Gloucester’s Bright Nights festival will once again light up the city with an array of light installations that will welcome and delight visitors through the remaining winter months.

 

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.