The much-loved Bristol Light Festival is due to return to the city for it’s biggest edition to date from February 19 to 28 from 5pm to 9.30pm.
The event is produced by Bristol BID and curated by multi award-winning Creative Director Katherine Jewkes, and plays a vital role in supporting the evening economy while offering free, joyful experiences for residents and visitors alike.
The free festival coincides with the first weekend of half term, transforming Bristol at a traditionally dark time of year.
It will be expanding across the city from Redcliffe to Cabot Circus, Park Street, Spike Island and Portland Square, and transforming the city into a glowing playground of light, colour and imagination.
Here’s the full list of locations for this year’s installations:
1. The Lite Series by Cameron Balloons & Bristol Light Festival
Location: College Green. Set on College Green, the installation will feature a cluster of illuminated, sculptural hot air balloons, each between 5 and 5.5 metres high. | Cameron Balloons
2. Our Colour Reflection by Liz West
Location: Cabot Circus Car Park, Level 7. In Our Colour Reflection, over 765 mirrored acrylic discs, in 15 vivid hues and arranged at different heights, will form a reflective landscape that bathes visitors in shifting light, echoing colour across concrete and steel. | Alex Koch for Klanglicht 2025
3. Our Colour by Liz West
Location: Cabot Circus Car Park, Level 7. Our Colour, will return to the city for the first time since its 2016 premiere at Bristol Biennial - this time twice the size. Using coloured theatre gels, the installation saturates the space in a radiant spectrum of shifting hues, inviting audiences to walk through colour as if it were tangible. It offers an intimate moment of stillness and awe amid the festival’s energy - a chromatic experience that speaks to perception, emotion and sensory delight. | LOW
4. The Cat That Slept For A Thousand Years by Air Giants
Location: Cascade Steps. Over at Cascade Steps, visitors can meet a gentle giant: The Cat That Slept For A Thousand Years by pioneering soft-robotics studio Air Giants. Stretching 10 metres from ear to tail, the huge inflatable cat subtly responds to people nearby, breathing softly, twitching and purring, creating a moment of calm and wonder, while also prompting reflection on care, responsibility and the long-term future of the planet. | Air Giants