Salford has opened its free annual light art festival – for the 10th year running.
Located along Salford Quays and MediaCity, Lightwaves Salford is organised by Quays Culture and features 15 installations.
Director of Culture for Salford, Darren Grice, said: “It’s free, no tickets, no boundaries, for people to come play and have fun.”
The event is running daily until Sunday December 10 from 4pm-10pm.
It features installations from national and international artists.
The 15 sculptures include interactive and multisensory experiences.
Kate Doyle, the Head of Programme for Quays Culture, said: “One of the things I love about Lightwaves is the diversity of the experience we can get out.”
Doyle described Lightwaves as an accessible way for all people to enjoy arts and culture and to get out during the winter.
While there are many installations to enjoy, some of the highlights are the interactive ones.
Nectary, made up of six handcrafted flowers by artist Alison Smith and Dr Chris Hassall, saw many visitors going from flower to flower, mimicking pollinating insects.
Many of the pieces, including Nectary and Valkyrie, Alison Smith’s collaboration with Matt Collins, are made from recycled material.
Valkyrie is a glowing orb which reacts to voices, creating new colours across its surface when you speak into it.
It is inspired by the Northern Lights and lets visitors create their very own Aurora Borealis.
Doyle said: “We’re lucky people come back year on year to Lightwaves Salford but there is always new people coming all the time.
“What we do here at Lightwaves is that magic mix of it’s free and it’s accessible but it’s also really really good.
“We do have word class light art here and we really want people to enjoy it.”
Another interactive hit, which seems especially popular with children, is GLOW by Amigo & Amigo.
Located on the Lowry Plaza, this giant light installation includes over 40 different music sounds and interactive light animations.
Watching her children play with GLOW, one of the visitors said: “It’s incredible, all the fun you can have with lights.”
Across the river, on the MediaCity Piazza, is PULSE by artist Loop, a 50-meter-long installation made up of 14,400 LEDS synched to audio.
PULSE will be up on the Piazza until December 19th.
Lightwaves Salford is part of Light up the North, a collective of light festivals and light trails across the North.
Over the last decade, Lightwaves Salford has featured around 80 pieces, including 18 commissions and 22 co-commissions.
Maps for the trail can be found online and on sight.
There are also helpful workers in hi-vis around who can direct visitors.
Quays Culture is offering tours and artist talks from Friday until Sunday.
Quays Culture can be found on Instagram @quayscultureuk on X (Twitter) @quaysculture or at quaysculture.com
Feature Image: PULSE by Loop photographed by Chris Payne.
