For 17 nights from this Friday the River Of Light festival in Liverpool will light up the city’s waterfront with a series of art installations. Tony McDonough reports

A series of artworks will light up Liverpool’s waterfront from the end of this week as the city’s annual River of Light festival gets under way.

For 17 nights from Friday, October 21, to Sunday, November 6, River Of Light will offer artworks created by local, national and international artists. Theme this year is Unexpected Twist.

This is a nod to the World Gymnastics Championships 2022 which are taking place in the city at the same time. The 2km walking trail, includes a mix of new, world premieres, as well as existing artworks which have never been displayed in the city before.

The never-before seen commissions are:

• Turn The Light On, It’s Dark In Here – French street artist Camille Walala, will work in light for the first time in her career and expect a colourful, dynamic piece which plays with depth and dimensionality, creating an abstract cityscape of light.
• Dancing Ribbons – British-Nigerian artist Yinka Ilori has been inspired by rhythmic gymnastics. His installation aims to capture the energy between the gymnast and the prop ribbon.
• Light Looper – The brainchild of Liverpool’s Kazimier Productions, this interactive installation is a multiplayer game where players send particles of lights all around the artwork.
• Rainbow Accordion – Inspired by a traditional accordion, this artwork consists of six giant colourful interconnected archways, which sit on an interactive pad that when jumped on, sends light and sound through the archway. This work has been created by Australian artists Amigo & Amigo.
• BEAM – A new commission by Lucid Creates (artists Helen Swan and Chris Carr) will see a beam of light transport visitors to a hot, summer’s day, accompanied by the sounds of the British countryside. But after several minutes the feeling of peace and warmth will change to unease and suspense…

The full details of all 10 pieces, the artists and their locations can be found on the official River of Light website. For 2022, River Of Light will co-deliver a creative education programme in partnership with social project Make Bank which aims to make art more accessible.

River Of Light is being delivered by Liverpool City Council’s Culture Liverpool team and is supported by Arts Council England. To get the latest information on River Of Light visit www.visitliverpool.com/riveroflight or follow @visitliverpool (Twitter and Facebook) or @visitliverpool_ (Instagram).

Cabinet Member for Culture and Visitor Economy, Cllr Harry Doyle, said: “We know River of Light is one of the most popular events we organise. We love to see people walking the trail and seeing our city centre spaces in a new light courtesy of the imagination of some incredible artists.”