It’s 3am. Something wakes you from your sleep – what was it? A fox? An owl? Something unknown and unseen. You turn over and try to get back to sleep, but thoughts intrude, and start to race around and around, stopping you from returning to your slumber. This is your ‘old’ brain, hyper vigilant against threat, a leftover from the dim and distant past when we lived in caves and huts. It kept us safe then from the creatures of the night, but they’re all gone now…

Hours of Darkness is a giant illuminated lantern brain with short films exploring ideas about the things that keep us awake at night created especially for Light Night Stoke-on-Trent as part the North Staffordshire-artist commissions.

Created by The Social Agency, an arts-based support group for autistic and/or learning-disabled adults, facilitated by Rideout (Creative Arts for Rehabilitation). Realised by local artists Richard Redwin and B arts’ Hilary Hughes, with sound by Toby White.

Hours of Darkness is presented as part of Light Night Stoke-on-Trent. Match funded by Arts Council England and Stoke-on-Trent City Council and delivered by Appetite in partnership with Stoke-on-Trent City Council and the Cultural Forum, find out more about Light Night Stoke-on-Trent and plan your visit here.