It’s that time of year again: Light Up Lancaster returns to brighten the city

Light Up Lancaster is set to return this week with Lancaster University researchers collaborating with artists to create a host of new exhibits for this year’s festival.

From Thursday until Saturday, installations focusing on ‘The Art of Science’ will be illuminating the city.

Entry to Light Up Lancaster is free with the event running between 5pm and 10pm from 7th until 9th November 2024.

Netflix’s Blown Away season two winner Elliot Walker, Dr Philip Donkersley from Lancaster Environment Centre (LEC) and Simon Fletcher have co-created ‘Insect Architecture’. They undoubtedly hope to raise awareness of bumblebee population decline.

Dr Phillip Donkersley and Elliot Walker said: “Any small efforts to provide food for them in your garden, or a safe space for them to live can go a long way to helping out these magnificent creatures.”

Dr Joe Lindley and Dr Roger Whitham from Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts (LICA) have designed both ‘Shadowplay’ and ‘Play of Light’. These interactive installations use AI to create experiential art. Visitors create images and music by casting shadows on an AI canvases in Shadowplay. Play of Light is situated in the old Mountain Warehouse shop on Market Street. AI and a phone torch light replicate the beauty of the natural world in this exhibit.

Lancaster graduates Anna West and Davi Callanan have collaborated with Lancaster University’s Biomedical and Life Sciences division (BLS) and Manchester-based creative studio idontloveyouanymore to create ‘In Microns’. It explores the digitisation of natural phenomena, featuring images from current university research into invertebrates and cells.

A full guide to the 14 installations and artworks on show can be found here.