Salford Quays will certainly be enlightened by this year's Lightwaves 2016, the biggest digital light festival in the country. It features nine artists' installations that are set to illuminate everywhere around the area, from the Plaza outside The Lowry, to the Piazza at MediaCityUK to the River Irwell itself.
GNI Project's Heart Beat, a co-commission with Blackpool Illuminations, uses mixed lighting media to create the symbol of a heart.
"From one angle Heart Beat is an animated 3D heartbeat pulsing through the sculpture" states organisers Quays Culture "From another angle, the lights join to form a heart. For the heart to appear spectators are encouraged to make a connection of love, or friendship, by joining hands in front of the sculpture; human touch reveals the heart. Once the connection is lost the heart is broken into fragments again."
Meanwhile, Voyage, created by Aether and Hemera, features six lines of 33 origami boats, occupying a space of 630m2.
"The 198 boats were designed to engage with the community and transform the waterfront" Quays Culture explains "The fleet composes an organic matrix of interactive lights, which change colour when passers-by interact with it on their mobile phones.
"The public can transform the pattern and colour of the paper boats by connecting their mobile device to Voyage Wi-Fi network and opening their browser to access Voyage.co.uk; users will be given a choice of artworks to interact with, such as a rainbow or the night sky – choosing an artwork option will change the colour of the boats in the water" they add.
Blackpool Illuminations has a massive collection of items and Lightwaves will be showcasing attractions with links to the BBC, including Dr Who, the Daleks and the Tardis, while Noddy, Postman Pat, SpongeBob and more will be appearing in light, along with a forest of LED trees.
Elsewhere, SHINE, in partnership with Leeds Light Night, sees the creation of three new commissions, from three up-and-coming artists. Footsteps by Sam Sebbage consists of 80 illuminated footsteps walking a path; Edyta Masior's Laiki#3 sees a kind of fluorescent harp, and Fire Flies, a creation from Fixed Grinn Collective, consists of hundreds of illuminated LED spheres that `float' as they interact with the public.
Massimo Uberti and Marco Pollice have created Today I Love You, originally commissioned for Amsterdam's Light Festival 2015. It's a message written in light by Italian artist, Uberti, to make everyone feel uplifted.
There's also films being shown, including One Square Mile by Chris Paul Daniels and Sam Meech, which explores environments, architecture and communities within one square mile of the Quays, and a Digital Workshop, for all ages which will be running from Friday 9th until Sunday 11th December, between noon and 2:30pm, and 4:30pm-7:30pm. On Saturday 10th December there will also be an Artist Talk, with GNI Projects and Aether and Hemera.
The festival kicks off on Friday 9th December with a performance by the Honour Choir, bringing together hundreds of singers from across the region.
Lightwaves 2016
Friday 9th – Sunday 18th December free
Salford Quays noon-10:30pm
For full details see www.quaysculture.com
Or on Facebook: QuaysCulture
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