From the Causeway Coast to Divis and Black Mountain Belfast, thousands of people are needed to bring to life two of Northern Ireland’s largest creative projects, travelling the solar system as an Our Place in Space Local Legend or creating mass participation artworks in the landscape of Northern Ireland as a Green Space Dark Skies Lumenator and igniting a passion for our Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Our Place in Space and Green Space Dark Skies, are two projects that form part of the UK’s most ambitious celebration of creativity, UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK.
Our Place in Space, produced by Nerve Centre Collective, is an epic scale model of the solar system designed by internationally renowned artist and children’s author Oliver Jeffers, incorporating a 10km three–dimensional sculpture trail that will light up pathways in Derry/Londonderry, Belfast, Cambridge and the North Down Coast from April through to October this year. The project also includes an interactive AR app, and major learning and events programmes.
Executive Producer at the Nerve Centre, David Lewis says:
“We really want as many people as possible to become involved in Our Place in Space not just to enhance the experience for others but to have an unforgettable experience themselves. We have a variety of volunteering positions available across lots of different areas in each of the places where the Sculpture Trail will exhibit with commitment requiring as little as two hours a week.”
Volunteering positions with Our Place in Space are available in each of the sculpture trail locations, including Local Legends to help welcome and inform visitors, Backpack Heroes to support school and community group tours of the interactive planetary experience, and Green Team to take on litter picks and clean–ups before and after the trail is installed.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer guardian for Our Place in Space, email p.larkin@nervecentre.org.Green Space Dark Skies will see thousands of people across Northern Ireland gather at Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Referred to as Lumenators, participants will be guided along pathways or waterways carrying smart lights that will enable digital choreography captured on film, while also being sensitive to the night–time environment.
To protect these amazing places, the exact locations will only be revealed to the Lumenators who have registered to take part. There will be no spectators, but anyone can take part for free as long as they sign up in advance. Each short film will incorporate the stories of the people and places featured and will be broadcast online after the event. Lumenators will also be encouraged to share their own connections to the landscape and the local areas as part of their involvement.
Green Space Dark Skies’ aim is to enable people from all walks of life to forge new connections with the countryside by supporting those with cultural and physical barriers to experience our Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Green Space Dark Skies places environmental and social sustainability at the heart of its design and delivery; highlighting the value of the natural environment as a core purpose and delivering significant measurable positive impact.
Outdoor art experts Walk the Plank are the lead creative organisation in the production of Green Space Dark Skies. John Wassell, Creative Producer said:
“Green Space Dark Skies is about class and landscape, race and landscape, disability and landscape. We want to build more countryside stewards for the future, and to inspire more people to see the connection between their use and enjoyment of the land and our care for the planet. The moment when darkness falls, and we switch the lights off, is going to be the most important collective act of connection between people and nature within each event.”
Walk the Plank is working with a number of creative partners in Northern Ireland to develop some of the major public engagement for Green Space Dark Skies. Walk the Plank is working with the National Trust as creative and delivery partners in a number of locations across Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. Each event will depend on confirmation of landowner permissions, approval of event plans and local stakeholder engagement and therefore event locations and dates may be subject to change.
Martin Green CBE, Chief Creative Officer of UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK said,
“UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK has been designed to reach millions and bring people together. The participation of people from across Northern Ireland is what will ensure that these truly extraordinary projects, Our Place in Space and Green Space Dark Skies become unforgettable for all who experience them.”
Our Place in Space and Green Space Dark Skies are among five UNBOXED commissions that will see events taking place in Northern Ireland from April to October.
Kicking off UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK in Northern Ireland is, About Us in Derry/Londonderry. On 15 March free open–air spectacular will combine live performances and multimedia installations created by the award–winning video artists behind the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, Stemettes and The Poetry Society. It features poems and Scratch animations by young people from across the UK, and celebrates the entire history of the universe from the Big Bang to the present day.
The programme continues with Dreamachine an artwork ‘seen’ with your eyes closed that explores the limitless potential of the human mind – both collective experience and unique to every individual, while StoryTrails brings together augmented reality, new developments in 3D internet technology and the next generation of creative voices to shape one of the most ambitious living history and archive projects ever undertaken.
Register your interest to be a Lumenator at Lagan Valley AONB (30 April); Causeway Coast AONB (date tbc); and Sperrin AONB (June) at:
Bay Road Park and River Foyle, Derry–Londonderry: 22 April – 22 May 2022Divas & Black Mountain Belfast: 11 June – 10 July 2022River Cam, Cambridge: 30 July – 29 August 2022Ulster Transport Museum and North Down Coastal Path: 17 September – 16 October 2022
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