Light Night Wigan & Leigh returns to kick off the festive season with a celebration of glowing art installations and community performances that celebrate the borough, its historical network of canals and the beauty of nature.
Our Spectral Vision – Liz West
Internationally acclaimed artist Liz West creates vivid environments that mix luminous colour and radiant light into sensory spectacles for all ages. Our Spectral Vision, a major work from her back catalogue, will be found inside a historic building from this area. Made of 765 mirrors of colored acrylic, the installation will highlight the impressive architecture and reveal the building’s secrets in a new and colourful way.
Greenheart – Mick Stephenson
Mick Stephenson is an internationally recognised Light artist based in Durham, celebrated for creating stunning installations out of unlikely materials that connect with local communities. For Light Night Wigan & Leigh Mick has collaborated with over 750 residents of Wigan to build a spectacular and radiant life-size model of a canal boat in Wigan’s Dry Dock. The piece, Greenheart, will act as homage to the abundance of green spaces in the borough, as well as the network of canals – so fundamental to the rich history of Wigan.
Light Box – Venessa Scott
Venessa Scott is a prolific public artist and specialist in Creative Education. Recognised widely for her contribution to the arts and cultural sector in the North, she delivers creative projects, workshops, and interventions to a range of audiences and has been commissioned by leading cultural, corporate and community organisations across the north west and Yorkshire. For Light Night Wigan & Leigh, Venessa will create colourful and proud window displays in collaboration with local residents and business owners at the Wigan Investment Centre.
Searching For Melilot – Kathy Hinde
Inspired by her family tree and Wigan heritage, Kathy spent two weeks living on a narrow boat exploring the biodiversity of the canals and waterways of Wigan and Leigh. She retraced her grandma’s footsteps searching for the wild clover Melilot, which her gran had surveyed around Wigan over 50 years ago. Using the boat as a darkroom, Kathy processed analogue films by harnessing the unique chemistry of Melilot and other plants to create environmentally friendly film developer, culminating in a series of projections, holding the stories embedded within wild flowers and plants of the towpath. To accompany the films projected under the canal bridge, this exhibition presents some of Kathy’s research, including the map of her gran’s survey of Melilot made in the 70’s and a map of Kathy’s recent re-surveying of the same plant this summer; alongside some pressed Melilot plants from both eras. Loops of 16mm films play back on adapted 1930’s projectors, viewable both as a projection and as an object, revealing the intricacies captured from encounters between plants and photochemical film. Whilst on her boat residency, Kathy studied a different wild flower each day, as another way to connect with her gran, who was actively involved with the Wigan and District Field club, during the 60’s and 70’s. As a group, the club went out for walks and rambles, making records of the wildlife they came across. Each day, kathy posted a #WildflowerOfTheDay on instagram, and has printed a selection as a collection of postcards. Feel free to take one. Visit Kathy Hinde website.
One Way Or Another – Tom Biddulph
Tom Biddulph, a visual artist originally from Manchester currently lives in Amsterdam. Working with multiple mediums, he enjoys looking slightly past reality and imagining what’s there, often resulting in concepts that relate to a particular place or environment. For Light Night Wigan & Leigh, Tom has created a brand new work of revised road signs giving humanity a shared direction for the future.
Created by Tom Biddulph, co-commissioned by Wigan Council, Lightpool and Light Up Lancaster.
Opal’s Comet – Mr Wilsons
From the team who brought you the brass band ravers Mr Wilson’s Second Liners is the new visual theatre and song project, Opal’s Comet. Opal’s Comet is a beautiful golden barge, mounted on a narrowboat. A team of performers will animate the canal from the boat, with songs celebrating life and dealing with human emotions. Expect intimate connection and pop-up elements.
