Curated Place launch ENLIGHT EU-wide Light Art production network connecting UK, Italy and Norway

Curated Place has partnered with MIRIAD at the Manchester School of Art, I/O/Lab (Stavanger) and FONDAZIONE mondo DIGITALE (Rome) to form the European Light Expression Network (ENLIGHT), which will build on our existing programme to offer six international residencies connecting artists with technicians and scientists to create a series of accessible, large-scale public realm Light Art works.

The network will deliver a range of festivals, workshops, masterclasses and debates alongside professional development meetings and an online resource for organisations involved. As well as the residencies we will run two focused creative labs welcoming artists and technologists selected from across Europe to Rome and Manchester.

The presentation of these artworks will then take place at the established light and technology festivals/events already run by the partners, including Rome Media Art Festival, the innovative media arts festival Article Biennial in Stavanger, Enlighten Festival of Light and Sound Art in Manchester and the brilliantly successful Spectra, Aberdeen's Festival of Light supported by Aberdeen City Council's International Twinning Grant connecting Stavanger and Aberdeen.

We will be announcing the open call for artists in the coming week and you can be the first to hear by signing up to our news feeds on the links below. Please share with anyone you think might be interested, it promises to be quite a special opportunity to create new work with real support.

Facebook: Curated Place page Twitter: @curatedplace

i/o/lab is an artist-run organization with expertise in the field of art, technology and science. Their expertise extends from production to dissemination and knowledge of art within new technology and science.They represent the region's most innovative arts festival focusing on media art that expresses contemporary technology and trends, Article Biennial, which has been arranged in the Stavanger region since 2006.

Fondazione Mondo Digitale deliver digital education programmes nationally in Italy and run the Rome Media Art Festival. They are committed to the creation of an inclusive learning society in which innovation, education, inclusion and fundamental values work together.

Manchester Arts School's research department MIRIAD carries forward Manchester's proud 175 year tradition in art and design education, whilst offering an innovative and modern approach to research and study. MIRIAD's main aim is to develop research capabilities commensurate with sustainable national and international levels of excellence.

Spectra Aberdeen's Festival of Light is a festival of high quality performances, spaces and works of art that marry light, sound and interactive experiences. Featuring major public realm and gallery installations alongside new experimental works from the North East’s creative community the festival enlivens the city and celebrates Aberdeen’s creative past, present and future.

Supported by The International Twinning Grant

Enlighten 2015 Artist Mark Page featured in GUP Magazine

Following on from his success as a featured Artist at Enlighten 2015, Photographer Mark Page has been featured in acclaimed photography magazine GUP.

In the Guide to Unique Photography's next issue titled Mixing It Up, Mark is featured alongside other acclaimed photographers, as leading experimenters with the medium.

Mark, who specialises in socially-engaged creative photography, presented his work Sodley-on-Sea at Enlighten 2015: a photographic social documentary series about an imaginary British seaside town. Sodley is made up of images sourced from the Internet that are printed, physically cropped and then used to build dioramas that are photographed before being destroyed.

To order the Mixing It Up issue of GUP Magazine click here

Mark Page: http://www.manchesterphotography.com

SPECTRA 2016 Night Walks with the University of Aberdeen

As part of SPECTRA 2016 Aberdeen's Festival of Light, the University of Aberdeen will be holding two night walks exploring Aberdeen's History. Also included in the programme will be talks from Light Artist Jim Buchanan, who is presenting his piece Labyrinths of Light during the festival.

University of Aberdeen Night Walks

Over the past years, researchers at the University of Aberdeen have cultivated a tradition and following for walks around the city. These are not traditional historical trail walks, but involve multi-sensory experiences, performance and participation, and health and fitness tracking.

Night Walk 1: TrackAberdeen: Touring George Washington Wilson’s City Today

Thursday 11th February, 6.00-7.30pm Location (start): Seventeen 17 Belmont Street, Aberdeen AB10 1JR Price: Free BOOK HERE

This tour will let people explore Victorian photographer George Washington Wilson’s Aberdeen - by darkness.

Find your way to different locations photographed by Wilson where you will discover the history and previous appearances of the buildings he photographed by daylight, comparing and contrasting yours taken by night.

We encourage participants to track their tour using their own wearable devices and smartphone apps (step counters, GPS, calories used) to upload their data alongside their photographs against the #GWWnightwalks16

Tour Guide Heather Morgan is a social scientist and health services researcher with interests in human/tracking-technologies interactions.

She predominantly uses qualitative methodologies and current work concerns digital health devices ('wearables') and smartphone apps used within and outside the health service.

A founding Trustee of ODI Aberdeen / CodeTheCity, Andrew Sage is an amateur photographer who has had several exhibitions of his work.

Night Walk 2: Light Walk

Friday 12th February, 5.30-6.30pm Location (start): Seventeen 17 Belmont Street, Aberdeen AB10 1JR Price: Free BOOK HERE

Please bring a digital camera/mobile phone camera if you have one.

