Victory Over the Sun in Durham: dates and £2.50 tickets

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

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

Bright red stage curtains hanging in a dark, empty theater auditorium.

Victory Over the Sun: Encounters with Light will run at The Light in Durham from 22 August 2026 to 17 January 2027. Online adult tickets cost £10, admission for under-18s is £2.50, and every visitor needs a two-hour timed-entry slot.

The exhibition brings together international artists who use artificial light as an object, material and means of communication. It is open to the general public, with particular relevance for visitors interested in contemporary art, scientific history and the changing role of light in everyday life.

Durham dates, venue and ticket options

The exhibition takes place at The Light, Aykley Heads, Durham, County Durham, DH1 5TU. According to the This is Durham Events listing, adult admission rises to £12.50 when purchased on the door and is subject to availability.

A £25 season pass provides unlimited visits across the exhibition’s five-month run. Pass holders must still reserve a separate two-hour timed-entry slot for every visit and arrive within the allocated slot.

Victory Over the Sun in Durham: dates and £2.50 tickets

A catalogue offering further exploration of the participating artists, works and ideas will also be sold for £10. The source does not provide opening times, transport guidance or accessibility information, so those details cannot be confirmed from the event listing.

An exhibition shaped by the arrival of electric light

The title comes from a 1913 Russian Futurist opera whose characters attempt to capture the sun and abolish time. Within the exhibition, that premise becomes a reference point for the social transformation created by artificial light during the 19th century.

Electric lighting released work, learning, creativity and family life from the sun’s daily cycle. The exhibition connects that history to Joseph Swan, the Sunderland-born scientist who developed an electric lightbulb at the same time as Thomas Edison in the United States.

Swan’s connection to the historic county of Durham gives the international exhibition a local foundation. The selected works examine how artists create artificial light, give it physical form and experiment with its properties, while considering its psychological effects and symbolic power.

Olafur Eliasson, Tracey Emin and Steve McQueen feature

The programme spans a broad group of contemporary artists, including Olafur Eliasson, Tracey Emin, Steve McQueen, David Shrigley, Dan Flavin, Katie Paterson, Liz West and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. Their work is presented through a shared question: how can light be sculpted or used to communicate an idea?

Other participating artists include Maarten Baas, Yto Barrada, Chila Burman, Cerith Wyn Evans, Spencer Finch, Glenn Ligon, Tatsuo Miyajima and Ivan Navarro. Together, the works address humanity’s fascination with the sun, attempts to reproduce its effects and light’s wider place in nature and the cosmos.

Readers looking for another UK exhibition centred on contemporary art can also explore a free exhibition at Glasgow’s GoMA.

Timed entry applies to every ticket

Visitors can purchase a single ticket online or try to buy one at the door, where adult admission costs more and availability is not guaranteed. Each ticket covers a two-hour visit, and attendees are asked to arrive within their allocated entry slot.

The same booking condition applies to the £25 season pass: it permits repeat admission between 22 August 2026 and 17 January 2027, but a timed slot must be secured for each visit.

Source: This is Durham Events

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Dates, venue, admission prices and timed-entry conditions were taken from the published This is Durham Events listing.

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