Light Night’s love-themed artwork will be all heart

A romantic illuminated artwork will set hearts racing outside Leeds Town Hall during next month’s highly-anticipated Light Night Leeds.

The striking piece entitled With Love will see a giant, bright red love heart take centre stage outside the historic building during October’s spectacular two-night celebration and give visitors the chance to see their heartbeats transformed into a unique love song.

Stepping up to a specially created platform, two participants will have their beats per minute measured, with the results reconfigured and combined to create an individual melody.

Created by French artist Franck Pelletier, With Love has brought people together during last year’s iLight event at Marina Bay in Singapore and will be coming to Leeds for the first time on October 10 and 11.

The stunning piece will be one of more than 60 incredible artistic creations set to wow expected crowds of up to 80,000 at the annual cultural spectacular, which will take over some of the city’s best-known locations and buildings for the 15^th year in a row.

Featuring work by artists from across the world, the incredible event, which this year is supported by headline sponsor Vastint UK, will explore the themes of theme of Mind, Body and Spirit.

Other highlights will include a magnificent parade through the city centre which will bring dreams to life on the streets of Leeds on October 10 at 7.30pm.

Parade spectators should look out for Vastint UK’s illuminated walking Dream Trees in celebration of Aire Park, the new multi-purpose district soon to transform the South Bank. Dream Trees will also be found walking the streets of Leeds throughout the event, introducing the immersive, multi-sensory ‘Pleasance’ installation that can be explored at the Tetley Brewery site.

Breath-taking illuminated angels will also alight on Victoria Gardens while a flying violinist will perform in the atrium of the Trinity Leeds shopping centre.

And the Queens Hotel on City Square will be the unmistakable backdrop for a mesmerising digital projection entitled The Vision.

A new commission by internationally renowned projection mapping studio Ocubo from Portugal, the piece will dive into the imaginations of two characters, depicting their elaborate dreams and imaginations.

Each of this year’s pieces will take place in one of 11 zones across the city, each supported by a local business.

Councillor Judith Blake, leader of Leeds City Council, said: “Light Night exemplifies the very best of culture in our city and we’re incredibly proud that Leeds is home to such a world class celebration of creativity and imagination.

“Year after year, Light Night also brings together tens of thousands of people and families, giving them the opportunity to enjoy an unforgettable spectacle and see both modern and historic Leeds from a completely different perspective.”

Light Night Leeds takes place on October 10 and 11 from 6pm until 11pm.

For more details about the programme and installations visit www.lightnightleeds.co.uk or follow @lightnightleeds on Twitter and Instagram.

ENDS

Fore media enquiries, please contact:

Stuart Robinson

Communications Officer

Leeds City Council

Tel: 0113 378 9182 (please note my new number)

Email: stuart.robinson@leeds.gov.uk

www.leeds.gov.uk