30th January 2020
Hull city centre is set to be illuminated as part of the three-day Navigate event that opens tonight (Thursday 30 January).
Navigate, which celebrates the start of the Hull: Yorkshire's Maritime City project, will feature mesmerising sculptures and outdoor exhibits from Kazimier Productions.
The event will include Oracle, a floating lighthouse in Prince's Dock that predicts the weather using unique light and sound displays.
Navigate will include four 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.
Hull: Yorkshire’s Maritime City is the city’s latest major project, with £27.4m set to be invested in the city’s maritime site in the next few years, celebrating Hull’s 800-year maritime heritage.
Councillor Daren Hale, portfolio holder for economic investment and regeneration, said: "We are just at the start of this amazing journey, which will see the city’s rich maritime heritage celebrated and reimagined through a multi-million pound investment that will include the refurbishment of historic maritime sites and the creation of a brand new and world-class visitor destination for the city.
"This is a brilliant way of celebrating the start of the Hull: Yorkshire’s Maritime City project."
