LIGHTWAVES is back at MediaCity with an inventive new exhibit on display to delight, entertain and amaze.

As part of Quays Culture, Lightwaves is a winter celebration of digital art – and it’s all to do with light.

The event will begin at 7pm tonight, when Honour Choir will perform and Lightwaves 2017 will officially launch.

Sooty, Sweep and Soo by Sam Cain

Interactive word sculptures, light painting workshops and favourite showpieces that have been borrowed from the Blackpool illuminations are just some of the many exciting parts of the exhibition.

Pirates from Blackpool Illuminations

The Blackpool illuminations include statues of pirates, portraits of Sooty, Soo and Sweep, as well as illuminated Star Trek sculptures.

The Star Trek sculptures will light up at night.

The star of the show, however, is the enormous sculpture of light and sound at the waterside, created by Belgian artist Tom Dekyvere.

Dekyvere’s Hydrozome was conceptualised through the way that technology interacts with nature.

Tom Dekyvere’s exhibit, ready for nightfall when it can light up Media City

The exhibit features light, arranged in a way that resembles how plant roots twist and knot together underground.

There is also a new feature to the exhibit – sound that is produced from movement underwater.

Mr Dekyvere said: “The sound that you will hear comes from an underwater microphone attached to the underneath of a boat.

“As the boat gets closer, the sound will become louder, and as it gets further away, the sound becomes quieter.

“The sound is then translated from its pure form into a synthesiser, and comes out of the speakers.

“We also trigger the LED lights that we have here based on that sound.

“This sound is like the heartbeat, or even the digital pacemaker, if you like, of the whole event.”

Mr Dekyvere has displayed his fascinating exhibits all over the world. 

To listen to Mr Dekyvere speak about his inspiration for the Lightwaves exhibit, click here.

A few of the exhibits from last year’s Lightwaves festival

For a full list of activities taking place for the exhibition this weekend, click here.

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