4 minute read
FESTIVAL First light: a new illuminated festival for the city
LIGHTBULB MOMENTS Well, this is exciting: a new Bristol festival designed to brighten the dark, cold last weekend of February. What’s it all about, and where’s it to, then? (PS score one point every time you read the word ‘immersive’…)
The idea behind the Bristol Light Festival was to introduce light, colour and fun into the coldest, dreariest time of year. It’s brought to you by the team at Bristol City Centre BID, working with local creatives Katherine Jewkes and Vashti Waite.
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“Our aim was to create a new cultural experience for the city, while inspiring people to explore and enjoy different areas of Bristol to which they might not normally venture on a cold February evening,” says the BID’s project manager, Vicky Lee.
“The installations have been carefully
positioned to encourage visitors to navigate the city along routes which support local, independent businesses at a notoriously quiet time of the year. “It’s taken us two years to develop plans for the festival, which is Intended to embody the playful and creative spirit of the city. Our ambition is to continue to grow it, in both size and duration, over the next couple of years.”
Set across the city centre over four days, the festival launches with a preview evening on 27 February, allowing everyone to experience the installations for the first time. They’ll light up from 5-11 pm, giving you the whole evening to follow the trail through the city, taking you down streets and along paths which you might not usually travel. Be ready to interact and play with some of the pieces; they are there to create a fun and fresh new experience.
There are eight locations, each with its own site-specific installation. You can track them through several different routes, but the suggested trail starts in Quakers Friars and leads through Castle Park, the city centre, up and down Park Street, Millennium Square, Harbourside and Queen Square. Oh, and it’s all free; as are the guided tours, bookable through the website below.
The team have now finalised the event programme, which features a range of internationally acclaimed artists alongside local Bristol talent. Here’s the intel:
MILK BOTTLES CUBES BY JACK WIMPERIS; QUAKERS FRIARS AND CASTLE PARK A specially commissioned light sculpture in two variations, created to raise awareness about single-use plastics. The installation in Quakers Friars consists of thousands of recycled milk bottles, each embedded with addressable LEDs to interact with visitors; meanwhile, Milk Bottles Screen on the bandstand in Castle Park will see a 4 x 2.5m screen of 600 one-pint hanging milk bottles.
PINK ENCHANTMENT BY TINE BECH; CASTLE BRIDGE International light artist Tina Bech is a former UWE graduate who originally designed this installation for Bristol; she’s showcased it internationally, but this will be the first time it will be exhibited in the city for which it was intended. The interactive light installation will transform Castle Bridge, immersing those walking across it in an ethereal pink light as they cross the water. Bursts of fog are activated as you walk across the bridge, and lights illuminate the way, creating an intriguing immersive experience for both those walking and observers from afar.
OVERHEARD IN BRISTOL; CASCADE STEPS In celebration of the city and all its quirky little ways, a fourmetre neon sign will be installed close to Cascade Steps, shining a quintessentially Bristolian phrase into the heart of the city (the clue’s on our front cover). The perfect backdrop for any Bristolian selfie, the installation will evolve over future years, with visitors being invited to submit their suggestions for a well-known Bristol saying for next year’s sign. We’re rooting for Proper Job.
NEIGHBOURS No, its not Jason Donervan. Celebrating Bristol’s graff culture, this specially commissioned light artwork created by a collection of Bristol artists is designed to surprise us on opening night; (translation: we don’t know anything about it yet).
NIMBES & NEBULAE BY JOANIE LEMERCIER; PLANETARIUM A fulldome artwork, originally created in 2014 in partnership with composer James Ginzburg. The immersive 15-minute show can be seen at the We The Curious Planetarium, and is immediately followed by Nebulae, Lemercier’s latest fulldome work, created in 2019. Both artworks follow Lemercier’s artistic interpretation of a voyage into the cosmos and through time, exploring galaxies and constellations, and witnessing several mesmerising cosmic events.
FRAME PERSPECTIVE BY OLIVIER RATSI; MILLENNIUM SQUARE French visual artist Ratsi’s huge sound-and-light piece is a 32-metre luminous installation of repeating frames and LEDs, creating an impressive scale
piece that disrupts the space in which it is set. The interacting lights and sounds alter the surrounding environment, creating an immersive experience for visitors and, we’re told, ‘altering their experience of reality’.
WILDLIFE ON THE WATERFRONT BY LIMBIC CINEMA; ARNOLFINI Local charity Send a Cow have teamed up with Limbic for a bespoke projection on the Arnolfini, as part of the Living with Wildlife appeal to protect people and wildlife in Uganda.
WAVE-FIELD VARIATION Q BY LATERAL OFFICE, WITH CS DESIGN WITH SOUNDSCAPE BY MITCHELL AKIYAMA; QUEEN SQUARE Originating in Canada, the collection of eight giant, illuminated see-saws will create an ever-changing light installation. As the see-saws are played on, lights and music are activated; visitors are invited to partner up and become a co-creator of their own piece of art. Inner child connection opportunity, non?
