the city and will use it to create clockwork figures as part of a vast animated mechanical clock that will spring to life for three successive nights, starting on Thursday.
Rob who studied Fine Art at Leeds Metropolitan University, explains that the duo have gathered hours of footage of local people, from nurses and rugby players to dancers and students, which they have edited into hundreds of 20 to 30 second loops of animation to create their visual spectacle.
"The animated clock will come to life for three hours between 7.30 and 10.30pm each night and will be constantly changing. What you'll see is the building become a framework almost like a giant carriage clock and within that all these cogs and gears are turning and at the centre is a giant clock telling the right time."
He added: "We often talk about the fact that everything we make doesn't physically exist forever, we're not sculptors or painters. We try and create a series of moments, an experience in a city that hopefully people will still be talking about after it's finished."