This year Bristol Light festival will be returning to the cities streets to bring some vibrancy and sparkle.
The festival will bring together a showcase of renowned light artists and installations from across the UK, featuring the best of Bristol’s talent.
The incredible installations first came to Bristol in 2020 and helped Bristolians to enjoy the city in a new way; whilst also allowing local artists to showcase their work in some of the city's most iconic places.
READ MORE: Bristol Light Festival confirmed to return in 2022
It promises to be just as impressive this year - featuring six world premiere works from some of the best UK light artists, all making their Bristol debut at carefully selected locations across the city.
This year’s festival will be supported by Bristol’s City Centre & High Streets Recovery and Renewal programme, which is funded by Bristol City Council and the West of England’s Combined Authority’s Love our High Streets project, with the aim of supporting the recovery of Bristol’s priority high streets.
And Bristol Light Festival has shared all of the details of the exciting installations that you can expect to enjoy.
Chirp & Drift by Kathy Hinde
Internationally renowned audio-visual artist, Kathy Hinde will present two nature-inspired creations at this year’s event.
Kathy is based in Bristol and creates much of her work in the city. Hinde is also an active member of the film and sound collective, Bristol Experimental Expanded Film, and a resident at Pervasive Media Studio.
One of Kathy’s installations will feature in the garden at St George’s Bristol (just off Park Street) and promises to "give a new meaning to bird spotting!" It will also feature at Temple Gardens.
The light and sound sculpture, ‘Chirp & Drift’ is a flock of illuminated instruments that look like birds and that chatter in morse-code messages. Visitors will not only be able to enjoy the beauty of the birds but can also listen out for gentle tones and harmonies made by accordion reeds hidden inside each ‘bird’.
Circle of Light by Toy Studio
Lighting designers Toy Studio will be bringing their colourful and immersive daylight installation to Bristol for the first time, as ‘Circle of Light’ will encircle the equestrian statue in Queen Square.
The art piece will create coloured shadows that extend and contract depending on the time of day, angle, and intensity of the sun.
Visitors can experience ‘Circle of Light’ from a distance, taking in the rainbow of colours spanning the square, or can walk through each colour shadow and see the city in a different light.
The installation can also be enjoyed in the evening when it will light up and again, bathing the square in a spectrum of colour.
Cascade by Squidsoup
One of this year’s new commissions for Bristol Light Festival is being created by a group of internationally renowned artists, Squidsoup, who are designers and technologists.
‘Cascade’ is described as "an exuberant fountain of energy, light and sound" that will emanate from the top of Left Handed Giant brewpub creating waves of sound and light as it cascades into the river below.
Named after one of the original variety of hops, ‘Cascade’ is the latest incarnation in Squidsoup’s ongoing explorations into the immersive possibilities of spatialised light and sound.
Exponential and Crossroads by Lucid Creates
Multi-disciplinary design Studio, Lucid Creates, will bring two light installations to Bristol for the first time.
Showing in Cabot Circus, ‘Exponential’ is a seemingly floating, kaleidoscopic mirrored cube, encased in endlessly moving patterns of light, triggered by an hour-long ambient soundtrack.
They will also be bringing immersive space ‘Crossroads’. They promise that audiences will be able to experience illusions "that can reveal everything from how they process space and time to their perception of consciousness."
The installations feature lights that move in sync with a soundscape by Canadian artists Exist Strategy to create an hour-long immersive AV experience.
Swing Song by Tired Industries
Swing song is a brand new commission that promises to bring out the inner child in everyone. Featuring at College Green the creation by Bristol-based company, Tired Industries will create a collection of light-up musical swings allowing visitors to swing alongside one another in a fun and interactive way.
Music and light will be triggered by the swinging motion and play in sync with one another, featuring music that celebrates Bristol’s rich history.
Swing Song is an addition to this year’s programme following a successful grant from the Arts Council England, the piece is one of the daytime commissions which is also powered by movement.
Neighbours by Bristol's own graffiti artists
One of 2020’s most popular installations, ‘Neighbours', is making an exciting return and this year it will tell a new tale.
For 2022, the collaborative installation by four Bristol-based graffiti artists and illustrators will create artworks that will surround the window of Banksy’s famous 'Well Hung Lover' on Park Street and offer a peek into the lives of those living next door.
Neighbours will be a celebration of Bristol’s residents and how we interact with each other as a diverse community, whilst exploring the unique relationship we all have had with our homes over the pandemic.
Office Party by Parker Heyl
International light artist Parker Heyl will bring his playful installation ‘Office Party’ to Bristol for the first time, taking over the Vertigo building in the Redcliffe & Temple area.
‘Office Party’ comes from the playful idea that our workspaces may come to life in our absence, using sequenced light choreography to make the while building dance after the workers have gone home.
Owners of the Vertigo building, Workforce Development Trust, and one of its resident businesses Boccard, will be providing their office windows for the installation that can be seen on Cheese Lane Shot Tower.
End over End by Studio Vertigo
Renowned light artists, Studio Vertigo will bring their colourful and fun installation to the harbourside, and it promises to capture the imagination of those that see it.
Installation End over End is a gigantic illuminated slinky toy that lights up to create the familiar flowing movement of the nostalgic toy. Its size and scale will make visitors feel like they’ve entered a playroom in the land of giants as they watch each coil ‘slink’ down Cascade Steps and head towards the harbour’s water.
Lucy McDonnell and Stephen Newby, Studio Vertigo’s co-founders, design light installations that transform the daily environment, and their creations have featured at countless events and festivals across the UK and internationally.
The Eyes by Designs in Air
Inflatable art specialists, Designs in Air, will be bringing ‘The Eyes’ to Bristol’s Old City area as a fun addition to the festival. Visitors will need to take a second glance when walking up Clare Street – as a pair of huge, illuminated eyes look straight back at them from a tree!
Sticking giant googly eyes in a tree gives it a unique character. Some of these leafy giants have been part of the city for centuries yet they often get ignored; the team hopes that people will look up and find themselves seeing eye to eye with a happy tree and have an unexpected chuckle.
Disco Ball by the Bristol Light Festival Creative Team
‘Disco Ball’ is an exciting new commission for this year’s event designed by the Bristol Light Festival creative team, which is set to transform Millennium Square into disco heaven. The Bristol Planetarium will be turned into a giant disco ball, projecting light across the square to disco ball themed podiums dotted across the area.
Sign Night - Hand Ship Sail by Catchy Mager
‘Sign Night’, a poignant performance on film created and directed by Bristol-based Cathy Mager, has been repurposed into ‘Sign Night - Hand Ship Sail’ for Bristol Light Festival; presenting a new edit of the performance never seen before.
The beautifully shot piece will be projected onto the side of Arnolfini on the Harbourside and is best viewed from the other side of the harbour, outside Revolución de Cuba.
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