A giant dreamy inflatable light castle and a huge illuminated slinky toy are the first light installations of Aberdeen’s Spectra 2025 to be announced.
Art light installations from Australia and Newcastle are the first to be announced in the line-up for Spectra, Scotland’s Festival of Light, which will light up the skies of North-east Scotland from Thursday 6 February to Sunday 9 February next year.
The installations will include a gidreamy inflatable light castle called Sky Castle from Australian artist, ENESS, and a huge illuminated slinky toy called End Over End from Newcastle based Studio Vertigo.
This year’s festival theme is Journeys, not only because the festival takes visitors on a journey with local, national and international light artists but also as a nod to The Tall Ship races that Aberdeen will welcome in summer 2025.
Councillor Martin Greig, cultural spokesperson for Aberdeen City Council, said: “Spectra provides a wonderful platform to experience out-of-this-world light installations from gifted artists from across the world. Our first confirmed artists really will help us to illuminate the skies of Aberdeen with their bold and bright designs and we can’t wait for people across city and beyond to experience them. We thank the artists for choosing Aberdeen to showcase their work and giving us all an unrivalled opportunity to experience their sensory light installations up-close.”
Sky Castle will take pride of place in Union Terrace Gardens and offer an interactive sound and light installation via a cluster of inflatable arches. As guests move through the arches, their movement powers and progresses the melodic xylophone soundscape stimulating colour changes in each arch.
Meanwhile, Marischal Square will become the playground for gigantic illuminated slinky toy, End Over End. The slinky will light-up to create the movement of the nostalgic toy, with proportions between visitors and the ‘toy’ reversed as if you’ve shrunk and found yourself in Alice’s Wonderland.
Artist and Founder of ENESS, Nimrod Weis, said: "We are very excited to bring our installation Sky Castle to Aberdeen which is the first time an ENESS work has appeared in Scotland. Sky Castle is very close to our hearts because it was created as a symbol of hope after Covid alluding to the appearance of rainbows after a storm. Since then, this installation has brought joy and happiness to public spaces around the world, attracting young and old with its generative soundscape and ever-changing lighting effects. We look forward to delighting the people of Aberdeen in February."
Now in its 11th year, the celebration of light, art and creativity is now firmly established in Scotland’s event calendar, having grown in the past decade, from an initial audience of 10,000 at a single site to attracting over 100,000 visits over four days in 2024 and contributing £2.6 million in visitor spend to the local economy.
Leading independent Law firm, which has offices in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh, is sponsoring Spectra for a second year.
John Strachan, partner at Burness Paull, said: “We are proud to continue our support for Spectra, which reflects our commitment to Aberdeen and the importance we place on connecting with the communities in which we operate. The festival is a cultural highlight of the north east that supports artists and the creative sector, drives growth in the local economy, and brings together people and businesses from across the region and beyond to showcase the very best Aberdeen has to offer.”
Creating an unforgettable experience for visitors and residents alike, the free festival provides the perfect opportunity to enjoy everything Aberdeen and north-east Scotland has to offer in winter. Spectra is owned and commissioned by Aberdeen City Council and produced by Live Event Management.
More information on the festival can be found at www.spectrafestival.com
Image: Sky Castle in Shenzhen by ENESS. Image credit Zhu Rui.