Image: Gareth Jones
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A ce l e brat i o n o f ar t , pe r f o r m an ce , l i gh t an d f ire
11 -2 6 OCT 19
v i sit blac kpo ol .co m/ ligh t po o lf e st ival
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I’ve always loved Blackpool’s breezy optimism, which is so perfectly expressed by the way the entire town puts on its best illuminated smile to greet the darkening evenings of Autumn. Around the world societies and civilisations mark this time of year with festivals of fire and light, and here in Blackpool, the Lightpool Festival has quickly established itself as the celebration to be seen at as performance, installation and illumination come together to welcome in the changing season.
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen Creative Curator Blackpool Illuminations
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Blackpool’s award-winning Lightpool Festival returns for 2019, taking Blackpool’s town centre and glittering Golden Mile into the realms of the light fantastic! The festival gives you the chance to immerse yourself in an extraordinary universe of live performance, art trail adventures and spectacular installations including a giant Earth and Sun. We invite you to bring your family, friends and dogs to join in our LumiDogs and Carnival of Lights Parade and boogie along to our exhilarating evening of Carnival Magic with firebreathing beasts, robots and stunning illuminated dancers. Enjoy our family-friendly workshops, spellbinding interactive public talks and get up close and personal with legendary storytellers Mama G and Garzagle the Post Alien from Pluto in our community-led, light-themed activities and free events.
Look out too for bespoke pieces of art and installations by contemporary international artists, designers and architects that will light up the resort. The programme will be complemented by the Lightpool 3D shows, which will be projected on to the front of The Blackpool Tower buildings each night throughout the festival. It all adds up to 15 nights of magic, music and illuminated magnificence.
Everything in the festival is free thanks to the generosity of our sponsors and partners, Arts Council England, VisitBlackpool, LeftCoast, the Town Centre BID, Access Fylde Coast, Northern Rail and The Blackpool Tower.
And don’t forget that until November 3, you can enjoy what is widely billed as the greatest free show on earth – the Blackpool Illuminations.
Phil Holmes Creative Lead, Lightpool Festival
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In association with
The Lightpool projections will transform The Blackpool Tower into a sea of light, colour and sound, as stunning, digitally-mapped multi-media shows are projected on to this iconic building. There are five individual projection shows, including the three headline shows – Down The Rabbit Hole, Chasing Stars (featuring astronaut Tim Peake), Enchanted Blackpool, and a specially-commissioned Sooty Show.
This year the projections will be concentrated into a three-week period so as to fully integrate the shows into the Lightpool Festival. For show timings check website for details.
Fri 11 Oct to Sun 3 Nov
Tower Festival Headland
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Does your dog light up your life? Well now it’s time to return the favour! We are looking for the most ‘fur’bulous local dogs and owners to take part in our LumiDogs workshops.
In partnership with Houndshill Shopping Centre we will be holding design and make workshops on Sat 12 and Sun 13 Oct, every hour, 10am – 2pm.
During the workshops you will be working alongside a team of experts and costume designers as they assist you in the creation of the most perfect and bespoke illuminated costume for your dog.
Taking part is absolutely FREE, simply sign up to our workshops at eventbrite.co.uk Everyone who takes part in our workshops will also have the opportunity to have their stylish pooch photographed and will be given an instant copy to take away with them.
Sat 12 and Sun 13 Oct
Houndshill Shopping Centre
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Gaia is a touring artwork by UK artist Luke Jerram. Measuring seven metres in diameter, Gaia features 120dpi detailed NASA imagery of the Earth’s surface*. The artwork provides the opportunity to see our planet on this scale, floating in three dimensions.
The installation creates a sense of the Overview Effect, which was first described by author Frank White in 1987. Common features of the experience for astronauts are a feeling of awe for the planet, a profound understanding of the interconnection of all life, and a renewed sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment. A specially made surround sound composition by BAFTA award winning Composer Dan Jones is played alongside the sculpture. In Greek Mythology Gaia is the personification of the Earth. The artwork is 1.8 million times smaller than the real Earth with each centimetre of the internally lit sculpture describing 18km of the Earth’s surface. By standing 211m away from the artwork, the public will be able to see the Earth as it appears from the moon.
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Thurs 17 Oct (Launch Event) 21 – 24 Oct Dance Performances Blackpool Tower Ballroom 7pm – 10.30pm
Dancing Around the World
Dance in the UK’s most feted ballroom beneath Luke Jerram’s spectacular Earth installation, Gaia.
