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Illuminating York

Date uploaded: October 28, 2015

As the nights start drawing in, York is gearing up for the annual celebration of light that is the illuminating York Festival. Now in its 10th year, the Festival was one of the first of its kind in the UK and it continues to pursue new ways of showing the historic city in a new light. Inspired by the UNESCO International Year of Light, the 2015 Festival celebrates light in all of its forms, from the flickering flame to the light emitting diode.

For the first time, the Festival has been programmed by two artistic curators who have selected a series of artworks across the city, once again transforming York after dark. For 2015, Hazel Colquhoun and Andrew Knight have conceived a Festival Promenade with installations created by five sets of artists along the route, culminating in the Museum Gardens where York’s botanical gardens will be transformed. Specially selected lamps in shop and business windows will feature along the route between the artworks.

The festival includes new commissions created for specific historic city sites from Freshwest (Marcus Beck & Simon Macro), Nayan Kulkarni and Esther Rolinson and an installation of Shadowing (Jonathan Chomko & Matthew Rosier), originally commissioned for Watershed’s Playable City Award in 2014, at seven locations across York.  The Museum Gardens will be transformed by Illuminati Botanica,  a journey through 17 light and sound works by Jony Easterby, Ulf Pedersen & Mark Anderson and city centre shop windows will play host to over 30 ‘bunny lamps’ which have been customised for the festival by artists, designers, illustrators and architects.

Illuminating York takes place over four nights from the 28th to the 31st of October 2015.

For more information click here.