Birmingham Light Festival will bring a whole host of illuminations to Birmingham City Centre this February, with artworks taking over many iconic Brummie landmarks.
Highlights include “Flux”, an installation by French design studio Collectif Scale that will bring a “mesmerising” display of dancing light beams set to electronic music to Snow Hill Square.
Centenary Square will be transformed into a silent disco with a twist – the “Floor is LAVA x Silent Disco” will see festivalgoers enjoy their favourite party tunes and scramble to avoid the lights when they hear “the floor is lava” through their headphones”.
The festival will run from February 19 until February 22 (Image: Emergency Exit Arts) The square will also be home to “Twist & Shine” by Kaleider, a collection of interactive light prisms that can be twisted into thousands of shapes, and will serve as a night badminton court run by Badminton England, ahead of the Yonex All England Open.
The city-wide festival will feature three additional legacy artworks, provided through funding support from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which will stay in situ after the festival ends in a bid to brighten city spaces over time.
One of these is “Alright Bab!”, a collaboration between Colmore BID, local merchandise business Brumbox and Midland’s based production company, Taylex Group, which pays homage to the iconic Brummie greeting.
There will be something for everyone (Image: Verity Milligan) There will also be a “Run the Lights” 5km illuminated run, a guided night-time neon kayak through the canals and a selection of foodie events held by local restaurants to support the festival, as well as many, many more activities.
Caroline Davis, Managing Director of Outdoor Places Unusual Spaces (OPUS) and Executive Producer of the Birmingham Light Festival, said: “We’re so full of joy to be announcing our full programme today.
“Across the city centre, our public spaces will come alive with beautiful artwork and fun events for absolutely everyone to enjoy, we can’t wait to watch visitors’ faces light up too.
“We hope that we’ll get to see visitors from near and far enjoying the programme, there’s definitely enough on there to warrant a couple of city centre visits.
“February is going to be quite a lot brighter!”
There will be over 50 events making up this year’s festival (Image: Stevie Thompson, Custom Fibre Optics) Alex Nicholson Evans, City Curator, added: “We’re so proud of the way that our city has come together to deliver what is shaping up to be a truly spectacular festival.
“It’s thanks to our incredible partners, artists, and businesses across Birmingham and beyond, that we have an amazing line-up of artworks and events that will give people so many opportunities to see our city in a different light!
She continued: “I’m also so pleased that some of the magic of the festival will continue beyond February, with some of the artworks staying where they are, to bring more light to Birmingham throughout the year.”
The Birmingham Light Festival will run from February 19 until February 22, with the full programme of events being available to view on the festival’s website.