Leeds is preparing for an unrivalled celebration of public art in May 2012, involving everything from grassroots communities to large-scale ambitious installations and performances that will transform the streets of the busy northern city into a living stage-set for three days.
 
Visitors from across the UK are anticipated to join local audiences and passers-by for the festive long weekend, 18-20 May. Artists, musicians, writers and filmmakers from kids to adults, will present a never-seen-before programme curated by internationally acclaimed artist-filmmakers The Quay Brothers. Unsuspecting audiences over the weekend will be participants and viewers of a series of major interventions that radically re-imagine spaces they are familiar with, including the Dark Arches at Granary Wharf and Briggate, the city’s main shopping thoroughfare.
                                                                                            
OverWorlds and UnderWorlds will fill the streets with the results of playful, provocative ideas about Leeds itself, involving live performance, light, music, dance and film. The free public art programme has been devised by Leeds Canvas and The Quay Brothers, as part of the Arts Council England Cultural Olympiad 2012, ‘Artists Taking the Lead’. The project draws together creative talent from across Yorkshire to be inspired by the people and the buildings of Leeds.
 
A major education programme beginning January 2012 will enable young people and communities to be integral to the creative work as performers and participants. The ambitious project builds on the ethos of the Olympic Games. By adopting the ideals of collaboration, co-operation and excellence, Leeds Canvas aims to make high quality creative work available to anyone, for free.
 
The Dark Arches at Granary Wharf and Briggate are key locations. Details of the project, the other locations and the names of the artists involved will be revealed over the coming months, whilst retaining an element of surprise which is key to the project.
 
OverWorlds & UnderWorlds is the first project to have been commissioned by Leeds Canvas – a collaboration between eight of Leeds’ leading arts organisations who are working together for the first time, combining their resources to produce an original, free experience. 

www.overworldsandunderworlds.com

<< Back to News