Copyright scotsman
Images of Bob Dylan and The Beatles are to be beamed onto the side of the mausoleum where Robert Burns was buried in an historical retelling of the story of the Bard. Artists influenced by Burns, as well as famous visitors to the mausoleum over the past 208 years, are to be included in Burns Light. The celebration is a five-day audio-visual display to be projected onto the side of the Burns Mausoleum in Dumfries as part of the annual Big Burns Supper festival in the town. The six-minute projection onto the side of the white building, where Burns was reburied in 1815, will run on a loop as part of the the Northern Lights Dumfries programme, which includes 14 sound and light installations as part of a free town-wide trail. Subscribe today to the Scotsman’s Arts newsletter Graham Main, executive producer of Big Burns Supper, said: “Our revised programme allows us to place Dumfries at the centre of our celebration. Working with a variety of different partners, we are able to make use of empty buildings, abandoned spaces and forgotten landmarks by transforming them into performance spaces temporarily. “In our pilot edition of Northern Lights Dumfries in January 2025, we demonstrated that there is huge demand in exploring these hidden spaces in different ways. Our light trail is unique in that sense in that audiences are inside and outside of spaces.” Mr Main added: “The joyful part of this remodelling for us has been discovering new collaborative relationships with a variety of partners who share our desire to reimagine Dumfries in 2026." Burns Light will also include a new music score created with emerging music creators in the town. Other highlights of the event, which runs from January 15 to 19, include Phantom Spectra, an immersive, geo-located binaural sound installation exploring the town's history with the travelling fair community, which goes back nearly 200 years. Meanwhile, Divided, which is a new work that first appeared at the festival last year, takes place inside in an abandoned nightclub, using mirrors to recreate an outside world inside, with real grass and Christmas trees donated by the community. Other highlights of the light trail include Lights of Hope, which form part of the lighting up of the promenade and town centre spaces by Dumfries Partnership Action Group. Norway Haus celebrates the town's Norwegian connection during the Second World War at the Venue Nightclub, while Immortal Memory is an immersive experience that allows spectators to light a candle for someone they loved at Greyfriars Church. Meanwhile, Rabbie's Winter Village in the centre of the High Street will include five days of music, food and drink. These will be presented by local musicians, artists and producers from across the region. Dumfries Carnival will run through the festival on January 17, including a cast of over 2,000 members of the community who will be dressed up, dancing and bearing lanterns. The theme for this year's carnival is Outer Space, including links to the first Moon landing.
