Spotlight on 10 illuminating things to see at Light Up Lancaster

The Light Up Lancaster festival is on this weekend and here are just 10 of the illuminating attractions you will be able to see.

Many landmarks will be lit up during the three-day event and there will be a trail of spellbinding illuminated artworks for people to view as they move around the city.

The festival is open from 5pm to 10pm on Thursday to Saturday, November 7 to 9.

Venues include The Storey Centre, Lancaster Castle, the Judges' Lodgings, Priory Church, Market Square, Sun Square, Dalton Square and Lancaster Library.

Beyond Radio will be in Market Square tonight (November 7) for a special live programme on day one of the festival, hosted by Greg Lambert and Chris Brookbanks with Beyond Bear and the team, on air from 6pm to 8pm.

Here are some of the attractions at this year's Light Up Lancaster.

Big Yellow Blobs and the Box that Buzzes by Matt Tully

Interactive, immersive artwork - this surreal playground in Aalborg Square is filled with spectacle, illusion and a hearty dose of silliness.

DoodleBug: The Animation

Found in The Storey Centre courtyard, this artwork is part of an ongoing project focused on children’s creativity. Child-led sessions and dance workshops at Morecambe Road School, The Loyne Specialist School and Lune Park Children’s Centre brought together children and their grown-ups to explore creative movement, mark-making and play, using sensory props, the natural world and art materials. This artwork captures the playful and joyful essence of their interactions. It is led by LPM Dance and Courtney McCarthy, in partnership with North Lancashire Down's Syndrome Group.

Wanderings with Plover Scar & Flashes of Illuminations 

How can we respond creatively to the challenges of being human? Neurological research suggests we need to let our minds wander. And so, for Friday night only, Plover Scar Lighthouse will be wandering the streets, dispensing illuminations on comforts and warnings, created by citizens of Lancaster. Plover Scar Lighthouse will also be at the Zine Library at the Gregson Centre on Saturday afternoon at 2pm, where it’s helping to launch a Madzines project takeover, where you can share reflections on being and becoming human. This is a collaboration from Morecambe and Lancaster Zine Library.

Play of Light

This invites you to create a unique journey through image of the natural world using torches and mobile phone lights. Using AI image generation to create over 10 images each section, Play of Light produces a real-time video created by everyone with a light to hand – with each light becoming a star in the sky, a burst of cloud or a droplet of water on a leaf. See it at Market Street in the former Mountain Warehouse Shop. By Joe Lindley and Roger Whitham.

Solar Eclipse 

Found in New Street Square, Ludus Dance's latest immersive installation combines solar powered light art and movement. This visually stunning, durational live performance includes film, multi-projection and light, movement and stillness and digital projections and torchlight. All these elements come together to explore the minimal and maximum use of power, underpinned by solar practice and resources – each performance is led by the amount of power in each battery.

The Magical Night Market

Market Square will once again be alive with local street food stalls, drinks vendors and live music, with a beautifully lit dining space to sit in and lap up the atmosphere. It’s the perfect place to pause between installations or meet up with friends. Plus there’s the benefit of supporting local traders, many of whom use locally-produced food and are passionate about having a positive impact on the local community and environment.

Dancing Fountain

Visualising sound in liquid form, the Dancing Fountain uses propriety algorithms, a high-frequency pump and a hand-machined turbine to transform music in real-time into a self-choreographed water dance. Thanks to engineer and kinetic artist Alexis Richter and SuperMassive, technology and creativity are breathtakingly brought together for a fully automated interpretation of recorded and live music. There’ll also be resident DJs playing emotive, textural music to get the water dancing, from Classical to Glitch-Hop, Jazz to Psychedelic Dub. This can be found in Sun Square.

A Kind of Magic

A magical piece all the way from Finland, this is a modern version of the 19th-century Pepper’s Ghost illusion. The installation forces us to ask if we can believe our eyes as the magic trick is done and revealed at the same time. What can we create with bottled air? Will the glow of the coals create heat, and will the heart-shaped cloud eventually form from smoke, steam, haze or magic? No smoke without fire? Think again! Based in Lancaster Library, A Kind of Magic will also be accompanied by three Light Up Library Cafes each evening, run by the Friends of Lancaster Library (6pm-9pm), an Aladdin’s cave of illuminated surprises, and a beautiful, handmade Basket of Light, for donations to The Olive Branch foodbank.

Garland the Gate

Enter into Lancaster Castle and be greeted by this year’s festival theme, ‘The Art of Science’. Experience a pageant of scientific endeavours about the natural world – from the micro to the macro, cells to stars, our universe is made of wonder. This artwork comes courtesy of visual artist Laura Spark, who specialises in animation, film and performance.

The Storage Ring: Illuminating Science 

Did you know that the UK is home to a huge particle accelerator? Aside from being one of Light Up Lancaster 2024’s festival Champions, Diamond Light Source is the UK’s national synchrotron, working like a giant microscope to harness the power of electrons to produce bright light that scientists can use in their research and studies. Bringing a laboratory to life through animated lights, projections and sound, this installation celebrates Diamond’s place in the history of science, the breakthroughs that happen there and its aspirations for the future. Don't miss it in the Storey Auditorium.

There is much more on offer at Light Up Lancaster 2024. See HERE for the full programme. 

For the second year running, in 2024 the fireworks display will not be part of Light Up Lancaster.

Light Up Lancaster is delivered in partnership by Lancaster City Council, Lancaster BID and The Dukes.

The festival is supported with funding from Arts Council England, Lancaster City Council and Lancaster BID.

Additional financial and in-kind support comes from Lancaster University, Lancaster University Confucius Institute, Pennine Events, the Duchy of Lancaster, and Lancaster’s arts and cultural organisations.

Read more: Festival will highlight Lancaster factory’s centenary - Beyond Radio

Beyond Radio to broadcast live from Light Up Lancaster for first time ever - Beyond Radio