Spectra Festival of Light

Spectra, stylized as SPECTRA Scotland's Festival of Light (originally Aberdeen's Festival of Light), is an annual public arts festival held each year in Aberdeen, Scotland. The art installations are focused around light, often including sculptures, projections, and installations.

SPECTRA
Nøkken displayed on Marischal College, Aberdeen, during the 2023 SPECTRA Festival
Status	Active
Genre	Arts Festival
Dates	9–12 February 2023
Frequency	Annual
Location(s)	Aberdeen
Country	United Kingdom
Inaugurated	2015
Most recent	2023
Next event	2024
Organised by	Curated Place Aberdeen City Council
Free?	Yes
Website	https://www.spectrafestival.co.uk/

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Spectra Festival of Light.

History

Founded in 2014, the festival has taken place annually in February. From 2015, Aberdeen City Council appointed Curated Place, an arts-led cultural production agency to produce and deliver the event. ^[1]

2014

A pilot event, coordinated by Aberdeen-based Peacock Visual Arts, took place from 6th to 9th February 2014 with the tagline "Aberdeen Festival of Light"^[2]

2015

Participating artists included Jørgen Callesen, Jacob Takeila, Einkofi Productions and Steinunn.^[3] Locations included Union Terrace Gardens and His Majesty's Theatre. ^[4]

2016

The event ran from 11 to 14 February 2016. Its main space was in Union Terrace Gardens, with other exhibitions added in Marischal College, St Nicholas Kirkyard, and Seventeen on Belmont Street. ^[5]

2017

The event took place between 9 and 12 February 2017. It added the Rooftop Garden of the St Nicholas Centre as an exhibition space.^[6] It won Festival of the Year 2017 in the Drum awards. It also was voted best family event of the year by Raring2go! magazine.^[7]

2018

The festival took place from 8 to 11 February 2018. Its theme was "Play in the Night" in tribute to Creative Scotland and Event Scotland’s Year of Young People. ^[8] Union Terrace Gardens hosted 15 installations, and the front of His Majesty's Theatre was used as a projection surface. ^[8]

2019

There was no Spectra Festival in 2019, due to the contract lapsing. ^[9]

2020

Spectra returned^[10] to Aberdeen in 2020, with displays including tentacles perched on buildings^[11] around the city in addition to the usual light displays. Taking its inspiration from Scotland’s Year of Coasts and Waters, Spectra 2020 explored Aberdeen’s position as the connecting point to other cultures on Scotland’s North East coast.

2022

After the festival was cancelled in 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic,^[12] Spectra returned to the City in 2022 with a theme of "Scotland’s Year of Stories."

2023

The theme for the latest incarnation of the Festival, held from 9 to 12 of February, was "Home".^[13] Ashley Davis described the festival as "what is best in the Granite City" in The Times.^[14] Queues of up to 45 minutes were reported^[15] as residents and visitors to Aberdeen visited the festival.

Attendance

Spectra's attendance figures have been reported as follows.

Year	Attendance
2014	unknown
2015	8,000 (est)^[16]
2016	35,000 (est)^[17]
2017	63,286^[7]
2018	93,000 (est)^[16]
2020	c. 100,000 (est)^[18]
2022	tbc
2023	c. 119,000 (est)^[19]

Gallery

• Images from Spectra 2017 - 2023
•  

  Spectra 2017 projection on Marishcal College

•  

  Paul Friedlander's Wave Garden in Aberdeen's Union Terrace Gardens, as part of Spectra Scotland's Festival of Light in 2017.

•  

  Tentacles over Marischal Square 2020

•  

  Entry to Spectra 2023

•  

  Fantastic Planet, by Parer Studio, Marischal College, 2023

•  

  Figure, Union Square, 2023 Spectra

•  

  The Nøkken display on Marischal College, Aberdeen, 2023

•  

  Spectra 2023 installation, UTG

References

1. "Spectra 2015". Curated Place. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
2. "SPECTRA: Aberdeen Festival of Light". Central Station. Retrieved 2023-02-23.
3. "SPECTRA Aberdeen 2015, Nordic Producer". Einkofi Productions. Retrieved 2023-02-14.
4. "SPECTRA 2015". Flickr. Retrieved 2023-02-14.
5. "Spectra 2016 Map/Leaflet by Spectra Aberdeen - Issuu". issuu.com. Retrieved 2023-02-14.
6. "Spectra Festival Map 2017 by Spectra Aberdeen - Issuu". issuu.com. Retrieved 2023-02-14.
7. "SPECTRA shines bright with economic boost and award win". AGCC. Retrieved 2023-02-13.
8. "Behind the scenes at Spectra 2018". AGCC. Retrieved 2023-02-14.
9. "No Aberdeen Spectra light festival this year". BBC News. 2019-01-10. Retrieved 2023-02-14.
10. "Aberdeen's Spectra festival of light returns after a year's absence". BBC News. 2020-02-13. Retrieved 2023-02-14.
11. Ferguson, Owen (2020-02-21). "Sea monsters invade Aberdeen". Youth Journalism International. Retrieved 2023-02-14.
12. "Spectra festival returns to light up Aberdeen city centre". STV News. 2022-02-11. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
13. "Spectra Returns to Light-Up Aberdeen | Aberdeen City Council". www.aberdeencity.gov.uk. 2023-09-02. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
14. Davies, Ashley. "Everything you need to know about Spectra, Aberdeen's festival of light". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
15. Hempseed, Ross. "Massive queues as Spectra attracts thousands to Aberdeen city centre". Press and Journal. ISSN 2632-1165. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
16. "Spectra 2020: 'It's ambitious, but we're really looking to change things up'". list.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-02-13.
17. "Festival of lights in Aberdeen attracts 35,000 visitors". BBC News. 2016-02-15. Retrieved 2023-02-13.
18. "Spectra 2020". Curated Place. Retrieved 2023-02-14.
19. "David Officer on LinkedIn: We've had a great response to our call for sponsors and partners to work…". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2023-08-28.