At the end of what has been a dark, cold and tumultuous winter tunnel for Aberdeen, there is a shining beacon of hope to lift the spirits.
Spectra, the city’s free festival of light, is back next week and is set to illuminate hearts, minds and public spaces throughout the city.
Now in its 10th year, the sparkling spectacle has created a lasting glow that radiates far beyond the imagination with organisers Aberdeen City Council reporting that visitor numbers last year peaked at 119,000 compared to 17,500 visits in 2014, the year it began.
Starting life as a small pilot project, the festival initially involved just eight artists who transformed window spaces such as shops, bars and small galleries into breath-taking public artworks while large-scale schools projects were displayed in Union Terrace Gardens.
Ten years on and Scotland’s Festival of Light is shining brighter than ever with 30 artists involved in creating spectacular installations across local landmarks including Marischal College and Broad Street, Aberdeen Art Gallery, and Union Terrace Gardens.
Reflecting its popularity and appeal to all generations, this year, for the first time, visitors to the festival can enjoy interactive augmented reality artworks across the city centre via their phones, while a street performance programme is set to bring a true festival feel to the streets.
As well as bringing light and life to the city centre, the council estimates that over the past 10 years, the festival has generated between £2.5 and £4 million for the local economy.
And while the festival garners both positive and negative reactions every year on social media – mostly about long queues – the power that it has in bringing communities together and instilling a sense of pride in the city cannot be denied.
Today, we chat to four inspiring artists and storytellers who will each bring their own brand of luminous magic to the festival.
Pauline Cordiner
Erupting into fits of laughter, Pauline Cordiner has fond memories of the early days of Spectra when she would stand in the St Nicholas graveyard just off Schoolhill and thrill children and adults alike with her captivating tales.
“I remember the first year I did Spectra, it was snowy and I was in a wee tent in the graveyard and one of my friends came along with cupcakes and hand warmers for me because it was my birthday,” she giggles.
“Spectra was small when it started but it was still always crammed.
“The thing that always gets me is the adults that say ‘oh I really enjoyed that’ and we say of course you did as stories are for everyone.”
Lights to lift the spirits
As bright, joyful and full of life as the illuminating artworks on display every year, vivacious Pauline is a familiar face at the festival where she enthralls audiences of all ages with her Spectra-inspired storytelling.
“The first year Spectra started, I went along with my daughter Molly who was in the buggy,” says Pauline.
“I remember her jumping around those big circles which were like huge lit-up lily pads in Union Terrace Gardens and she loved the big fire heads.
“After that I wrote to the organisers and told them that they had all these fantastic light attractions which seemed to follow stories but what they were missing was a storyteller.
“So they asked me if I fancied being a Spectra storyteller.”
Describing it as a dream come true, Pauline says the event is now one of the highlights of her year, especially as she shares the stage with fellow Scottish storyteller Lindsey Gibb.
“In 2022, the organisers asked me if I fancied getting someone else on board,” says Pauline.
“There’s a great wealth of local storytellers but I’d always wanted to work with Lyndsey as I had met her at workshops and storyteller get-togethers in the past.
“So we gave it a go and it has just been so much fun especially when we get the fairy puppets out.”
Stories round the campfire
This year, Pauline and Lindsey will be storytelling inside Cowdray Hall.
“I’m a bit over-excited as we’re going to be storytelling round a camp fire,” says Pauline.
“We’ll start the storytelling at 6pm every night and there will be a story every half an hour.
“We’re working on our stories but there will be butterflies in the art gallery so we’re thinking about a couple of stories connected to butterflies.
“There’s also a gigantic ball of wool with a bit of yarn trailing off so we’re thinking about stories in connection with that too.”
Seeing at first hand the positive impact that the festival has on the city is the reason why Pauline loves it so much.
“Spectra has a special sparkle to it,” says Pauline.
“Back in the day, our ancestors would’ve told stories to pass the long and dark winter nights so to bring that to people today is amazing.
“The lift that art gives you and getting outside with friends and family can help immensely with mental health, I hear that from a lot of people.
“I do watch social media and you can see that the buzz is beyond the city and the shire.
“Festivals like Spectra bring the city to life.”
Sally Reaper
Imagine seeing the huge steel leopard sculpture in Marischal Square come to life and walk past you down the street.
That dream will become an augmented reality during Spectra this year as visitors can use their phones to bring 3D digital artwork to life.
“People will be able to scan a QR code and instantly see artwork come to life,” says Sally.
“One of them is a rainbow coming out the ground and going over the top of you and another will be the beautiful leopard in Marischal Square being brought to life so it will walk down the street past you.
