Festival 2025

Longford Lights Festival 2025 promises an exciting programme of art installations, events and performances over four magical nights in February. The festival is an evening event taking place in Connolly Barracks and for the first time extends beyond the barracks wall to include artworks and entertainment across Longford Town.

We have over 50 artists and performers coming from all over Ireland, UK, Italy, Spain, Ukraine, Poland and Finland. Highlights include Metamorphosis, a spectacular ensemble piece that includes fire, dance and music all brought together with projection art; Oculucis, by Italian artist Hermes “Hem” Mangialardo; Crann Cáillte (Lost Trees) facilitated by Michelle Dufaur; artworks dotted along main street; a silent disco in the Market Square; and Backstage Theatre will be presenting their hit children’s play Luminaria in St. John’s Hall.

Integral to Longford Lights are our signature community art projects. This year we have several projects including Taipéis – Connection & Creativity, a partnership project with Creative Ireland Longford-Westmeath, that celebrates the stories of emigrants through art making.

Entry to the main festival site in Connolly Barracks is by ticket only.
Entry times are at the set times of 6.30pm, 7.30pm, and 8.30pm. See Tickets.

Connolly Barracks Site—Ticket Only

**Metamorphosis** An amazing spectacle of music, singing, percussion, pyrotechnics, puppetry all brought together by a giant projection in Connolly Barracks. Created by artistic director Caroline Conway and directed by Ana Ortega from Cal y Canto Teatro (Spain) the piece brings together some of the most talented musicians and performers working in the Arts today. The performance takes place several times each night.

**It Takes a Village** A large community art project involving 14 primary schools and 550 children around the County. The project facilitated children to imagine their town or village as represented through lantern houses, characters, scenarios and stories. Accompanying soundscape by musician and composer Mick Cronin. Workshops within the primary schools and community centres were coordinated by local artist Angela Tuite and supported by local visual artist Lorraine Donohoe.

**Luminaria** Entry is by ticket only. Showing off site in St. John’s Hall on Friday 21st and Saturday 22nd February at 5:30pm and 8pm. Presented by Backstage Theatre as part of Longford Lights Festival. Book Tickets for Luminaria.
A play for children and families, written by Fionnuala Gygax and directed by Maisie Lee, Luminaria brings the audience on a whimsical journey into the unknown, through an array of wonderful characters played by three amazing actors, colourful puppets and original music.

**Birds of Paradise** By Tommy Casby. Three striking, semi-abstract lantern sculptures made from wire and paper reflecting the theme of lightness. Each piece expresses a moment of movement and levity and welcomes all visitors entering the main site.

Connection & Creativity—The Heart of Taipéis By Taipéis Project. Taipéis explores what unites people—our strengths, hopes, and creativity. This centrepiece—a 3D tree structure—symbolises roots, growth, connection and supporting one another in a thriving ecosystem. The piece includes music, drama, filmmaking, and mehndi-inspired UV face art to symbolise unity in diversity.

**Crainn Caillte (Lost Trees)** By Michele Dufaur. A series of beautiful architectural leaf tiered chandelier lanterns built with Longford federation ICA to highlight the plight of trees. Reflecting on the loss of Irelands native species by using their leaf patterns as inspiration. A unique light path of nearly a thousand individual leaves.

**Uisce Beo (Water of Life)** By Michelle Dufaur. Created in 2024 with Longford Federation ICA, the Water Lillies were created to compliment another exhibit piece from 2023 called *Children of Lir* that featured the swan children from the old celtic legend. The slowly breathing subliminal lighting scheme was designed with volunteer computer science graduate Ilia Sibiryakov.

**The Labyrinth** By Ulrike Liebatrau. Enter a space filled with color, love and light. A multi-sensory experience, inspired by the beauty of nature, made with the leftovers and rubbish of our wasteful society. Providing space and thought to nurture in-depth conversations about our mission: Reuse – Reduce – Repair and Rethink.

