River of Light returns!
This year's theme is 'The Science of Light'
The River of Light is back in Liverpool for its eighth year!
The free light festival transforms the city's waterfront into a stunning outdoor art gallery.
Ten large-scale artworks are illuminating the waterfront from today (Friday 24 October) until Sunday 2 November.
This year's theme is 'The Science of Light' with each installation drawing inspiration from an area of science, technology or nature.
Cllr Harry Doyle, Cabinet Member for Culture for Liverpool City Council, said:
"What is great this year is that half of them are brand new installations so the first time that people are ever going to see them, so they're getting their world premiere right here in the city! The other five have visited cities all around the world.
"The great thing about River of Light is that we work with artists from across the globe. We've got installations from artists from the US, Canada, Spain, Australia, all over and here in the UK.
"Last year, for example, the economic impact was just under £19million. People coming into the city spending their cash in local bars and restaurants and supporting a sector which, for the last few years, has really been struggling - not just coming out of Covid, but the cost of living crisis as well so getting people into the city is absolutely essential."
Rachel Darnell, an artist from Australia, said:
"We've got two exhibits - we've got Dandelion, which is a giant ten-metre sculpture with 167 seeder pods. You can walk through it and press buttons and it lights up and plays a sound and it's like the dandelion seeds are floating away.
"It also has a performance mode which goes for about two minutes and all of the lights on there are programmed to dance with the original score, which is done by a Sydney-based recording studio.
"Our second artwork is a world premiere, it's been designed for Liverpool, and it's Pendulum. It's in front of the Liver building and we're really excited to have it here.
"It's a giant sculpture where you can bring a pendulum back and swing it at the people at the other side, which sends the light from one side to the other with immersive sounds."