In a new commission, Dutch artist Boris Maas responds to the mystery and atmosphere of the moonlit paintings of Victorian artist John Atkinson Grimshaw with his own light installation and photographs.

Visitors can experience two paintings by Grimshaw from the University of Leeds’ collection before entering Maas’ immersive installation, which is divided into two parts. Act I, ‘The nightlife series’, comprises contemporary nocturnal photographs of locations painted by Grimshaw, seen both in sharp focus and with the ‘circles of confusion’ that are produced by an out-of-focus lens.

Act II, ‘You Have seen nothing yet’, is a mobile with suspended glass lenses in a variety of colours inspired by those seen in Grimshaw’s paintings. A constant light source passing through it creates what Maas calls a “dynamic night opera”: a poetic interpretation of the spectacle of changing light at night, echoing the ships, carriages and pedestrians that move through Grimshaw’s canvases.

Part of the Smeaton300 festival, this commission has been supported by LEEDS 2023 (Leeds Culture Trust) and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the UK.