Take to the floor as the Tower Ballroom organists serenade you to an appropriate selection of night-themed classics, or sit back and relax to enjoy entertainment from local dance schools on the launch event, with individual performances from the schools on the other nights. Entrance is FREE, no dancing experience necessary.
Unlike the moon, which we have been gazing at for millennia, the first time humankind got to see the Earth in its entirety as a blue marble floating in space was in 1972 with NASA’s Apollo 17 mission. At this moment, our perception and understanding of our planet changed forever. Hanging in the black emptiness of space the Earth seems isolated, a precious and fragile island of life. From a distance, the Earth is just a pale blue dot. *The imagery for the artwork has been compiled from Visible Earth series, NASA.
Created in partnership with the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Bluedot Festival and The UK Association for Science and Discovery Centres. With supporting partners Culture Liverpool and Liverpool Cathedral. Image: Gareth Jones
Mon 14 – Fri 25 Oct
(NOT AVAILABLE 18 Oct)
Blackpool Tower Ballroom 6pm – 10.30pm
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A world premiere, SUN is a partnership between public artist Alex Rinsler and Professor. Robert Walsh, one of the UK’s leading solar physicists. SUN is a seven-metre diameter suspended sphere, presenting astrophysical data from NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory in stunning 360°. SUN displays several months in the life of our closest star but in tens of minutes of real time. This continually evolving globe reveals the SUN in extreme ultraviolet light, a part of the electromagnetic spectrum beyond human sight. Specialised image enhancement techniques highlight the finer details and texture of our solar neighbour, which would otherwise be lost. Cycling through different ranges of temperature from a cool 4500 degrees to an impossibly hot 10 million degrees, SUN reveals our star in a completely new light.
With support of public funding from Arts Council England and the Science and Technology Facilities Council, and technical production by Pufferfish. Co-commissioned by the Lightpool Festival, Blackpool and Light Up Lancaster.
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Mon 14 to Sat 26 Oct
Olympia Winter Gardens 6pm – 10pm Talks 7pm
Public Talks
All talks are accessible to a non-expert audience, and will include British Sign Language interpretation throughout the talks.
Thursday 17th October 2019 - Our Dynamic Sun by Dr Helen Mason (University of Cambridge) Friday 18th October 2019 - The Search for Extrasolar Planets and Extra-terrestrial Life in the Milky Way by Dr Mark Norris (University of Central Lancashire) Thursday 24th October 2019 - When Galaxies Collide! by Dr Megan Argo (University of Central Lancashire) Friday 25th October 2019 - Living with a Star by Professor Robert Walsh (University of Central Lancashire) For full details of the talks and to book your FREE place, visitblackpool.com/lightpoolfestival
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Exhibition with works by Brass Art, Mat Collishaw, Rachel Goodyear, Helen Maurer, Tim Noble and Sue Webster. Continuing Grundy Art Gallery’s commitment to exhibiting and collecting artworks that explore the use of ‘light’; this exhibition, brings together a group of internationally recognised contemporary artists whose works cast shadows, conjure illusions and bring the inanimate to life. Referencing pre-cinematic techniques and Victorian optical entertainments, these artworks use the transformative power of light to alter perception and trick the eye. Family friendly workshops being run during the October half-term period; contact the gallery on 01253 478170 for more information or go to: grundyartgallery.com
Grundy Art Gallery
Exhibition runs from
Sat 28 Sept – Sat 14 Dec 10am – 5pm
Late night opening during the Lightpool Festival: Fri 18 Oct 7pm, Fri 26 Oct 6pm Image: Helen Maurer, ‘Cave Painting’. Photographer: Angela Moore. Courtesy the artist and Danielle Arnaud.
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Building on the huge success of the inaugural Fit2Glow in 2018, Lightpool Festival in partnership with Blackpool Football Club Community Trust are to hold UV Football events for Blackpool Year 2 Primary Schools, during October.
Teams from all primary schools will don neon bibs, glow in the dark accessories and face paint for the 5-a-side competition, in an innovative and fun-filled event, which forms just part of the Education and Health initiative work undertaken by BFCCT. The unique concept offers a perfect mix of fun, sport and family activity. The heats will take place at Blackpool Sports Centres. The sports halls will be transformed into a playground of ultraviolet light and glow in the dark sport; when the lights are switched off, the games begin.