This walk will be the first evening walk of its kind, involving stops at sites relevant to the history and tradition of research into light, electromagnetic radiation, and photography. Participants will learn about the tradition of research into light in the city that dates back centuries and scientific advancements as a result of that research.

Participants will also have the opportunity to participate in performative events, such as flash mobs in the context of the walk, track their movement through the use of pedometers, discuss and interpret the light installations around the city, and explore the multi-sensory experience of an evening walk, in the absence of daylight.

Please wear walking shoes and dress appropriately for the weather. As part of the walk you will be invited to take part in some participatory performances. 

Tour Guides

Join Amy Bryzgel and Chris Croly of the University of Aberdeen in an interactive walk around the city centre highlighting sites connected to research and discoveries relevant to light and illumination in its broadest sense, including the work of James Clerk Maxwell.

Discuss light installations  and track your steps.

Night Walk 3: Walking Between Light & Shadow by Jim Buchanan

Friday 12th February, 7.30-8.30pm and Saturday 13th February, 7.30-8.30pm Location (start): Seventeen 17 Belmont Street, Aberdeen AB10 1JR Price: Free BOOK HERE

An opportunity to meet labyrinth artist Jim Buchanan.

We will gather at Seventeen at 19.30hrs for a short discussion on contemporary labyrinth applications.  Aberdeen poet Petra Vergunst will read recent work reflecting on the subjects of pilgrimage and labyrinths, before we walk across to St.Nicholas Kirk to explore the installations. The artist will be available for further discussion and questions afterwards.

Gather at : 19.30-20.00 hrs : 17 Belmont Street, Aberdeen AB10 1JR

Walk with the artist : 20.00-20.30hrs : St Nicholas Kirk

Looking back on Enlighten 2015 and forward to SPECTRA 2016

As the final installation comes down, Kathy Hinde's Luminous Birds, we're looking back at the success of Enlighten Manchester Festival of Light and Sound Art 2015.

Featuring an epic 22 installations throughout the Manchester Central Library and The Bridgewater Hall, this stunning festival lit up the dampened dark nights before Christmas, drawing large audiences in from the cold.

Visitors' imaginations were sparked by birds soaring across piano strings to create musical scores; a chandelier of sparkling earrings and a cutting edge sound and light installation that is felt not seen.

Visitors also enjoyed the nightly concerts, which began with the world premiere of The Bremen Town Musicians, a music and live animation work inspired by bestselling author Philip Pullman’s new translation of the Brothers’ Grimm fairy tales. The concert included a specially commissioned score by celebrated film composer Enrica Sciandrone for new music ensemble Psappha.

On Friday evening Kathy Hinde and Matthew Olden presented a live performance of Piano Migrations, which transforms the inside of a recycled piano into a kinetic sound sculpture. We watched enthralled as dozens of small birds landing on telegraph lines appeared to flutter and settle on its strings. Nature appeared to control machines as they came together to create a delicate and ever-changing musical score.

For the Festival's final performance Kay Duncan David performed to a packed room, his piece Relay in which sound and light are combined in a rhythmic, trance-inducing play of echoey clicks and dancing shadows.

Enlighten 2015 was featured in press throughout Manchester and nationally, including in Creative Tourist, The Skinny, That's Manchester TV, Manchester Evening News and BBC News.

Creative Tourist: http://www.creativetourist.com/articles/art/manchester/enlighten-festival-2015-electrifying-manchester/

The Skinny: http://www.theskinny.co.uk/art/news/enlighten-festival-manchester-christmas

That's Manchester TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA8irMEwf7g

Thank you to everyone who made Enlighten 2015 such a success and we look forward to working again with you soon!

There is little time to relax however, as we prepare to launch SPECTRA: Aberdeen's Festival of Light in February.

In partnership with Aberdeen City Council we will deliver a four day light spectacular spanning from Union Terrace Gardens to the Kirk of St Nicholas graveyard and into the signature building of the Granite City Marischal College, celebrating the Scottish Year of Architecture, Innovation & Design through this year’s theme “Spark of Inspiration”.

The festival brings together leading international artists and Scottish collaborators, featuring major public realm and gallery installations alongside new experimental works from the North East’s creative community. The audience will be invited to engage with playful, accessible and high quality performances, spaces and works of art that marry light, sound and interactive experiences.

Read the Festival Programme here

Visible Words From Invisible People Gallery

As part of Enlighten Manchester Festival of Light and Sound Art 2015, Curated Place collaborated with RECLAIM project and artist Richard William Wheater.

Focusing on the silenced voices of young people in society, the project created a series of neon statements from working class young people aged 13-19 years old, which were then photographed by David Lindsay around the city and displayed in Manchester Central Library, during Enlighten Festival in December 2015.

‘Being visible is so important. It determines your next step, allows people to acknowledge you and demands attention. I see this neon as a battle cry for the young people around the world.’ Mariama, aged 15

This collection of photographs documenting the project are on display at the Royal Exchange Theatre from Saturday 23^rd January to Saturday 30^th January.

Find out more about the project

Photographer: David Lindsay

This project is supported using public funding by Arts Council England.

in collaboration with RECLAIM Project