Thinking outside the box

From dinosaurs roaming across the Tower of London and a thought-provoking glimpse into the future, UNBOXED is an awe-inspiring celebration of UK creativity

SINCE launching in Paisley on March 1, UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK has had an audience of more than 18 million, with live events at 107 locations in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, special online and television events, and thousands of opportunities for people of all ages to get involved. And there’s more to come.

UNBOXED executive director Phil Batty says: “As well as bringing people together for an unprecedented number of events and activities, UNBOXED has highlighted new ideas and collaboration across science, tech, engineering and art – while supporting more than 6,000 jobs in one of the biggest celebrations of creativity ever seen in the UK.”

Here are some highlights of what’s been happening over the past nine months.

Dreamachine

This immersive artwork has seen visitors lie back and enjoy a colourful visual world unfolding behind their closed eyes, created by light and sound. Designed to explore the extraordinary potential of the human mind, this astonishing experience has been different for each participant, generated by their own brain – and therefore completely unique to them.

Our Place in Space

The experience recreates the solar system to scale as an epic 8.5km sculpture trail, which hundreds of thousands of people have visited in DerryLondonderry, Belfast, Cambridge and Liverpool. Try it yourself when it heads to Ulster Transport Museum and along the North Down Coastal Path in 2023. Its free app also means you can explore the planets wherever you are!

Dandelion

Sow, grow and share! Nearly 600,000 people have taken part in Dandelion, which has brought food growing and sharing music, art and science to communities across Scotland, including at two big music festivals in Glasgow and Inverness, with the aim of inspiring future generations.

PoliNations

PoliNations celebrates the beauty and diversity of the UK’s people and plant life, and brought an epic super-garden to Birmingham. Sixty community groups grew flowers to be planted in it, and a colourful canopy of giant sculptural trees, real trees and plants played host to music, light shows and drag performances. There’s an app too!

SEE MONSTER

A 450-tonne decommissioned offshore gas platform, which was transformed into a massive art installation on the Weston-super-Mare seafront, attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors, and it’s got people talking about reuse and sustainability. The plants installed on the structure will continue to have a life, when they’re planted in one of the town’s parks.

Tour de Moon

Inspired by the moon and nightlife culture, Tour de Moon has been to towns and cities across England, with young people involved in developing the programme that includes art, music, performance, film and writing. It’s also provided funding for hundreds of young creatives to make new work. Some will be shown at the London Short Film Festival in January.

GALWAD

A gripping story told in real time over a week, online, on TV and live from Wales, GALWAD takes viewers to 2052. Efa, 16, finds herself swapping places with her 46-year-old self. With help from her friends, she reminds audiences what the future might look like if we don’t act now to protect the planet. You can still watch GALWAD online.

StoryTrails

StoryTrails has toured 15 towns and cities across the UK, revealing the hidden histories of communities that live there, through the magic of 3D, VR and AR technologies. They’ve left some of the tech behind in public libraries – and there’s also a free app, so that people can still discover these fascinating stories.

About Us

Covering 13.8 billion years of history in 25 minutes is a tall order, but About Us has managed to take people from the Big Bang to the present day in a light and music spectacular seen by hundreds of thousands of people in Paisley, Derry-Londonderry, Caernarfon, Luton, Hull and London. It’s a mesmerising show that combines projection mapping, animation, poetry and live choirs, and shows how we’re all connected to each other. You can watch a film of it on YouTube.

Green Space Dark Skies

Thousands of people have come together to create stunning artworks in 20 of the UK’s most beautiful locations, which millions have seen on television and online, including a one-hour Countryfile special that you can watch on BBC iPlayer.