The two winning schools from each of the heats, will participate a fun-filled final where the worthy winners will be crowned and awarded their unique trophy. The final event is open to the public in The Blackpool Tower Circus.
Wed 16 Oct
Blackpool Tower Circus 9.30am – 12pm
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As dusk falls, three large translucent heads appear. Looking a bit like the giant Easter Island Heads, but each one of these moves, blinks, and seems almost alive - as they are all magically animated by projections.
The giant heads speak and sing, as faces of the audience are mapped using 3-D face capture, their mouths animated to put words into their mouths.
They show the faces of any audience members who use our quick self-portrait camera - so absolutely anyone can add their likeness and become part of the artwork. But then as we watch, the heads begin to speak, to tell tales and even sing short fragments of songs as we put words in their mouths - all fully lip-synced. Hear them speak and sing words they never said...
An engaging, fun, and rewarding experience for audiences of all ages.
Sat 19 Oct
Tower Festival Headland 7pm – 9pm
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Tonight, we are offering something a little different at Central Library, as we dim the lights, decorate the bookcases and bring you an evening of light engagement.
Programme includes: • Illuminations archive film footage • Virtual reality 3D VR experience of the Lightpool Festival Light Odyssey concert with BBC Philharmonic (pictured above) • Children’s reading by torchlight, with guest narrators: 6.30pm Mama G is delighted to be returning to Blackpool to shine bright with stories about being who you are and loving who you want (recommended age 3yrs+). 7.15pm Join Gazargle, the intrepid Postalien from Pluto who has flown through the stars to share stories of space and aliens (recommended age 6yrs+). 8pm Meet the founder of the Blackpool Tower, Sir John Bickerstaffe who will take you through 125years of The Blackpool Tower (recommended age 8 to 15yrs) Complimentary booklet ‘The Magical History of the The Blackpool Tower’. • Archive Illuminations photography exhibition • Refreshments • Blackpool Museum Project children’s illumination design • Engaging workshops Please note all children must be accompanied by an adult over the age of 18.
Fri 18 Oct
Central Library, Blackpool 6pm – 9pm
Top image: Virtual reality 3D VR experience of the Lightpool Festival Light Odyssey concert with BBC Philharmonic
Library Services
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Wave-Field is a series of eight giant see saws that light up and make music as you bounce. This magical piece has been brought from Canada by LeftCoast and Lightpool Festival to bring a playground to St John’s Square as part of this year’s programme. Become immersed in the unique soundscape as the see saws move with their riders – each one with its own temperament and creating its own melody. Wave-Field is an ever-changing urban instrument – powered by you.
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Whether you join in or watch – you will be immersed in an organic symphony as the see saws light up and come to life. Wave-Field by Lateral Office and CS Design with soundscape by Mitchell Akiyama.
Wed 23 – Sat 26 Oct 6.00pm – 10.30pm St John’s Square
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Thurs 24 Oct
FREE event
Payable ticket for Illuminated
Tram ride available from the
Tourist Information Centre
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To celebrate Blackpool’s unique tramway history, this Parade is a tribute to the rich heritage of our Illuminated Trams. The parade presents a unique opportunity to witness Blackpool’s historic collection of illuminated tramcars featuring a battleship, trawler and Great Western train.
The parade leaves from Blackpool Pleasure Beach and on it’s arrival at Central Pier you will be joined by the East Midlands Caribbean Carnival Arts Network featuring a troupe of fabulously costumed, illuminated revellers! Illuminated Carnival puppets will also be joining the parade adding a wow factor and showcasing content never seen before by audiences in Blackpool. The Glowing Gastropods; two giant, illuminated,racing snails will hit the streets jockeyed by professional snail riders. Mounted with their own internal PA’s they will blast out party tunes for our other puppet friends to dance along to, interacting with audiences as they go.
Kantaben is a beautiful and playful illuminated Roller Bird. Clad in Indian fabrics and flapping her beautiful silk wings,watch in wonder as she soars and swoops high over the heads of the crowds, looking for new friends to make. Oxumaré; Standing at an impressive 4 meters tall, Oxumaré (oh-shoo-mar-ay) is an elegant, shimmering being and all the colours of the rainbow. Oxumaré will captivate audiences as well as representing and paying homage to our ancient African ancestors The Tram Parade leaves The Pleasure Beach at 5.45pm, arriving at Central Pier at approximately 6pm to be joined by the entertainment procession. Proceeding to the Tower, a celebratory special carnival performance will be performed at the Tower Festival Headland.
