Scotland’s Festival of Light is set to make a spectacular return to light up our city with free artworks and installations at city centre locations including Marischal College, Union Terrace Gardens and Aberdeen Art Gallery.
At the Art Gallery enjoy light works and storytelling – and maybe grab a hot chocolate to warm yourselves up! Don’t forget we’re open during the day as well, 10am-5pm. Come and explore great art for free before heading out to explore Spectra in the city after dark! Take the opportunity to see our special exhibition Artist Textiles: Picasso to Warhol – a feast of fabrics and fashion from some of the 20th century’s leading artists. See [insert link to exhibition page] for ticketing information.
Fit D'You Know Bbout the Bon Accord? (detail), Council Baby, 2023 (c) the Artist, image courtesy Aberdeen City Council (Archives, Gallery & Museums collection)
Council Baby - Fit D’You Know About the Bon Accord?
Award-winning artist Council Baby has been commissioned to create a a large-scale video installation which will be projected against the backdrop of the Gallery’s magnificent Sculpture Court. It comprises four striking stained-glass designs which have been inspired by works in the city’s collection and visits to the area, with each animated panel capturing different aspects of Aberdeen's rich history. At the centre of Council Baby’s artwork is a 'river goddess' Divona, an ode to the River Dee and Don.
Council Baby was the recipient of the 2022 Royal Scottish Academy Benno Schotz Prize for the most promising work by a Scottish artist under 35.
LEM - Universal Communication
Using a high-powered light beam pointed directly towards the sky from the Art Gallery, a message in Morse Code sharing our collective journey will be transmitted out to the universe. Where will our message end up and will it ever be responded too? Can you translate the morse code and work out our message?
LEM is an Aberdeen-based creative production group, who are interested in exploring the interplay between technology and art.
Urban Hijackin - I caught a....
As night falls, discover the curiosities exhibited in a cage erected in the Art Gallery, including flying fish and mini elephants! Stéphane Masson has been spreading his offbeat humour in our lacklustre daily lives since 2004.
Storytelling in the Cowdray Hall
Join storytellers Pauline and Lindsey for traditional Scottish tales, fairy tales, folk tales creation myths and the occasional made-up tales of their own!
Heinrich & Palmer - Winds of Change (Union Terrace Gardens)
Another chance to enjoy the 2024 Spectra Art Gallery commission, this year presented at Union Terrace Gardens. Set against a backdrop of Scottish wind farms and the oil rigs of the Cromarty Firth, Winds of Change journeys through aspects of Aberdeen’s maritime and industrial story from tall ships and granite, to oil and the transition towards renewable energy and wind power. Winds of Change is sponsored by Vattenfall.
Spectra, Scotland’s Festival of Light, is owned and commissioned by Aberdeen City Council and produced by Live Event Management.
Spectra 2025 is supported by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, Event Scotland and the Scottish Government LACER Fund.
The festival is sponsored by Burness Paull LLC and First Bus.
Spectra 2024 contributed £2.6 million to the local economy through visitor spend based on post-event survey and evaluation.
For full details of the 2025 Spectra programme go to www.spectrafestival.com
Be part of SPECTRA 2025!
A brand new artwork that uses the live heartbeats of Aberdonians is premiering at SPECTRA. The Matter of the Heart is created by award-winning art studio idontloveyouanymore, who are looking for 100 local people to share their real-time heart beats during the festival.
If you have a connection to Aberdeen and would like to be involved, we will ask you to wear a heart rate monitor for the duration of the festival (6-9 February) and be available on either Saturday 1, Sunday 2 or Monday 3 February to collect your heart rate monitor from Aberdeen Art Gallery.
Interested? Follow this link to take part: thematteroftheheart.com
