Spectra 2020
Aberdeen City Centre
February 2022
Spectra returned to light up the winter nights offering an extraordinary experience of light and sound. Taking its inspiration from Scotland’s Year of Coast and Waters, Spectra 2020 explored Aberdeen’s position as the connecting point to other cultures on Scotland’s North East coast through a series of thought provoking, playful and just plain stunning art works.
Spectra recognises and embraces the strong connection and long history shared across the regions visual culture and storytelling in the construction of identity beyond national borders. The programme of artworks reflected this, inspired by literature and landscape, exploring how stories, artworks, lights and sounds have acted as the precursors to our rapidly shifting modern experiences of space and place – breaking all barriers and boundaries.
PROGRAMME DEVELOPEMENT
In our sixth year of developing and managing the event, the festival had grown remarkably from 10,000 visitors in 2015 to over 100,000 in 2020. Featuring Scottish premiere major public realm and intimate installations at St Nicholas Kirk, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Broad Street, Marischal Square and Marischal College, alongside storytelling experiences and a newly devised promenade dance piece from local Fusion Youth Dance Company, Spectra 2020 was an exciting family event that brought light to the depths of winter. Our team managed the development and delivery of 16 Scottish premiere light installations from national and international artists, commissioned 10 new artworks, and worked in partnership with local organisations to offer new experiences for visitors.
CONFERENCE
The Catalyst Conference #CultureIsNotALuxury returned in 2021 exploring how together we could shift the value of culture and creativity to the forefront, as towns cease to be merely a centre for retail and commerce and are required to become Liveable Cities where creativity, art and culture are essential to their future. Hosted at the Music Hall in Aberdeen on 14-15 February, we gathered a line-up of ambitious and pioneering speakers from the arts sector, heritage organisations, tourism and socially engaged businesses to explore and share their experience of creating town and cities with culture at its heart and ready for the future. The conference panel featured speakers from across Scotland, the UK and Nordic Region alongside Aberdeen’s own culture sector and Spectra artists, all who have demonstrably integrated and given meaning to the physical, economic, and social aspects of their towns, cities and villages through creative work - to shape liveable spaces.
Spectra through the years…
Spectra 2020 was commissioned by Aberdeen City Council
Supporters & Partners
Spectra 2022 was delighted to work in partnership with The University of Aberdeen, Event Scotland (as part of Scotland’s Year of Stories), the Culture Programme of the European Union, Creative Scotland (Catalyst Conference), Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen Performing Arts (Music Hall), Marischal Square, CBRE, Look Again Project Space and delivery specialists at Live Event Management.
