Bright Nights Festival Returns
Launched in November last year, the festival is backed by local partners including Gloucester Business Improvement District and has been supported by funding from Arts Council England.
For the second part of the programme, which will run until March, Gloucester City Council has commissioned several exciting new installations bringing even more colour, light and joy to the city.
Highlights for 2022 include:
Windows Through Time
14 February – 1 March, Westgate Street
Award Winning Local artist, Jack Wimperis will be creating a new artwork highlighting the colourful past of this vibrant area. People have lived, worked, prayed, and played in Westgate Street since Roman times and each period in history has left its own mark making today’s street a precious historical record of how people lived in the past. To read more about the history of each of these windows, you can pick up a trail leaflet from the Cathedral Quarter's HQ on Westgate Street.
18-20 February - celebrate the start of half-term with a number of activities on Westgate Street along including street performers. And St Stephen's Church will throw open its doors for people to take a look inside this historic church which is rarely open to the public.
Glow Globes
February, various city centre locations
Discover ten giant Glow Globes dotted around the city, animated through snow and illuminated artworks. Scan the QR code on each one to watch the snow dance in the globes.
The art inside the globes has been created by South West artist Maya Wolf who took inspiration from local children's favourite parts of Gloucester history of Gloucester. Each globe will tell its own story about the city’s past.
Luma
18 - 19 February, Gloucester Cathedral
Luma is a huge interactive robot; an 8m long, inflatable snail who loves an audience. She looms above visitors with a presence which is gentle, welcoming, and otherworldly. Made almost entirely made from fabric which allows her movement to reflect the flexible and contorting motion found within the animal kingdom. The joyful and hopeful artwork champions both nature and technology, and reimagines what robots can do.
Illuminated Swim
3-6 March, GL1
Inspired by the paintings of Rothko, multi-award winning designer Dr Tine Bech has created a beautiful artwork which you can swim in. Illuminated Swim is an immersive and playful light installation where participants can experience diving into a giant pool of light. Coloured clouds hover over the water, gently changing as people float, swim and play.
Tine is working in collaboration with Gloucester-based The Music Works team to design a soundtrack for the installation. More information on ticket booking to be announced in the coming weeks.
Councillor Andrew Lewis, Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure at Gloucester City Council, said: “Gloucester City Council is delighted to be working on brightening up the new year with the second half of the Bright Nights programme, a fantastic collection of light installations for residents and visitors to enjoy and interact with. We are really excited about bringing the work of international artists to Gloucester in this series of events and hope that it brings people some cheer during the darker months. It’s a perfect way to get out and explore the city over winter.”
More information at www.visitgloucester.co.uk