Liverpool currently has a 14 days light trail around the docks and Liverpool One. It was initially planned for November last year but obviously pandemic didn't happen so got moved to now. The trail was meant to be part of the Bonfire Night celebrations on the waterfront.
There's 11 audio and visual installations on a 2km trail.
It runs from 23rd March - 5th April 2021 from 6:30pm - 10:30pm with covid safe measures in place. I went last night with my mum and there was so many people, you would have forgot there was a pandemic happening. The only time you would remember is around the installations there's staff with masks moving people along or telling you to keep to one side. People weren't social distancing or wearing masks.
It's the Easter holidays and yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far. It was also shut at the weekend due to bad weather - some installations got damaged on Friday and was back open on Monday which would have made it more popular than it has been.
We started at Castle Street and made our way back round to Liverpool One.
Neighborhood
Artwork by Sergey Kim from America.
The clothing represents communities from across the city and celebrates people of different backgrounds living together harmoniously.
Ursula Lassos The Moon
Old Churchyard Garden of St Nicholas' Church - there was a queue to get in. Only so many people were allowed into the court yard then was pushed out for the next lot of people in.
Ursula Lassos the Moon is a very realistic representation of the Moon, apparently removed from is orbit and lassoed to a stake in the ground. The high definition 3D projection sphere reproduces surface details and textures that are only normally only visible through access to a high powered telescope.
The moon rotates and floats
Light A Wish
Pier Head Canal - in front of the Liver Building
20 illuminated, two-metre high dandelions float over the canal on the Pier Head as a symbol of the desires and dreams we wish for.
Futures
Pier Head - not the best to try and get a photo of
Conceived by Chris Carr and Helen Swan of design studio Lucid Creates
In reaction to the wide raging social, health and environmental issues of 2020 and a desire to ignite communal action and hope after a period where so many of us felt alone. Using optical illusion, light and sound, FUTURES takes us to a place where we can envision the future we want.
From Here, 2020
St George's Dock Pumping Station - Mann Island
This was a near miss and you wouldn't realise this was part of it as it's just writing around the 4 sides of the building.
(Didn't get the other 2 sides!)
Co-commission between Liverpool Biennial and Culture Liverpool and is the latest in a series of high-profile outdoor artworks on the waterfront. Measuring 20 metes in length, the work has been designed specifically to wrap around the four sides on the iconic Victoria red brick building. The text based light sculpture is made up of the words "From Here, All the Worlds Futures, From Here, All the Worlds Pasts."
Rainbow Bridge
Canning Dock Quayside outside the Museum of Liverpool
Presented in partnership with National Museums Liverpool
30.5 metre-long, 9 metre high rainbow showcases for the first time outside of America.
The walkable rainbow sculpture is built of 15,000 pounds of steel and wood, with more than 25,000 programmable LEDs which will convey special visuals, messaging, animations, sound-reactive patterns and interactivity.
All in the Balance
Outside the Dr Martin Luther King Jr Building on the Albert Dock by the Pumphouse Inn pub
(Didn't know till now that the building was called this!)
Created by Liverpool's own The Lantern Company - kinetic artwork of a gigantic butterfly mobile surrounded by wild grasses and flowers as a celebration of nature and the arrival of spring. The work holds up a magnifying glass to the complexity of life-sustaining eco-systems while also being a call to action for the immediate Climate Emergency we face.
Absorbed By Light
Albert Dock - along the dock road
British artist Lucas
The artwork focuses on how our phones and computer screens, literally and figuratively, light up our lives and are irresistible. We read new messages immediately and want easy access to our social media, useful apps and browser. They are an extension of our contact with our families, friends and even people on the other side of the world.
Talking Heads
Thomas Steers Way Liverpool One outside the Hilton Hotel
The two heads show countless emotions to each other. Unlike people, these Talking Heads don't express themselves by using their muscles, but my means of light. Each head uses approximately 4,000 LED lamps to show different facial expressions. They visually respond to each other by conducting entire conversations through light.
End Over End
Sugar House Steps outside John Lewis
Giant slinky is both nostalgic and surrealistic, playfully transforming buildings and rooftops into a virtual playground. Each coil of the enormous spring is illuminated in turn to create the familiar flowing form of a slinky tumbling end-over-end into the shadows.
Think this is my favourite out of them all!
Exponential
Chavasse Park Liverpool One
This was broke and wasn't turned on but from the sounds of it, it sounded like a really good one!
Mirrored cube "floating" within a 3.5m frame that converts audience movement into patterns of light and sounds that travel around and through the piece. Lights and sounds respond to audience position to create a mesmerising show. Each of the four sides of the cube has a sensor which when triggered by a person, activates a layer of sounds and light. When all four sensors are triggered all four layers of sound and light play.
I think the River of Light Festival in 2019 which I went to with Jo was better. The installations were more visually appealing. My mum said she was disappointed by it. I think if it was on in November (in a non pandemic world) it would have been better but it was nice to be out when it was still warm and not having to be all wrapped up I guess. I love when Liverpool do stuff like this so lets see if we get anything this November in the hope that things will be a lot more normal!
