‘__________’ Because You’re Free
by Laura Sheeran
Light Up The Castle is a large-scale annual public spectacle commissioned by Kilkenny Arts Festival, transforming Kilkenny Castle into a nightly site of sound, light and collective gathering during the festival. Conceived as a free outdoor event, it has become a landmark in the festival calendar, drawing thousands of people each evening and welcoming audiences who might not otherwise enter traditional performance spaces.
This commission sits within my broader directing practice while also marking a distinct strand of work focused on site-specific, large-scale public art, and the transformation of familiar civic spaces through sound and image.
When I received the commission for Light Up The Castle, I embraced the opportunity fully. It is rare to be given the space to create original work that balances both music and film in its realisation — rarer still at this scale. The resulting piece was conceived specifically for the architecture, atmosphere and symbolic weight of Kilkenny Castle, engaging with the site as both historical monument and living public space, while reflecting back the urgency of the current moment on the continued journey of humanity.
The final work, ____ Because You’re Free, was an original large-scale projection that asked what it means to be human in a world shaped by technological acceleration, ecological crisis and growing disconnection. Through entirely original music and bespoke visual material, the piece created a pause — a moment of collective reflection within a rapidly changing world.
Part invocation, part protest and part quiet act of care, ____ Because You’re Free offered a return to the roots of our shared humanity, inviting audiences to remember themselves not as data points, disembodied minds or productivity machines, but as conscious, feeling, embodied beings.