Working with local and national artists, the festival will bring Bradford to life with an outstanding programme of unique light installations and provide a fun, alternative family offer this Bonfire Night weekend.
Bradford is #LiT promises to transform the city using art and light to celebrate Bradford’s rich cultural heritage and unique architecture, whilst inspiring joy and wonder. The festival will see nine bespoke
commissions take over the streets of Bradford, alongside two nationally recognised commissions that will visit Yorkshire for the first time.
What’s On Friday 5 & Saturday 6 November
Visit Bradford city centre from 5pm - 10pm for a fun, free, family-friendly event this Bonfire Night weekend.
- Borealis - City Park, 5pm - 10pm
Borealis brings the magical mystery of the Northern Lights to Bradford’s City Park, using layers of light and particle clouds to create the illusion. This incredible installation, by artist Dan Acher, has mesmerized audiences and the media across
Australia, Europe and Japan, and comes to the North of England for the first time. Throughout the ages, we have attributed countless legends to the celestial phenomenon. Today, this immersive experience inspires awe by creating something that shouldn’t, by
all accounts, be there and that is bigger than any one of us, reminding us that we are all, indeed, in this together.
- When the Clocks Go Back, Count Sheep - The Wool Exchange, 5pm - 8pm
This mesmerising artwork by Illuminos will use light projection to transform the historic Wool Exchange into a vast, colourful, winter clock, filled with a curious collection of woollen items - hats, scarves, jumpers and mittens. As the clock chimes, time
begins to turn backwards and the items in the machinery start to unravel, with threads flying outwards until - in a cacophony of bleating - sheep begin to leap and bounce down the tower, chewing on the machinery in a magical celebration of light and sound.
- Mythical Beasts: The Bradford Boar & Friends - Various Locations, 5.30pm - 9pm
Cecil Green Arts have been travelling the district with their incredible light-up beasts and now they come to Bradford for a spectacular celebration of light and mythology. Come along to meet the Bradford Boar, Rombald the Giant and the Cottingley fairies
in a series of magical performances across the city centre.
- The Bradford Light Organ - Bradford Cathedral, 10am - 9pm
Visit the spectacular Bradford Cathedral, re-imagined by artists Akeelah Bertram and Adam Glatherine with technologist Simon Fletcher. This interactive, visual and sound experience will transform the Cathedral’s organ into 44 responsive light-organ ‘pipes’,
visualising its sound in a vibrant array of colour. Light Organ is a site specific celebration of the Cathedrals unique history, invigorating its diverse architecture with a responsive light display.
- Lotus Flower - The Broadway, 4pm - 7pm
Nutkhut presents the ethereal ‘Lotus Flower’. Associated with the Goddess Lakshmi, the Lotus Flower symbolises enlightenment and will illuminate and inspire audiences with its majestic and enchanting presence.
- Lightweave - North Parade, 4pm - midnight
Lightweave is a woven installation of light cables and ribbon, using macramé techniques on a huge scale to transform the exterior of 29 North Parade. The piece was devised during lockdown by local artist, Alison Smith, to celebrate the benefits
of making for wellbeing, bringing light and colour in times of darkness. Lightweave plays with scale, recreating something which would usually be a small domestic decoration at a size that will cover two storeys.
What’s On Across the District
- Tapestry of Light - Tong - 25 October - 08 November
Paying homage to Bradford’s past glories and future success, Tapestry of Light will illuminate the iconic red brick chimney of what was once a mill and is now home to Tapestry Arts on Factory Street. During the night, the chimney will be transformed
into a giant piece of art, using modern day lighting technology to project a radiant palette of colour and movement onto the historic building.
- Spin Me a Yarn - Haworth - 02 - 08 November
Bradford’s rich history in wool and textile manufacture once led to Bradford gaining the title “Wool Capital of the World”.
Spin Me a Yarn by Lucy McDonnell is a large luminous ball of wool that is discovered by viewers who follow the trail of the yarn to reach the ball. A light-hearted and playful artwork that is accessible for all visitors, providing a vibrant, colourful
and immersive experience.
- Light in the Balance - Bingley - 03 - 06 November
Light in the Balance by Axiom Live is an audio-visual installation set to transform the woodland outside Bingley Arts Centre, scattering beams of light through the bare branches of the trees and surrounding foliage to create a mesmerising moving canvas of
light and shadows. A fully immersive audio-visual experience will be created using light beams, mirror balls and haze with an accompanying soundscape.
- Light Up Keighley & Window Wanderland - Keighley - 05 - 06 November - workshops available to book now
Keighley Creative are on a mission to Light Up Keighley this winter as part of Window Wanderland, an initiative that aims to bring neighbourhoods together, reduce social isolation, and inspire creativity. Book onto a creative workshop, or collect
a do-it-yourself craft pack from the Keighley Creative Space, to help you create your very own windowsill light installation. Display your creations at home on Bonfire Night weekend, 05 - 06 November, or get them to keighley Creative for display in their gallery
window.
Go to www.windowwanderland.com to find out more or contact @KeighleyCreative on Facebook.
- Treasures - Keighley - 05 - 06 November
Artist Steve Manthorp will illuminate the exterior of Keighley Library with an imaginative projection artwork inspired by the library's archives and collections. Using a mixture of archival imagery of Keighley and illustrations and images from books,
Treasures will create a moving banner of imagery that showcases the building’s incredible architecture and re-connects audiences to the treasures held within.
- Al Asma Ul Husna - Leeds Road - 05 - 06 November
The Muslim Women’s Council and The Leap have worked with Arabic Calligrapher, Razwan Ul-Haq, and Neon Workshops, alongside a focus group of Bradford Muslim Women, to create a series of three neon installations inspired by Al Asma Ul Husna, or ‘The 99 Beautiful
Names of Allah’, projecting a universal message of light, love and peace.
This is a free event and there’s even more to come! Follow us @VisitBradford to be the first to know, or visit
www.visitbradford.com/lit to find out more.
https://www.visitbradford.com/lit.aspx
Twitter/ Facebook/ Instagram: @visitBradford
Bradford is #LiT was supported in 2020 by The City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, Bradford 2025, The Leap Bradford, Ilkely BID and Bradford BID.