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An exhilarating menagerie of illuminated Carnival characters will hit the streets of Blackpool for an electrifying showcase of music, puppetry and dance. We have handpicked a team of internationally recognised Carnival performers to present a four-part showstopper, bringing a diverse melting pot of Carnival magic. From fire-breathing beasts to stunning illuminated dancers, there will be something for all the family.
ROBOTS! Programmed to entertain, our illuminated drumming robots will wow the crowd. Controlled by the giant pink sparkly dancing robot queen; I.O.L.A 2.0, this entertaining street act will push you to party like it’s 2999.
FIRE BREATHING BEASTS! Gasp and wonder at their fiery release. This show features striking puppets and exciting pyrotechnics mixed with a sinister and hypnotic performance. With sweeping wings and scorched metal, Toni the Fire Bat is a visitor from an ancient, magical past, awoken from the fiery belly of the Earth to fight Bessimer, the Fire-Breathing Dragon.
CARNIVAL MAGIC! A 20-piece carnival band will spring to life and fill the stage with beautiful dancers in giant illuminated dresses, accompanied by red-hot carnival drummers and illuminated puppets Padmini and Shivaji, our Bollywood Prince and Princess.
THE GRAND FINALE! The show will crescendo with a full cast presentation of all puppets and performers, encouraging the audience to take to the dance floor and boogie to our Global Grooves with friends old and new.
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Fri 25 Oct
Tower Festival Headland 7pm – 8pm
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Belgian performance troupe Pyronix invite you to immerse yourself in a fantastic universe where fire is at the heart of an endless struggle.
Adonias is the latest production from Pyronix, with a Celtic vibe in this colourful universe, where the red is master. Let them seduce you with medieval and catchy music, and a mixture of poetry and technique. Adonias presents the ruthless competition that binds the most powerful fire masters. With precise choreography and intense music, you’ll be taken on an outstanding and explosive visual journey. Equipped with their finest kilts our artists will impress you with the objects they handle, from the immerse sphere to the flamethrower, not forgetting the swirling embers in which they will disappear. This Belgian professional fire, light and pyrotechnic show will bring the Comedy Carpet alight with an outstanding fire show extravaganza.
Prepare for a breath-taking close to the Lightpool Festival, as Blackpool Tower is bathed in a cascade of shimmering fireworks.
Sat 26 Oct
Tower Festival Headland 7pm – 8pm
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The Lightpool Festival ‘Town Centre Art’ is a self-guided tour over 13 nights. Recognisable indoor and outdoor spaces will be transformed by spectacular artworks by local, national and international artists.
Check out the website for full details
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Central Library Birley Street St John’s Square Winter Gardens Church Street Houndshill Shopping Centre Comedy Carpet Blackpool Tower Nightly
Mon 14 – Sat 26 Oct 6pm – 10.30pm
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EXHIBITION RUNS FROM SAT 28 SEPT – SAT 14 DEC A Trick of the Light Grundy Art Gallery 10am – 5pm OPENS FRI 11 OCT Tower Projections Tower Festival Headland until the 3 Nov
SAT 12 AND SUN 13 OCT Lumidogs Workshops Houndshill Shopping Centre 10am – 2pm MON 14 TO FRI 25 OCT (NOT AVAILABLE 18 OCT) Gaia Blackpool Tower Ballroom 6pm – 10.30pm MON 14 TO SAT 26 OCT SUN Winter Gardens Olympia 6pm – 10pm MON 14 – SAT 26 OCT Nightly Town Centre Art 6pm – 10.30pm
WED 16 OCT FIT2GLOW Final Blackpool Tower Circus 9.30am – 12pm
THURS 17 OCT (LAUNCH EVENT), 21-24 OCT DANCE PERFORMANCES Dancing Around the World Blackpool Tower Ballroom 7pm–10.30pm FRI 18 OCT Late at the Library Central Library, Blackpool 6pm – 9pm SAT 19 OCT Talking Heads Tower Festival Headland 7pm – 9pm WED 23 – SAT 26 OCT Wave-Field St John’s Square 6.00pm – 10.30pm
THURS 24 OCT Carnival of the Lights Start: 5:45pm, 6pm arrive at Central Pier. Performance at Comedy Carpet Start: 6.30pm FRI 25 OCT Carnival Magic Comedy Carpet 7pm – 8pm
SAT 26 OCT Pyronix presents Adonias Comedy Carpet 7pm – 8pm