Dundee’s McManus Galleries will be turned “inside out” using high-tech video projections as part of the city’s Christmas celebrations.
Dundee annual Christmas Light Nights event has now been expanded into a three-day programme that will run the entire weekend from Friday November 25 until Sunday November 27.
On Saturday night, the McManus Galleries will take centre stage with a spectacular video and music extravaganza called Drawn to Light taking place outside.
Visual artist Duncan Marquiss has created a series of light projections that will be beamed onto the exterior of the landmark from DC Thomson and Co Ltd’s Meadowside headquarters.
The images will be accompanied by a special live performance by electronica musician Jonnie Common, who has crafted music from the sounds he recorded within the museum, throwing everything from the sounds of office printers to dehumidifiers into the mix.
“Getting free rein to explore the museum and record objects and spaces within it and incorporate them into a new work is a dream gig for me,” said the Stirling-based musician.
Creative producer Siôn Parkinson said inspiration for the event had come from the official unveiling of the Robbie Burns statue outside the museum in 1860.
He said: “20,000 congregated in the square and that was really our inspiration, a time when there was a great level of pride in an artist, a poet, and the city.
“This project aims to bring together thousands of Dundonians. We will be turning the museum inside out to show the contents of the collection .
“It will be like the biggest Imax cinema you’ve seen.”
The event will also be the culmination of the museum’s 150th anniversary celebrations.
The festivities will begin on the Friday with the traditional torchlight procession from the High School of Dundee to the City Square before the Christmas lights are switched on.
There will be performances from the Got Soul Choir, fireworks, a mass aerobics workout and food stalls on the High Street and a Christmas market in Slessor Gardens.
The crowds will also get a sneak preview of the penguins that will form part of the Maggie’s Centre Penguin Parade next year.
One hundred penguin statues will be decorated by artists and placed around the city next year.
On Saturday the Christmas market will continue in Slessor Gardens and ice sculptures will be on display, along with an interactive “playgrid”, which will be bathed in ultraviolet light after dark.
The weekend will conclude on the Sunday with Dundee’s first ever Santa Dash, which will see hundreds of people dressed as Santa racing through the city centre in aid of The Archie Foundation.
A number of roads in the city centre will be closed while the events are taking place.
City Centre manager Sarah Craig said parking in the council’s Gellatly Street, Olympia and Greenmarket car parks would be free after 3pm on the Friday.
