Aberdeen Spectra! Festival of Light!
Every year Aberdeen hosts the fantastic Festival of Light and this year (2020) is the Visit Scotland Year of Coasts and Waters which meant the Aberdeen Spectra Festival celebrated the rich maritime heritage of the city with some very different installations. From weird tentacles to fantastic projections.
All the photo’s on this website were grabbed on an iphone! However every year this event draws the attention of 100’s of people including many photographers. It’s great fun playing in the dark with these colourful installations all over the city. It’s normally held mid-February so why not book a trip to Aberdeen Spectra in 2021 and see what next year has in store?
Shooting stars up the side of Marischal college 
Shooting stars up the side of Marischal college 
Shooting stars up the side of Marischal college
Not all the installations are passive, some are interactive like the ‘shooting stars’ on the side of Marischal College. Within the Quadrangle of The College is a massive projection on the old tower at the back of the square. We were lucky when we visited that the weather was cold and clear. A few days later Storm Dennis came to visit and some of the festival had to be called off. Dress warm though, this is all outside and in the northern hemisphere in winter it’s cold at night!
The Sculpture Artist Andy Scott is famous for producing the fantastic Kelpies in Falkirk. When the new Marischal Square opened Aberdeen City commissioned him to create the work of art pictured here. He created ‘Poised’, pictured here it commemorates the heraldic history of Aberdeen which, legend has it, was gifted 2 Leopards by King James 1st.
At over 2 tonnes in weight the cat is made of thousands of plates of steel and balanced 35 feet in the air! Approaching from the south this cat does look rather like it’s going to pounce upon you!
Pictured from the outside of the church is The Oil Industry Chapel Window of St. Nicholas Kirk, Aberdeen. Some of the Sepctra Installations are within the church and some are in the churchyard. This wonderful work is usually only visible from the inside but with the lighting on in the church meant it was visible from outside too. It depicts modern and ancient life in the city of Aberdeen and is, in part, commemorative to the Piper Alpha disaster of 1988.
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