The Uppsala Light Festival is back

Uppsala University and Akademiska Hus have partnered to contribute a light installation called “To Those Who Wait”, which transforms the Uppsala Concert & Congress into an interactive game board. Lasers and sound will guide visitors through the different levels of the game. To progress, you will need patience, the ability to team up and work with others, and the skill to press the button at just the right time.

The installation plays with people’s expectations and explores what happens when we allow something to unfold without constantly intervening. To succeed, we need to read each other’s cues, hold back our own impulses and sometimes accept that achieving something together will take longer than we would like.

Bravest ticket

During the festival, a variety of activities will be organised around the city. A certain amount of courage might be required for anyone buying the “Bravest” (Modigaste) ticket for the “Most Secret” (Hemligaste) evening. Two such events will be held. The first takes place on 11 November. Participants will meet at Carolina Rediviva, but what awaits them after that remains shrouded in mystery. The programme reveals only this: “Where will the evening end? You’ll have to wait and see.”

For those seeking a slightly more structured experience, a guided candlelit walk in the Linnaeus Garden might be appealing. These will take place on three evenings, namely 10, 13 and 16 November.

Enlightening in various ways

Uppsala University is also contributing to other “enlightening” activities during the Uppsala Light Festival in the form of two popular science lectures with free admission. On 16 November, cultural anthropologist Katarina Graffman will discuss how courage and patience are not individual traits. They are shaped by the groups we belong to (aka our “tribes”) and the culture in which we live.

The second lecture will be held on 17 November at Gustavianum. Historian of Ideas Jenny Andersson will speak about what courage and patience mean and when they have changed the course of history. After the lecture, there will be an opportunity to explore Gustavianum’s exhibitions at your leisure. The museum will remain open until 19:00.

Several researchers from Uppsala University are also taking part in the audio production “The courage to ask. The patience to find out,” created by the Uppsala University Foundations Management of Estates and Funds. Pupils from schools in Uppsala share their thoughts and questions. The young people’s voices are interwoven with reflections from researchers in an audio experience in the courtyard of the Uppland County Museum (Upplandsmuseet), next to Michael Östlund's large illuminated statue “MOD”, which is the Swedish word for courage.

Åsa Malmberg