Liverpool's waterfront has been transformed into a night-time playground as River of Light returns to the city's streets. The theme for this year's outdoor trail and the engagement programme is Play, tying into Liverpool's ongoing pledge to become a recognised UNICEF UK Child Friendly City.
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00:00Liverpool's waterfront has been transformed into a night-time playground as River of Light
00:06returns to the city's streets.
00:07The theme for this year's Outdoor Trial and Engagement programme is Plight, tying in to
00:12Liverpool's ongoing pledge to become a recognised UNICEF UK child-friendly city.
00:16I love River of Light and people love River of Light as well.
00:21It's great for local businesses, it's great for the local economy, I think it was four
00:24million last year, but more importantly it is just joyous and people love engaging and
00:31coming down to the waterfront, you know, actually we do appreciate sometimes that not everyone
00:37across the city comes into the city as often and so just to come in, explore, remember
00:42how beautiful the waterfront is, but also to see these amazing installations is just
00:47incredible.
00:48Local illustrator Liz Harry has been working with the Invisible Wind factory to bring her
00:52art installation to life.
00:54The piece is called Positive Spin and it's a crossover between a fruit machine and tarot
01:00cards, it's drawing on both influences visually, but the piece itself and the message that
01:06we're trying to give is that lots of people are really struggling with their mental health
01:11and possibly their future outlook.
01:13So the idea is you go and you get a random prediction that is left to your interpretation,
01:19because it's so bright and colourful and the music is also positive and uplifting, the
01:24hope is that you walk away with a positive outlook for your future.
01:29Rangoli Mirrored Cosmos has been created by British Sri Lankan artist Maura Gaia.
01:34This 3D sculpture is a celebration of Diwali's Festival of Light, featuring bright patterns
01:38traditionally painted in the entrance of homes to signify luck, positivity and happiness.
01:43It's designed to be very welcoming and open and it's a calming sculpture, you're meant
01:50to kind of congregate around it and contemplate if you will, or you can run around it, climb
01:58up it and play on it.
01:59It's very open in that way and that's exactly what the River of Light represents, they represent
02:04sculptures that are interactive and playful, so the theme of play this year fitted perfectly
02:10for this sculpture.
02:11The trail is holding a number of special quiet hour sessions to ensure the event is
02:15even more accessible to visitors.
02:17During the quiet hour sessions, all artworks will be run with either no soundscape or at
02:21a very low volume and where possible, lighting will be altered, making it a gentler, more
02:26accessible environment for people with sensory differences.
02:29It's such a shame that we reach a certain age and we seem to think we have to fall into
02:33this stereotype of responsibility and dress a certain way.
02:38We have all these expectations on us as adults and I think this is a really nice reminder
02:43that it's something that everybody can access and should access because we all need a little
02:49bit of positivity and to be happy and experience joy.
02:54This year's Light Festival runs until Tuesday 5th November.