Northern Lights returns!

In a few days Giles Gasper, Sigbjørn Sønnesyn and Sarah Gilbert will be setting off for York Minster to join long-time project collaborators Ross Ashton and Karen Monid (better known as the Projection Studio) for the 2019 performance of Northern Lights.

Northern Lights was first staged at York Minster over three days in 2018 and was a great success, receiving two award nominations. In 2019 Northern Lights will run at the Minster for a week (24–31 October) and will also include guest lectures by members of the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of York on Fri 25 October, and by members of the Ordered Universe team on Saturday 26 October.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The Northern Lights experience is designed to dazzle the audience, showcasing the medieval glass-work and the medieval heritage of York, curating a journey from creation stories, nature and the cosmos, and thinking about the afterlife, hell and the apocalypse  to the beauty of contemplation. The magnificent setting of the Minster will be transformed by the projection art and sound on display.  A multi-lingual web of Old Norse, Old English, Latin and modern English translation, form part of the sound-track, evoking voices from the Middle Ages, Wulfstan Archbishop of York, Bartolomeo da Bologna,  Bede and the Edda, alongside biblical passages from the Apocalypse.

Northern Lights represents a lovely opportunity for academic research from the University of York and from the Ordered Universe to help guide, shape and present the projection. Giles, Sigbjørn and Sarah will be speaking on the Saturday evening and their talks will explore the world of medieval physics and cosmology and the relationship between science and religion in the medieval world.

You can watch excerpts of the 2018 show below, but we hope you’ll join us this week to see York Minster’s nave transformed with all the colours of the rainbow and all the wonders of the universe.

Please note that all images in this post represent the work of The Projection Studio and should be attributed to them.