University’s illuminating involvement at Light Up Lancaster


A child looking at a rainbow of electronic lights © Robin Zahler

Light Up Lancaster, the free family festival of light and art, will showcase an exciting array of Lancaster University’s inspiring and illuminating research projects and activities.

Running from November 2 to 4, this year’s Light Up Lancaster (LUL) theme is ‘The Art of Words’.

Activities will include BabyLab’s research on how eye-tracking technology can shed light on shared book reading and a team from the Department of Linguistics will use ultrasound to demonstrate how the tongue moves as we speak with a beatboxer doing live demonstrations.

Other University activities taking place during Light Up Lancaster will include:

  • Through collaboration with the University's Regional Heritage Centre and the Duchy of Lancaster, Lancaster Castle’s walls will be illuminated with an innovative and unique display based on the Duchy of Lancaster’s Great Cowcher Book, produced by order of King Henry IV around 1402 to record the possessions of the Duchy of Lancaster. The extraordinary, illuminated manuscripts are brought to life by projection artists IIIuminos.
  • Zi Quan’s ink painting, through which she explores an illuminated cosmos, building on work which seeks to understand the art forms of early Chinese cosmic images and dimensions of space and time. Zi is an Ink artist and a PhD researcher from the Lancaster Institute for Contemporary Arts at Lancaster University. The piece for Light Up Lancaster is supported by Lancaster University Confucius Institute.
  • Lancaster Institute of Contemporary Arts (LICA) linked ‘imitating the dog’ will light up Dalton Square with their project ‘Dear Einstein’, combining video design, an original score by James Hamilton and live performance with local singers.
  • Be part of Light Up Lancaster - Young people aged 11-18 can get involved and create a show as part of Light Up Lancaster. Free workshops on 23-25 October 12-4pm at The Gregson Centre and 26 October 10am - 3pm at the Health Innovation Campus Cafe at Lancaster University. Visit their website for more information.
  • And, Lancaster Arts are supporting a special sights and sounds walking experience through the city’s Mill Race area, part-funded by Historic England as well as a performance ‘On the Curled Clouds’ at St John’s Church. As well as being a partner of LUL and tapped into creative networks within Lancaster.

The University is a community sponsorship supporter of Light Up Lancaster, demonstrating its commitment to the local area.

For more information: Light Up Lancaster - find out more about dates, times and venues.

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