NAVIGATE

Hull city centre will be lit up with a spectacular three-day event celebrating the city’s rich maritime heritage – from dusk until 9pm each evening.

Navigate, will feature mesmerising sculptures and outdoor exhibits from the acclaimed Kazimier team, to celebrate the start of the Hull: Yorkshire’s Maritime City

Navigate  will include four stunning light installations – Meridian, Oracle, Zenith and Pendopo – across the city centre.

Large beams of light will be shone from Hull City Hall and over Whitefriargate as part of Meridian. Using four powerful lasers, a visual line is created in the night sky, a point of reference for those navigating the city.

An eight-metre lighthouse, Oracle, which has been specifically commissioned for Navigate, will float in Prince’s Dock and show the superstitions and importance placed on the weather and what it holds for the fortunes of those venturing to sea.

Linked wirelessly to meteorological sensors, the Oracle takes real-time readings of wind speed, humidity, pressure, temperature and rain.

Queen Victoria Square will also be home to a chorus of kinetic sculptures, Zenith, producing an immersive sonic landscape of the sea.

Trinity Square will host the Pendopo, a sound and laser installation containing a remarkable robotic musical instrument inspired by the metallic sounds of East Asia’s Gamelan percussion ensembles.

Prince’s Dock: Oracle – Weather Tower

Standing as a response to Hull’s rich maritime industry, this eight-metre tall floating weather station, reminiscent of a lighthouse or navigation buoy,  serves to show the superstitions and importance placed on the weather and what it holds for the fortunes of those venturing to sea. Linked wirelessly to meteorological sensors, the Oracle takes real-time readings of wind speed, humidity, pressure, temperature and rain. Each of these parameters then creates a dynamic weather visualisation played onto the tower using sound, light and lasers. Once every 15 minutes, the Oracle contacts the Met office and displays a weather omen foretelling predictions for the forthcoming hour with a dynamic audio visual performance.

Queen Victoria Square: Zenith – Voices from the Sea

Taking their cue from the stars used by sailors for navigation in the past, these celestial kinetic sculptures are designed to act like giant prisms, splitting light into shards of colour and unpredictable reflections.

An immersive installation where the public are encouraged to explore and take a seat amongst an evolving sound piece emanating from the stars, each slowly rotating, emitting their own mesmerising sonic character, uniting to create a magical otherworldly atmosphere.

Amongst the ethereal sonic landscape created by this piece, it is possible to faintly hear maritime voices, fog horns, echoes from sailors singing their sea shanties. The work and love songs of those who helped build this city and its industry.

The stars element was originally commissioned by Culture Liverpool and Central Liverpool BID for the ‘Follow the Stars’ project.

Hull City Hall: Meridian – Navigation of the City

Using 4 extremely powerful lasers, a visual line is created in the night sky, a point of reference for those navigating the city of Hull to determine their position.

In seafaring times of old, skilled sailors would rely on a ‘Line of Position’ – visual or astrological references that could be intersected on a marine chart to determine their location. This installation draws a line in the night sky, a simplistic navigational aid to allow us to confirm our position wherever visible. Located at City Hall, laser light reaches several miles across the night sky, visible around the city and out to sea, creating a temporary meridian for Hull.

Trinity Square: Pendopo – A pavillion structure, a place of ceremony

The ‘Pendopo’ is a sound and laser installation containing a remarkable robotic musical instrument inspired by the metallic sounds of East Asia’s ‘Gamelan’ percussion ensembles. At its centre is an autonomous mechanical xylophone known as the ‘Hive’, originally built in conjunction with two Indonesian musicians and the Kazimier.

Amplified by the natural acoustics of this pavilion a multitude of gongs, chimes and percussion come together to create a meditative effect. The sounds created synchronise with laser beams, creating a mesmerising synergy between sound and vision.

Originally commissioned by Warrington Contemporary Arts Festival, Pendopo features elements of ‘The Hive’, created by Ikbal Lubys and Tony Maryana in collaboration with Laurie Crombie (The Kazimier) and Charlie Pethica-Electronics. Commissioned and produced by Abandon Normal Devices.