Light Up Middleport

Let’s Light Up Middleport!

Wednesday 21 & Thursday 22 January

Drop in any time 4pm – 8pm. FREE!

Location: around the Bowling Green in Middleport Park.

Light Up Middleport is the first event in our✨ Light Up Winter ✨ series, which includes Light Up Hanley (3 & 4 Feb) and Newcastle Under Light (4 March).

Featuring immersive artworks, projections and interactive installations, the Light Up Winter series will transform familiar spaces into glowing, playful places to explore after dark.

Each of the three events in the series will feature different artists and artworks, and a special vibe that reflects the community where it happens.

At Light Up Middleport, you will see encounter illuminated boxes flashing in time with residents’ heartbeats, flying fish made from recycled plastic bottles, and a large,

It will also feature a large-scaleinteractive structure where you can create melodies and light patterns using simple hand movements.

With thanks to our Light Up Middleport partners Middleport Matters with support from Canal & River Trust, and to our funder for this event, Denise Coates Foundation.

Got a question?

We’ve got answers! Head over to our Light Up Middleport Access & FAQs page to find everything we think you might need to know to prepare for your visit.

Sneak peeks

The Matter of the Heart

by idontloveyouanymore

The Matter of the Heart is a beautiful installation from an award-winning studio, made up of 30 glowing boxes, each connected to a person’s live heartbeat and accompanied by a short description of their connection to Stoke-on-Trent.

During the event, each participant’s light box will pulse in time with their live heartbeat, bringing the installation to life, forming a portrait of the city’s collective beating heart.

Flying Fish

by Wild Rumpus

Wild Rumpus have transformed recycled plastic and milk bottles into a stunning installation of flying fish. Arranged at different heights on a series of supports, they aim to evoke a sense of movement.

Wild Rumpus are an award-winning arts organisation based in a woodland in Cheshire, working to deepen connections to nature through outdoor events.

Circo Tree

by Dan Fox at Sound Intervention

Circo Tree is a large-scale interactive sound and light installation. It creates a gathering space that feels like being in an open air circus tent.

The audience can play Circo Tree using an invisible beam. A simple hand movement up and down allows the user to play melodies and make patterns in the lights move around the structure.

Listen to artist Dan Fox as he talks you through what you can expect from Circo Tree, why it was made, and his bio.

Faceboard

by Dan Fox at Sound Intervention

Faceboard is a fun interactive re-invention of the iconic seaside comic foreground.

Instead of a painted static image, Sound Intervention use digital animations projected and manipulated by an artist to fit the faces looking through.

You can be anything from a mermaid to a dinosaur, snowman to a dragon!

Kiln Lanterns

by B.Arts and the community

B. ARTS will run a drop-in lantern making workshop in advance of the event. The lanterns made, in the shape of bottle kilns, will be displayed during the event.

At the event you are invited to help create a huge sculptural lantern in The Block, on the Bowling Green.

B. ARTS love making lanterns and teaching other people how to make them! They have made lanterns and bespoke night-time events locally, across the UK and further afield (in Italy, Romanis, Bosnia, Hungary, France, Mexico and Denmark!).

Be part of the art

Would you like your heartbeat to be one of 30 featured in The Matter of The Heart?

Those selected to take part will be invited to a 15-minute session on either 17 or 19 January, between 10am and 4pm, at Middleport Matters’ Harper Street base. Participants will be given a heart monitor to wear, download an app to transmit their heartbeat, and share a few words about what Stoke-on-Trent means to them.

For your chance to be chosen, apply via the idontloveyouanymore website.

The Appetite programme and Light Up Winter series of events is funded by National Lottery through Arts Council England’s Creative People and Places programme. With additional event funding from UK Government, Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, Denise Coates Foundation, and Middleport Matters. Light Up Winter is delivered in partnership with Stoke-on-Trent City Centre BID, Newcastle-under-Lyme BID, and Stoke Creates.