Manchester-based dbn Lighting has supplied a custom LED and control solution to the city's Whitworth Art Gallery as part of the "Cotton : Global Threads" exhibition.

The light work was designed by artist Liz Rideal and involves the illumination of nine large windows on the top storey at the front of the building, with video material from a film - Light Curtain - which is played back via a media server also supplied by dbn. Challenges included having to fit all the necessary LED lighting equipment to light the windows into a 30cm-deep space, keeping each window's physical lighting installation completely self-contained within its recessed space.

Global Threads runs until 13 May 2012. At its heart are displays of fashion and textiles that examine India's extensive global trade network in cotton, centuries before production shifted to Northern Europe, and the impact of cotton on Western fashion, providing a catalyst for the Industrial Revolution.