AN amazing array of colourful artwork is coming to Accrington, Blackburn and Burnley from April 8 to 10 as part of a huge interactive public arts festival.

Parks, streets and shops will be transformed into art galleries featuring virtual bugs, giant inflatable sound sculpures and an ice cream van shooting strawberry flavoured clouds.

The Abandon Normal Devices (AND) festival, which is being funded by the Arts Council, will also include an fun experiment involving hundreds of people using Mp3 players.

Each person will be asked to wear a different-coloured T-shirt as they move around Blackburn town centre following instructions on their iPhone.

Jo Williams, from AND, said: “There are a range of activities going on in East Lancashire.

"I think one of the highlights will be the experiment by Improv Everywhere, where people download an Mp3 track and then line up in King William Street in Blackburn and all carry out the instruction at the same time.

"People will just come across it and think, ‘What is that?’ and hopefully inspire them.

"The aim of the artwork is to challenge perceptions of what people expect, they don’t necessarily have to understand it, but just take it in and enjoy it.”

Highlights include a portable pixel playground featuring giant inflatable sound sculptures at Towneley Hall and Burnley town centre on Thursday 8 April and an ice cream van with a difference in Church Street, Blackburn, on Saturday April 10.

The artists behind the project will give a talk at Haworth Art Gallery, Accrington, before electronic duo Plaid play a live show at the closing party at 41 King Street, Blackburn.

East Lancashire programme

Portable Pixel Playground
Towneley Hall and Burnley town centre, Thursday, April 8, 12-5pm.

Come and play with inflatable sound sculptures, virtual bugs living in a sandpit and try out new ways of playing Hide and Seek and Treasure Hunt.

Featuring Too Much of a Mouthful and No Traces of Sentimentality by Andy Best & Merja Puustinen, Cubed by Giles Askham & Luke Hastilow and Glowing Pathfinder Bugs by Squidsoup.

Strange Attractors - The Anatomy of Dr Tulp by KMA
King William Street, Blackburn, Friday, April 9 to Saturday, April 10, After dark.

A playful interactive light installation exploring how we use our bodies to move and communicate in a material world. When people enter the space they become active participants, as magnetic bodies themselves, animating and redistributing the flow of energy within the system.

The Cloud Project
Church Street, Blackburn, Saturday, April 10, 12-4pm.

Haworth Art Gallery, Accrington, Saturday, 10th April, 6-8pm.

Join AND on a delicious sensory journey as this unique art and science experiment tours across the region in an ice-cream van.

Cat and Zoe will be serving nano ice-cream, creating strawberry flavoured clouds and exploring developments in nanotechnology.

Interface Amnesty by Sound Network & guest artists
Blackburn, Saturday, April 10, 12-5pm.

A hands on, show and tell event of self-made and hacked devices for making media art.

Like a creative technology car boot, Interface Amnesty represents an emerging and developing sector of artists, hobbyists and makers in the UK experimenting with electronics and technology.

MP3 Experiment by Improv Everywhere
King William Street, Blackburn, Saturday, April 10, 2pm.

Based in New York, Improv Everywhere cause scenes of chaos and joy in public places.

For AND Improv Everywhere and YOU reclaim the streets of Blackburn in a flashmob spectacle.

AND Salon – Nanoscaled
Haworth Art Gallery, Accrington, Saturday, April 10, 68pm.

AND invites The Cloud Project to discuss the implications of nanotechnology.

How will the alteration of physical matter via nanotechnology change how and what we consume.

Is our disordered eating connected to our planet’s broader economic crisis?

All Salons will be accompanied by food, drink and stimulating company. Tickets £7. Booking is recommended.

AND Closing Party / 44 Promotions present Plaid
41 King Street, Blackburn, Saturday, April 10, 8pm til late.

Join us for the grand finale as we celebrate an action packed festival with Plaid (Warp Records). The British electronic duo Andy Turner and Ed Handley will be performing a unique live AV set to help AND close with an electronic bang!