illumination Archives

Newcastle Under Light

See Newcastle Under Light!

Wednesday 4 March

Drop in any time 6pm – 9pm. FREE!

Location: High Street around The Guildhall leading into Ironmarket.

Light Up Newcastle is the third and final event in our✨ Light Up Winter ✨ series transforming familiar spaces into glowing, playful places to explore after dark.

Read on to find out about fantastical, huggable fungus, the premiere of a new large-scale projection, and more! Then head to the Newcastle Under Light Access & FAQs page to find everything we think you might need to know to plan your visit.

With thanks to our Newcastle Under Light partners Newcastle-under-Lyme BID and Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council.

Sneak peeks

Voice Notes from Newcastle-under-Lyme

by leo&hyde

leo&hyde combine digital artistry with their music theatre skills to create extraordinary immersive experiences. At Newcastle Under Light they are unveiling a large-scale projection about the town inspired by the local community’s memories gathered through in-person conversations, submitted voice notes, and creative workshops.

This specially created piece, called Voice Notes From Newcastle-under-Lyme, will be beamed onto The Guildhall. Whet your appetite for the main event with this teaser…

Squeeze Me

by Air Giants

If you encountered Unfurl or LUMA the snail at previous Appetite events, you’ll know that Air Giants’ inflatable, and illuminated robots create an otherworldly environment that invites pokes, touch, and squeezes from audiences.

Squeeze Me creatures respond with synchronised shape-change, vibration, light, and sound.

This interactive experience captivates the senses, offering a mesmerising marriage of technology and imagination.

And… Breathe

by Pif-Paf

Pif-Paf are a small company based in Sheffield who make art with a big heart for places it doesn’t normally go.

And… Breathe is their new installation exploring breathing – alone and together – through mindfulness and interaction with lights and sound.

Breath is such a powerful tool for us all to find security and calm both in the moment and in our lives. With a pair of lungs, a few minutes and the right place, we can find surprising joy. So stay a while and immerse yourself. We hope it will leave you feeling calm, invigorated and in control.

Eternal Ensemble

by Onyva Studio

Eternal Ensemble is a work of spatial audio and immersive light projection that suspends the viewer in a repeated moment in time.

Watch and listen as cellist Aileen Williams performs one of your favourite classics – Pachelbel’s Canon in D – across multiple screens from different viewpoints.

The repetition of both performer and performance makes for a powerful connection between cellist and listener, creating a moment of joy that feels utterly personal, yet wholly shared.

Cloudscapes

by Kitsch n Sync

Two’s company and three’s a cloud! Follow Kitsch n Sync as they breeze around the event showering zen wherever they go.

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.

Want to know what else is going on?

Visit the What’s On page for events and go to Get Involved for more opportunities. For regular updates, why not subscribe to our newsletter, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

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Light Up Hanley

Let’s Light Up Hanley!

Tuesday 3 & Wednesday 4 February

Drop in any time 5pm – 8pm. FREE!

Location: around Albion Square and The Town Hall.

Light Up Hanley is the second event in our✨ Light Up Winter ✨ series, which includes Light Up Middleport (21 & 22 Jan) 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 Hanley, you will see a multi-sensory musical sculpture made up of more than 200 illuminated chime bars and a five-metre-high fortune-telling fruit machine.

It will also feature a large-scale projection onto The Town Hall co-created with young people from Stoke–on–Trent College, YMCA, Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College, Pinc College and artists Illuminos.

With thanks to our Light Up Hanley partners Stoke-on-Trent City Centre BID and Stoke Creates.

Got a question?

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

Sneak peeks

Message in a Bottle Kiln

by Illuminos

Message in a Bottle Kiln is an inspiring new projection artwork from Illuminos to celebrate the centenary year of the city of Stoke-on-Trent, bringing Hanley Town Hall to life through animation and sound.

Playing on the idea of a message in a bottle, alongside the area’s iconic bottle kilns, Illuminos have worked with young people from Stoke imagining with them what they would place in a bottle kiln to send forwards into the future, and the wonderful transformations that might take place in the process.

Weaving the young peoples’ ideas into a vision of the next 100 years of Stoke-on-Trent, the building will come alive with the power and heat of the kilns, morphing and transforming as Spitfires turn to space travel, ceramics merge with silicon, melodies soar and treasures delight.

Positive Spin

by Invisible Wind Factory

Created for Liverpool’s River of Light 2024 festival, Positive Spin is a towering, five-metre-high interactive installation by illustrator Liz Harry and the creative collective The Kazimier (Invisible Wind Factory).

Merging the nostalgic charm of beachfront arcades with a futuristic aesthetic, the piece functions as a giant “automated tarot reader.” Three illuminated rotating drums- reminiscent of a vintage fruit machine – generate your fortune!

Adorned with Harry’s signature bold, colorful illustrations and framed by vibrant neon, the artwork uses play and spectacle to promote a mindset of optimism, inviting audiences of all ages to engage with a message of hope.

Illumaphonium

by Illumaphonium

“A dynamic and interactive, multi sensory, music making installation – the first of its kind”.

This semi-acoustic, semi-automatic, multi-player musical sculpture stands over three and a half meters tall.

108 hand-tuned and illuminated chime bars respond to every players touch. As an ever-changing pattern of light and sound ripples across the giant instrument’s surface.

Become a part of the artwork Hanley, come play!

Disco Critters

by Kitsch n Sync

Kitsch n Sync, favourites of many who have seen them at Appetite events, are back and putting the wild into wildlife with their quirky, campy walkabout fun!

Disco Critters Party Panda & Foxy Lady are on their way to Hanley to get everyone in the mood with their funk and disco moves! They’re bringing the party vibes to help us release our inner animals and disco divas with some dancing night fever!

The Gameshow Hosts will also be on hand to show you around and the interactive illuminations. “Everyone’s A Winner Baby! “

Want to know what else is going on?

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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.

Want to know what else is going on?

Make a Donation

Help us continue what we do

Donate Now

Ambassadors

Spread the word, get rewards!

Find Out More

Volunteer

Make friends & gain experience

Join the team

Light Up Winter with Appetite in 2026!

This winter we are bringing light to the darker months with three special, FREE events as part of our ✨ Light Up Winter ✨ series, which includes Light Up Middleport (21 & 22 Jan), 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. We would love to see you at all three!