Bristol Light Festival

The iconic ‘Cheers Drive’ sign, one of nine light installations that featured in this year’s inaugural Bristol Light Festival, has been permanently installed at the city’s bus station on Marlborough Street as a thank you to Bristol’s frontline workers and their commitment throughout the pandemic.

The four-foot neon sign welcomes visitors, workers and residents into the heart of Bristol, whilst also showing gratitude to the thousands of key workers in a highly visual and creative way.

The first Bristol Light Festival has been a huge success!

In a fantastic result for a first-year, approximately 100,000 visitors made their way into Bristol’s city centre, from Thursday 27th February to Sunday 1st March, to visit the nine light installations created by internationally renowned and local artists, despite the wintry conditions.

The festival provided Bristolians and visitors to the city with artworks to interact with and enjoy, whilst also experiencing the great food and drink offer at restaurants and bars across the city centre – some of which experienced their busiest winter weekend of the year.

The Bristol Light Festival was the first of a three-year series presented by Bristol City Centre BID, programmed by creative directors, Katherine Jewkes and Vashti Waite, and delivered in partnership with Bristol City Council and the University of the West of England.

This year, all but one of the installations were powered by the grid, using less power than it takes to use an electric kettle. The remaining installation was powered by a generator using bio-fuel. We have also set out an ambition to be carbon neutral by 2022 and aim to achieve this by carbon offsetting the festival’s minimal footprint through other activities.

For more information on the festival, the installations and the artists involved, visit bristollightfestival.org.

Seven new and exciting artists of light have been added to the programme of local and international talent as part of the Bristol Light Festival, taking place from Thursday 27^th February to Sunday 1^st March.

Frame Perspective by Olivier Ratsi will transform Millenium Square with a 30-metre-long luminous installation of repeating frames and LED lights. It will give off both bright light and sound creating an interactive experience that alters the surrounding environment.

MilkBottle by Jack Wimperis is a specially commissioned series of light sculptures made out of recycled milk bottles with the aim to raise awareness about single-use plastics. Supported by Cabot circus, Milkbottle Cages will see a sculpture of the recycled milk bottles with embedded LEDs. Milkbottle Screen is a screen of 600 hanging one-pint milk bottles, situated on Castle Park’s bandstand.

Nimbes and Nebulae by Joanie Lemercier will take visitors on a unique journey following an artistic interpretation of a voyage through time and space. Nimbes is a fulldome piece that was created in 2014 In partnership with composer,  James Ginzburg. The installation will be a 15-minute show screened in the Planetarium at We The Curious and will be immediately followed by Nebulae, created in 2019.

Wildlife on the Waterfront by Bristol charity, Send a Cow, will tell the tale of the people and wildlife in Uganda’s oldest national park. In partnership with Bristol’s award-winning Limbic Cinema, the piece will be projected onto the Arnolfini as part of the Living with Wildlife appeal to protect the people and wildlife in Uganda.

Neighbours is an installation created by a collection of local artists who are working together to create a unique piece of light that will pay homage to Bristol’s graffiti culture. It will be revealed as a final surprise on the opening of the festival on Thursday 27^th February.

The new artists will join Pink Enchantment by Tine Bech on Castle Bridge, Wave-field Variation Q by Lateral Office and CS Design in Queen Square and Overheard in Bristol consisting of a four metre neon sign installed by Cascade Steps featuring the well-known Bristol saying, ‘CHEERS DRIVE.’

For more information and updates about the festival please visit www.bristollightfestival.org.

City Centre BID has launched the new Bristol Light Festival website and announced the first three commissions for the festival. They include light art installations that are visiting the South West for the first time as well as brand-new installations created exclusively for this first edition of the festival.

Pink Enchantment by international artist Tine Bech will shroud Castle Bridge in bursts of atmospheric pink mist as walkers and cyclists cross the water.

Wave-Field, Variation Q by Lateral Office will transform Queen Square into a playground of giant seesaws that burst into joyful music and light when played with.

Overheard in Bristol will depict a famous Bristolian phrase in four-foot neon beside the Cascade Steps. It’s sure to become a favoured selfie spot.

A further three art installations will be announced ahead of the festival, so keep checking here for details.

Join us on Wednesday 15 January, 2020 when we’ll be hosting a levy payer event to introduce the team behind the Bristol Light Festival, share opportunities on how businesses can get involved and celebrate this exciting new festival for our city. More details coming soon.