LightNight returns for its 10th year on 17 May with over 100 free events happening across 50 venues in the city.
LightNight is a free, diverse, late-night cultural programme which celebrates different art forms in one spectacular night of entertainment and this year the theme is ‘Ritual’.
“For LightNight 2019, we will consider ritual as a universal phenomenon, spanning the breadth of human history, and also as an artistic process by which we shift our state of mind.”
Seven new commissions have been announced for this years festival:
Híbridos: The Spirits of Brazil – Vincent Moon & Priscilla Telmon
An immersive multi-screen film installation at Victoria Gallery & Museum.The film explores the world of these diverse sacred ceremonies, breaking down the distance between viewer and subject and guiding us through a realm of movement, dance and pulsating music.
Ad Finitum: The Invisible Choir — Rory Ballantyne
In the Lady Chapel at Liverpool Cathedral, composer and musician Rory Ballantyne presents an atmospheric concert of new choral arrangements that will take you on a journey through uplifting and emotional pop, rock, ancient folk, classical and experimental music that explores ideas around death and dying. The concert is followed by a Death Café, where everyone is welcome to share their thoughts and perspectives on death in a friendly setting – with cake!
Bido100 and Merseyrail present RITUAL 2.0
Set in the subterranean tunnels of Moorfields Station, RITUAL 2.0 is a large-scale audio-visual installation, developed by artist Sam Wiehl with an accompanying soundtrack mix by Forest Swords. Marking the launch of bido100! the project encourages us to consider a creative future based on Artificial Intelligence.
The Great British Baraat — Movema & Bombay Baja Brass Band
Milapfest and Movema join forces for a joyous celebration of the ritual of Indian marriage, the Baarat; an exuberant outdoor wedding ritual culminating in a Milni, the meeting of two families. In a unique mass street-dance take on this ritual Movema, local dancers and Milap favourite the Bombay Baja Brass Band will meet on Church Street and combine what they do best – music and dance!
Demolition Memorial Keepsake — anti-cool
Liverpool based Japanese artist anti-cool presents a multi-screen video and sculpture installation at Bluecoat exploring memorial objects. Inspired by Japanese cremation ceremonies, anti-cool has staged ceremonial burnings of objects that hold negative memories, brought forward by local people, and will present the personal histories behind these chosen objects on the night.
The Peaks & Troughs of Modern Rituals — Richie Moment
Richie Moment’s new light sculptures, installed on the East Portico Steps of St George’s Hall, are shrines to the popular culture we gobble up on a daily basis. Whilst their bright colours celebrate convenience food, celebrity and the days of TV on demand, they also hide a darker meaning: How much of a good thing is too much of a good thing?
Donna Summer Fever — Projectile Vomit
Be part of a modern-day pagan ritual at Constellations, as Liverpool artist group Projectile Vomit marking seven years since the passing of disco queen Donna Summer. Their audio-visual shrine acts as a focus for our collective disco energies and induce ‘Donna Summer Fever’ to appease Donna, guarantee good weather in the months ahead and a bountiful harvest for 2019.
As well as these fantastic commissions here’s some handpicked highlights you shouldn’t miss;
Cave Rave (UoL Victoria Gallery & Museum)
Immerse yourself in the mysterious ritual culture of Stone Age people. Lanterns will light the way into an atmospheric ‘cave’ dwelling where you will be invited to join the tribe and be led through an initiation ritual by a shaman. More info
Street Party Along Windsor Street
Windsor Street’s creative organisations throw a street party filled with performance, spoken word, dance, music, food, film, arts and crafts taking in the street’s beautiful venues (6pm – 10pm). More info
Wicker Woman Ceremony
The Wicker Woman is symbolic of emancipation from the shackles of patriarchal generational rituals, imposed by society and religion. Join Blackburne House in challenging the very nature of rituals and gender over time and symbolically setting women free in the most beautiful and breathtaking ceremony. More info
Drag Queen Story Time with The Night Bus (FACT 5pm-7pm)
The Nightbus is a performer and theatre-maker based in London and the Northwest. A Muslim by birth and mind, The Nightbus interrogates society’s capacity to accept and champion queer identity, race and religion through the media of drag, storytelling and spoken word, taking advantage of the rising popularity of such art forms to at first disarm audiences with effortless glamour before presenting stories about harmony and shared experience. More info
Terrible Tours (Merseyside Maritime Museum, 6pm, 7pm & 8pm)
Take a terrible terror tour, featuring tales of murders, mysteries and stories of suspense. Discover what links Sherlock Holmes, Spring-heeled Jack and Dr Crippen have to Liverpool.
Tickets are limited and must be booked in advance via liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/lightnight
Festival As Ritual (British Music Experience: 5.30pm – 10pm)
In homage to the rich variety of festivals on offer throughout the UK the BME creates an immersive walk-through experience looking at how ‘the festival’ has become embedded within our culture as a rite of passage. More info
Dandelion Flowers Ice Cream (Ropewalks Square: 5.30pm – 6.30pm)
Using wild edibles growing in and around Liverpool, Brazilian artist Jorge Menna Barreto has developed a special plant-based ice cream based on ideas of eating locally and ethically. Human civilisation has replaced foraging for a global supermarket culture, losing its sense of place and belonging. This project presents an alternative, an invitation to ‘devour our immediate surroundings’. By creating an ice cream using plants and herbs that grow around us, the artist asks us to suspend the act of consuming and use our bodies to foster deeper connections to the ecosystems we belong to. More info
Halo (Exchange Flags 5pm – 11pm)
Halo is a new participatory sonic and visual kinetic environment made up of digitally interlinked columns of ever-evolving patterns of light and sound. The visual configurations created by your touch are displayed directly upon the Halos, generated using cutting-edge physics simulations. More info
For the full events programme visit http://lightnightliverpool.co.uk/whats-on/