“We always just assume that public art needs to be in real time in front of us in a tangible way but it’s really interesting to explore these modern technologies and use this platform to engage the public in a new and fresh way which is exciting.”
Mesmerising digital artwork
This new digital experience called Northern Lights has been designed and created by 10 local artists.
Commissioned by Look Again, the creative unit based at Gray’s School of Art at Robert Gordon University, the artists have all created digital pieces which will each illuminate Aberdeen city via people’s phones.
“After scanning your phone at a target, within a few seconds a highly engaging and really uplifting artwork will pop up in the space where you’re standing which is absolutely amazing,” says Sally, who is the director at Look Again.
“So people can take selfies with it or stand beside it for a photo.
“We’re really excited to see how the public engages with it.”
Celebrating the city’s cultural heritage
One of the exciting things about the new technology is that it could also be used in the future to boost tourism.
“In an idealistic world, the next stage of this would be for us to create our own app so that when tourists come into the city they could be engaging with public artwork in this way, there’s so many possibilities,” says Sally.
“I just really want the public to appreciate it and to see, through this new medium, what is possible and how you can use technology in a really smart and exciting way.”
As a proud Aberdonian, Sally says Spectra is all about celebrating the city’s unique cultural heritage.
“Spectra has been transformative for the city, especially at a time of the year when it is dark and that illumination of light really lifts the spirits of the city’s residents,” says Sally.
“It’s probably one of the most successful festivals in appealing to everyone.
“From my perspective as an Aberdonian, I love the place I was born in and I work in so it’s about celebrating our cultural heritage and celebrating who we are, our unique identity and what it means to be Aberdonian.
“I love watching the community come together, families, mums, dads, grannies, granddads and kids.
“It’s brilliant, so many people come out and travel across the city centre and engage with art in a new and fresh way.”
For Sally, festivals like Spectra illustrate the important role that art and culture have on society.
“Culture is not a luxury, it’s such an inherent part to how we live,” she says.
“It impacts every part of our life including our mental wellbeing, creativity is woven in everything we do.
“Engaging in creativity and cultural experiences absolutely changes your perspective and changes your life.”
Craig Barrowman
Working closely with Sally has been Craig Barrowman, the project’s lead artist.
For the past four months he has been supporting the local artists to bring their digital artwork to life via the app.
“I’ve been working individually with the artists to take the core of their idea and their vision and make it into an augmented reality experience and make it as user friendly as possible,” says Craig, who is based in Aberdeen.
“It has been really good to get a group of artists learning new skills using digital production methods.”
Finding new ways for people to connect with art through the digital realm is the future, says Craig.
“Humans are increasingly spending more time in the virtual space so I think it’s really important to thing to think about new ways to engage people with art,” says Craig.
To see the city’s streets come alive with throngs of people during the festival is uplifting for Craig.
“It shows that there is an audience in this part of Scotland for good public art, it’s heartening,” says Craig
“Aberdeen can be quite a quiet city sometimes so it’s really good to see the streets filled up in a positive way.
“In these times, art is always the first thing that is put on the chopping block when there’s difficult decisions being made about funding.
“It’s so important to remind people that art is an essential part of life and without it, it’s a pretty grim world.”
Liam Birtles
Connecting people with art through events like Spectra is also close to Liam Birtles’ heart.
“It’s about bringing people out to be together, it’s to give them ownership of spaces and places and give them reasons to be there and you say you belong here,” he says.
“It’s to make them familiar with art and experience art without having to cross into a space that they might not feel comfortable.
“Light art and festivals are essential to a culture and a society.”
As one of the creative directors of Squidsoup, a Cheltenham-based art collective, Liam is thrilled that two of their illuminating installations will be shown at Spectra for the first time.
Located in Union Terrace Gardens, one of their installations is called Submergence and consists of 5,000 suspended lights which people can walk through.
“Submergence takes you to somewhere else,” says Liam.
“We describe it as an exploded screen.
“For the nerdy among you it’s about 5,000 points of light which are all individually controlled.
“It’s a space where you can go in together and you can hold hands and be there with your family and take photographs as the light moves and changes around you.”
Describing it as a digital waterfall, Liam says Flow, their second installation, will also leave people mesmerised.
“Flow uses the same underlying technology and is basically lines of light that follow the contours of the landscape,” says Liam.
“The design is going to be a response to the space and it will flow down like a digital waterflow down the bank.”
To be involved in Spectra, an event that brings people together, is really important to Liam.
“We need reasons to come into public spaces and reasons to spend time together,” says Liam.
“It’s absolutely fundamental.”
Spectra, Scotland’s Festival of Light, takes place from February 8-11 across Aberdeen city centre and is free. For more details visit spectrafestival.com
Conversation