Blackpool Becomes Lightpool In UK's Biggest Festival Of Light, Art And Dance

Blackpool, United Kingdom - known for its Blackpool Pleasure Beach Resort, this seaside town is one of the brightest places in the planet. Set to launch its first ever Lightpool Festival, Blackpool wants to give a first of its kind experience, featuring over 50 artists and their light sculptures, paintings and performances.

According to the Liverpool Echo, artists expected to showcase their work include Yoko Ono, Bob and Roberta Smith, and Mark Titchner. Mads Christensen's "Cathedral of Mirrors" is already installed and features an interactive array of pillars installed with heat sensors, which glow brighter when people gather around it. Many local and upcoming talents are also going to be working on these specially commissioned installations that will form a 4 kilometer walking route around Blackpool's town center, St. John's Square, breathing new life into its historic core.

Mail Online reports that light is set to be combined with dance by artists such as "The FireWorks Collective" who is expected to perform a daring fire dance, and Cie Bilbobasso Polar, who plans to combine light and fire with Argentinian Tango. Travelers should also watch out for a 16 foot cloud billowing in the wind by Ithaca, with over 6,000 individually programmed LED lights concealed within, in an effort to mimic an actual cloud synchronized with music. Music will be provided by Mr. Wilson's Second Liners, a band that performs mash-ups of New Orleans Blues and 90s rave hits.

Blackpool has always had a special relationship with light, having had several light-related events before, which is why it aims to bring this Lightpool Festival to tourists. In 1879, the town's central promenade had just 8 arc lamps, featured hugely in its history, whereas now it will have over a million lights to marvel at.

With its $2.5million budget, the event is supported by the Arts Council England National Lottery fund for their Grants for the Arts Program and Coastal Communities Fund and admission is free of charge. Starting October 28, guests will have until November 6 to get their fill of all the beautiful lights and art from Blackpool Illuminations.