Victory Over the Sun: Durham show opens 22 August

Name: Victory Over the Sun: Encounters with Light
Start: 2026-08-22
End: 2027-01-17
Location: The Light

beehiveweb.co.uk editorial team 2026-07-27 11:46 3 min read

Striking modern architecture with a futuristic design at the entrance of a cultural venue.

Victory Over the Sun: Encounters with Light runs at The Light, Aykley Heads, Durham, from 22 August 2026 to 17 January 2027. Open to the general public, the exhibition costs £10 for adults booking online, £12.50 on the door subject to availability, and £2.50 for children under 18.

Every ticket provides a two-hour timed entry, and visitors must arrive within their allocated slot. The published This is Durham Events listing describes a major international exhibition examining how artists create, shape and communicate with artificial light.

Dates, address and ticket choices

Visitor detail	Confirmed information
Exhibition dates	22 August 2026 to 17 January 2027
Venue	The Light, Aykley Heads, Durham, County Durham, DH1 5TU
Adult ticket online	£10
Adult ticket on the door	£12.50, subject to availability
Child ticket	£2.50 for under-18s
Season pass	£25 for unlimited visits during the exhibition
Entry format	Two-hour timed slot required for every visit

The £25 season pass is designed for repeat visits throughout the exhibition period. It costs £5 less than buying three individual adult tickets online, although pass holders must still reserve a two-hour slot each time they attend.

No daily opening time, transport guidance or accessibility information appears in the supplied event listing.

Victory Over the Sun: Durham show opens 22 August

Artists use light as object, signal and symbol

The exhibition brings together work by Olafur Eliasson, Tracey Emin, Steve McQueen, Dan Flavin, David Shrigley, Katie Paterson, Liz West, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Yto Barrada, Chila Burman, Tatsuo Miyajima and Cerith Wyn Evans, among others.

Its focus extends beyond the visual effect of illumination. The artists explore ways to create artificial light, give it physical form, experiment with its properties and use it to communicate ideas. The resulting works consider both light’s psychological effects and its symbolic place in nature and the cosmos.

Readers interested in other light-led cultural events can also explore Lancashire’s Lightpool Festival, which returns with installations and 3D projections.

A local history of electric-light innovation

The title comes from a 1913 Russian Futurist opera whose characters attempt to capture the sun and abolish time. Within the exhibition, that story becomes a metaphor for the social transformation caused by new forms of artificial light during the 19th century.

Electric illumination freed work and other activities from the sun’s daily cycle, creating new possibilities for creativity, learning and industry while changing social and family life after dark. Durham’s connection to that history comes through scientist Joseph Swan.

Born in Sunderland, then part of the historic county of Durham, Swan developed the electric lightbulb at the same time that Thomas Edison was working in the United States. His experiments provide a local reference point for contemporary artists similarly seeking to harness and manipulate light.

Booking a timed visit

Single tickets are available online or on the door, with the online adult price £2.50 lower than the door price. Door sales remain subject to availability, making the allocated entry slot the central practical detail for anyone planning a visit.

Visitors can also buy a £10 exhibition catalogue offering further material about the ideas, artists and works in the show. The catalogue is separate from admission, while every exhibition visit—including those made with a season pass—requires its own two-hour timed-entry reservation.

Source: This is Durham Events

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The exhibition dates, Durham venue, ticket prices and timed-entry requirements were drawn from the event listing.

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