Light Night Leeds showcases University of Leeds research through immersive installations

Recut, Retake, Regrow and Loops for Stagnation will be on display from Wednesday 22 to Thursday 23 October

Light Night Leeds, the UK’s largest annual arts and light festival, returns on Wednesday 22 to Thursday 23 October with a programme of large-scale installations, immersive experiences and family-friendly activities across the city. Each year, the University of Leeds campus is transformed into a welcoming and creative space, offering audiences a chance to engage with art, research and performance in a relaxed environment.

This year, visitors can explore two major installations created by University of Leeds researchers from the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures.

Recut, Retake, Regrow – Hannah Sabapathy

Recut, Retake, Regrow is a major new projection-mapped installation by Hannah Sabapathy, an artist and postdoctoral student from the School of Design whose practice focuses on pattern and colour. Created in collaboration with Urban Projections artist Rebecca Smith, and supported by Leeds University Libraries’ Cultural Collections, the work will animate the façade of the Laidlaw Library with finely detailed Kashmiri textile patterns held in the University’s Cultural Collections.

Artist Hannah Sabapathy and colleagues examine finely detailed Kashmiri textile patterns

As patterns and colours unfold across the surface of the Library, they are cut into new forms, doubled and expanded, drawing audiences into the relationships between historic South Asian textiles and their British imitations.

Hannah explains:

“The idea is an extension of my PhD research at the School of Design, where I am currently undertaking a practice-based PhD, examining cut-up South Asian textiles and British copies and imitations in various archives. The International Textile Collection at the University has some visually striking fragments from Kashmir and an unusual collection of woven and embroidered samples perhaps made in Kashmir but commissioned in Europe. It has been exciting to work with this material, and it also reflects the complex situation of copying and hybridity in textile design during the nineteenth century.

“I am collaborating with Urban Projections to create the projected piece, and it will feature copies, fragmentation, cuts and glitches. In my practice I am exploring copying and cutting as ways of reclaiming the patterns and creating new work in the context of British South Asian design. Working with Bec Smith of Urban Projections, there has been lots of crossovers between her practice of resampling and mixing and my own of cutting and collaging.

“I was familiar with some of the textiles in the International Textile Collection archive, so I was drawn to working with a dynamic set of patterns to explore these concepts further. It is a great opportunity to collaborate with a partner to see these ideas come to life at such a scale on a university building. It is like we are taking pages out of the archives, pasting them on the walls to help reveal part of Leeds’ textile history and its connections to South Asia.”

Recut, Retake, Regrow will be on view throughout Light Night on Hillary Place.

Hannah Sabapathy’s work is currently on display at the Harris Museum in Preston.

Loops for Stagnation

Visitors can also experience Loops for Stagnation, an interactive, movement-based installation by artist and BA Digital Media Graduate Gabriela Kiryluk at the intersection of interaction design, art and environmental communication. Running 6–10pm on both nights at Stage 1, Stage@Leeds, the pieces examines how interactive media may facilitate spaces to talk about climate, shift our perspectives and make us reflect deeply on our role in the Anthropocene. Visitors are invited to communicate with the abstract creature, The Loop, using movement and interaction to better understand the dynamics of feedback systems and environmental change.

A person stands in silhouette against the Loops for Stagnation installation

Gabriela, a researcher in interactive media, explains:

“During my bachelor studies, I took a number of environmentally focused courses, including Eco-design, Atmosphere and Ocean Climate Change Processes, and Social Ecological studies. It was there that I learned about climate feedback loops — processes that either mitigate or amplify global warming — and I became inspired to communicate these concepts to a wider audience, showcasing climate dynamics in a more artistic and visceral way. While studying in Leeds, I had always been excited by the annual Light Night festival and dreamed of presenting my work there.”

Loops for Stagnation will be on display throughout Light Night at Stage 1, Stage@Leeds Green (indoor, limited capacity).