Light Night 2019 - It's a Jungle Out there!
Light Night Leeds is an annual free multi-arts and light festival that takes over Leeds City Centre for two nights every October – this is an example of how Technicians Make it Happen!
As part of Light Night events take place throughout Leeds, including six locations at the University. “It’s a Jungle Out There” was one of the 2019 installations and was created by the School of Performance and Cultural Industries (PCI) technical team, stage@leeds and PCI graduates. The installation these technicians created is described as:
An interactive experience that juxtaposes the city and the wild, the urban and the rural in a playful space that highlights our need to look at the world differently in order to create a sustainable future.
‘It’s a Jungle Out There’ utilised the skills of PCI’s whole technical team – lighting, projection and sound - as well as showing the possibilities of alternative energy sources for the theatrical and visual environments.
The tree
Consisting of a centre piece of a ‘tree’ made from scraps of material and other recycled objects, a canopy, and strips of material which were projected onto. Lighting was used to create the atmosphere of the jungle through colour, while the use of camouflage net as a natural breakup created a forest-like appearance on the floor of the stage@leeds foyer. A soundscape was played which included both urban and rural sounds as well as human jungle animal noises. On top of all of this there were two interactive elements for those who visited this installation. Firstly, a bicycle which when pedalled illuminated the word ‘help’ in electroluminescent wire showing how a sustainable source of power, and low energy light sources are workable in performance environment. Secondly, a live microphone allowed visitors to add their own voice to the jungle soundscape. These sounds were recorded through a microphone attached to a voice looper pedal and then played out through speakers on the floor.
Pedal power
The jungle
PCI technicians Matt Harrop (lighting/projection), Ian Lindley (bicycle and electrics), Jess Rowland (sound) along with stage@leeds Artistic Director and Theatre Manager Steve Ansell and PCI graduate Eleanor Johnson-Thompson created the environment for light night in order to highlight the ways in which sustainability can be and should be at the heart of everything we do.