**Willow Shadows** By Derek McLoughlin. An installation of a series of handwoven willow ‘cocoons’ suspended from heather appendages, encasing a lighted ‘embryo’. The cocoons are up-lighted and side-lighted to throw geometric and abstract shadows onto the surrounding walls, floor and ceiling. The vision is to explore the merging of science, nature and technology.

**Oculucis** By Italian artist Hermes Mangialardo. Two giant illuminated spheres looking at the sky. The eyes are the border between the known and the unknown, a suspended bridge between the abyss of the mind and the enchantment of the universe. Every look is a dance, a symphony of emotions that intertwine in the sea of eyes, reflecting the inner turmoil. An eye can sculpt mountains, dance with the stars and embrace the infinite.

**You’ve Been Framed** By Patrina Prunty. An interactive installation that explores the concept of diffraction between the virtual world and reality. In today’s social media landscape, perfectly choreographed images often frame moments that present a curated version of reality. This installation aims to playfully address this phenomenon by providing a space where individuals can “frame” images for their virtual world or immerse themselves in the festive environment.

**Illumination** By Emer O’Donnell. Stained glass and engraving techniques are used to explore the properties of glass, attempting to draw the eye beyond the surface and produce work that uses reflections and surface treatments to create internal spaces. Her work uses patterns found in nature and changes the scale to focus solely on the movement created. The engraved decoration reflects and refracts onto the inner surface, creating the illusion of one body floating inside another.

**The Zen Garden** By Brandon Finnegan. A collection of intricately designed fruits and fauna themed lanterns—from a gentle bunny and an elegant swan to chill chickens and a wise fox—the lanterns are positioned within a tranquil garden setting that evokes the peaceful essence of a Zen Garden. The Zen Garden is a celebration of nature’s calm, beauty and interconnectedness,
inspiring reflection and a sense of inner peace for all who visit.

**Flowers** By Alla Shmygovska. Alla returns to the festival with a newly created composition of delicate flowers and buds ranging from 1 to 1.5 meters in height. The Flowers are created with recycled materials and are inspired by the beauty and dignity of the Ukrainian national symbol – the Sunflower.

**Illuminated Abstractions** By Anna Wiercioch. A collection of twenty light-based installations that explore the relationship between light, shadow, and texture. Each piece has a unique design showcasing the possibilities of light as a medium by using hand-cut patterns and layered materials to create different visual effects. These pieces offer a fresh way to experience light.

**Homely** By Aoife Banville. An aerial installation of colourful lampshades full of character and warm light to create a welcoming, homely atmosphere for people to enjoy.

**Aura** By Serhii Khadzhava. Step in to an immersive audiovisual experience where stunning digital artworks dramatically come to life. Dive into a magical winter forest as frozen landscapes transform into dynamic, enchanting scenes, blending art and technology in a unique and captivating way.

**A Dance of Lights** By Melisande Souef. Performing as Strix Nebulosa, Melisande offers a roaming LED performance. With programmable LED props, Strix dances through the crowd, leaving radiant trails of light. Audiences are invited to engage with the performance, immersing themselves in a captivating world of colour, motion, and enchanting energy.

**Begin Again** By Helen Duncan. An art installation inspired by the beauty, resilience and endurance of native flora. Through its form and the interplay of light and movement, the installation invites viewers to contemplate the delicate balance of the natural world.

**Lightsphere** By circus and spectacle company Opus from Tampere, Finland. An interactive light art installation for the enjoyment of the whole family created by Opus Company.

**Spirit of the Forest** By Nicole Martin. A larger-than-life, characterful, giant owl constructed from the mixed media of willow, wadding, cloth, paper mache and acrylic paint.

**Legacy Light** By Mary Fleming. Gobo projection depicting legacy pieces from current and previous years of Longford Lights. The design represents the visual interaction between the visitor and the light installations, and between the installations themselves… featured on the home page of the website for this reason.

**Jig-A-Glow & Unwind** By Damien Keogh. Large sculptural pieces, engineered from salvaged industrial light fittings, telecom jigs and electrical cable spools. These pieces are now illuminated with LED lights that are constantly changing colours encouraging the viewer to relax and unwind.

Longford Town

FREE-TO-VIEW street installations outside Connolly Barracks.