Bristol Light Festival 2024

Hi Everyone,

After seeing @livinguktaiwan post about the Bristol Light Festival, I decided to make a day out for the kids and @sterlingux. We took the bus into Bristol as it's so expensive to park around Bristol and driving in the city is not the easiest anymore with more and more bus lanes appearing.

Elysian by Atelier Sisu

Our first stop was Elysian which looks like three rainbows linked together in the middle. We spent the most time here because the kids absolutely loved playing under the arches, having a feel what they felt like and running round in circles. This installation didn't have to be seen in the dark for it to be interactive or appealing, we actually liked seeing it at sunset.

Made in Bristol

This isn't part of the Bristol Light Festival but it's a lovely piece of artwork on the wall that's permanent and it shows off the Aardman collection. If you're not aware of who Aardman are, they are based in Bristol and created Wallace & Gromit as well as Shaun the Sheep.

Emergence by This is Loop

Our next stop was Emergence and this was my favourite because you can get some really good photos. People kept taking photos from the outside, from the outside it doesn't look very impressive, but the trick to this installation is to have someone go inside the installation and take the photo of the person outside which creates a disco ball effect. We had to tell a few people to take the photo from the inside, we also had a few people look at our phone and realise what they had to do.

WildLight by BBC Studios Natural History Unit

Our next stop was the WildLight which isn't much, it's on Castle Bridge, but the kids absolutely loved watching the projections of the natural world on the side of a building. When the projection jumped onto the other side of the canal the kids were fascinated and really enjoyed it. There is a second part to this installation but it's poorly placed as it's very narrow when you're inside the but there are immersive wildlife projections on the wall. Our favourite was the elephants that were being projected but we couldn't take any photos as there were lots of people watching as well as it being narrow.

The Unfolding by SLX & Bristol Light Festival

Our next stop was The Unfolding which was in the ruins of Temple Church, from the outside it didn't look much and the tower looked like it was going to topple over. I lived in Bristol for over 10 years and not once had I been to this church but it's so beautiful inside, even though it's a ruin. There were lots of people at this installation as well but we spent some time here watching all the lights highlighting the ruins.

Swing Song by Bristol Light Festival and Tired Industries

Our next stop was meant to be Ascendance by Studio McGuire but the queue to get into this installation as it was also located in a church was ridiculous. At first we thought people were queuing to get into a burger restaurant but it turned out to be the queue which went around the whole block. It was cold and decided it was best to skip it, even though it was the one I was really looking forward to, as the kids were getting restless. We walked to Swing Song instead and once again the queue for it was so long. We walked past it but this installation looked run down already as a swing had been taken off because it was broken.

The Nectary by Alison Smith & Dr Chris Hassall

Our penultimate stop was The Nectary which was a series of floating flowers between the trees which when you stood under them you could hear the bees buzzing. This was effective but I was more impressed with how the flowers looked from afar.

Pulse by This is Loop

Our final stop was Pulse which had that many people we couldn't enjoy it. There was no space for our double stroller, so we just took a few photos by the side of it before we walked to the closest bus stop.

This turned out to be a fun and quick day out as it only took us about 1.5 hours to walk to each installation and have a little look but if they have another one on I'd definitely won't be doing it on a weekend. There were too many people to fully enjoy each installation and we ended up missing a few too.

Until next time, stay tuned.