Fire sculptures, suspended lanterns and giant blooms take over Aberdeen after dark.
Spectra turns Aberdeen into somewhere else for four nights every February. Buildings become canvases. Gardens fill with fire. Strangers stand together in the cold, watching light do unlikely things.
This year's festival runs from 5-8 February with 12 installations scattered across the city centre. The theme is "Be Curious," which sounds like standard festival marketing until you look at the programme. There's contemplative stuff alongside interactive digital work. Fire sculptures a few minutes' walk from architectural projections. A local commission sits near pieces that have toured internationally.
It's free. It's outdoors (mostly). You can wander without a fixed plan and still stumble into something worth seeing.
The basics
Cost: Free
Locations: Union Terrace Gardens, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Cowdray Hall, St Nicholas Kirkyard, St Nicholas Roof Garden, Marischal Square, Broad Street
More info: spectrafestival.com
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Union Terrace Gardens: Fire and spectacle
If you want heat and noise, start here. Walk the Plank, a company with over 30 years in outdoor arts, is turning the gardens into a Fire Garden filled with burning sculptures, flaming archways and what they're calling "Mechanical Marvels."
These are metal sculptures that move and breathe fire. Some use thermal convection to create motion. Others grind and hiss. The largest are imposing balancing installations. Around them: flaming bushes, fire boxes, pulsating lotus flowers, paths lit with open flame.
It sounds excessive on paper. In a Scottish February, standing in the cold watching something burn, it makes more sense.
Also in the gardens: artwork created by local schoolchildren through the Inspired by Spectra programme. Last year, 1,200 pupils took part. Their work gets displayed alongside the professional installations.
Flux and Solace are on display at Aberdeen Art Gallery
Aberdeen Art Gallery: Contemplation and calm
Head indoors for something gentler. The Art Gallery hosts two installations that reward patience.
Flux by French collective Scale is a kinetic sculpture made from 48 strips of light arranged in a circle. The structure rotates at varying speeds, sometimes slow, sometimes frantic, creating trails of light that shift constantly. It's been touring internationally since 2021. I'd recommend standing in front of it for longer than feels necessary. The patterns change.
Solace by Amelia Kosminsky fills the Remembrance Hall with handmade, hand-sewn lanterns suspended mid-flight. Originally commissioned for Lumiere 2025. The soundtrack is by Jon Hopkins. After the intensity outside, you might need somewhere to stand still for a bit. This is that place.
Cowdray Hall: A pause for stories
Tucked away from the light and sound, Cowdray Hall hosts something analogue: storytelling.
Tradidional storytellers Pauline and Lindsey will share folk tales and fairy tales in an intimate setting. Pauline comes from the fishing and farming traditions of the North East. Lindsey grew up in the West of Scotland surrounded by stories and often weaves environmental and wildlife themes into her telling.
Worth knowing about if you want a moment to sit down, warm up and hear something human.
Distopia, Follow Your Heart and the Jigantic Flower Field are all packed into St Nicholas Kirkyard
St Nicholas Kirkyard: The busiest cluster
This is where the festival is most concentrated. Three installations share the space.
Distopia by Italian studio Onda is an architectural projection show on the façade of St Nicholas Spire. The building's stonework disappears under layers of three-dimensional visual effects synced to music. This is the one that draws crowds, so arrive early or stick around late if you want a clear view.
Jigantics Flower Field offers the opposite mood. Artist Jig Cochrane and team have spent two decades building this installation: a field of giant glowing blooms that tower overhead. It started as a commission celebrating the life of Body Shop founder Anita Roddick and has grown since, with new flower varieties added each season. The colours are bold without being garish.
Follow Your Heart is a local commission through Spectra's Micro-Commission Programme. Local artist Laura Curran has created sculptural heart forms that cycle through programmed lighting patterns. They pulse and shift, sometimes in sync, sometimes not. An original marimba composition plays alongside. It's subtler than its neighbours and easy to miss if you're rushing past to Distopia. Don't.
St Nicholas Roof Garden: Live music
The Roof Garden bandstand will host live performances from local and national musicians throughout the festival. The lineup hasn't been announced yet, so check the Spectra website closer to the dates.
Nocturnal will bring the fun to Marischal Square, while Parallels and Mofingu are the main event at Broad Street
Marischal Square: Playful and strange
Glow Art Creations brings Nocturnal, a series of inflatable installations featuring larger-than-life glowing animals. Each creature is decorated with black and white mandala patterns that cast shadows and reflections when lit.
More playful than the rest of the programme. Good if you're with children or just want something a bit daft.
Broad Street: Interactive and immersive
Two installations here, both interested in the relationship between technology and the body.
Parallels by Architecture Social Club fills the space with thousands of laser beams reflected off precisely angled mirrors. Video footage of natural phenomena (a ruptured mantle, blossoming flora, the movement of heavenly bodies) gets fragmented and stretched into floating shapes made of light. You walk through it rather than look at it. Hard to photograph. Easier to experience.
Mofingu by Dutch collective WERC is the most interactive piece in the programme. A depth camera tracks your movement and projects a point cloud onto an LED screen. Approach the screen and you'll see faces of previous visitors emerge and dissolve in cascades of coloured particles. Step into view and the particles scatter, then reform into your likeness. Move away and you become part of the archive, ready to appear for the next person.
Planning your visit
Spectra is free and unticketed. Installations run continuously during festival hours.
Most things work better after full dark. The Fire Garden needs night to make sense.
Wrap up warm. You'll be outside more than you think. If mobility is a concern, note that Union Terrace Gardens involves slopes and steps, while the Art Gallery and Broad Street installations are on flat ground.
Two hours is enough to see everything at a reasonable pace. You could rush it in less, but the quieter pieces deserve a few minutes each.
Getting there
The festival zone is in the city centre, walkable from both Aberdeen train station and bus station. From either, head north up Market Street and along Broad Street to Marischal Square. Alternatively, cross the Green and use the Back Wynd Steps to reach Union Street and Union Terrace Gardens. Wayfinding totems are dotted throughout.
By bus: Most services on the Aberdeen City Network pass through Union Street, a short walk from the festival. If you're coming from Aberdeenshire or further afield, your bus will likely terminate at Aberdeen Bus Station in Union Square, around 10 minutes on foot from the event. Check First Aberdeen and Stagecoach for routes and times.
By train: Frequent ScotRail services connect Aberdeen with Aberdeenshire stations including Inverurie, Stonehaven and Dyce, plus longer routes from Inverness, Edinburgh, Glasgow and London.
By bike: Dedicated cycle parking is available on Queen Street in front of the Town House. It's covered and monitored by CCTV. Cycling through the festival site itself is not allowed.
By car: Several car parks sit close to the city centre. Be aware of Low Emission Zones and bus gates when planning your route. Blue badge parking is available at Queen Street and Littlejohn Street on a first-come-first-served basis each evening.
Accessibility
Spectra partners with We Too! and Abledeen to provide on-site support. Abledeen will be based at the Town House with mobility equipment available to borrow.
If you're unable to queue due to a disability, mobility issues or additional needs, an alternative entry system can reduce your waiting time. You'll need to visit an Accessibility Welcome Desk first. These are at the Town House and the Trinity Centre, open 5:30pm to 8:30pm each evening. The welcome desks can also help with general advice and point you towards facilities around the site.
We Too! volunteers will be roaming the festival with visual guides and sensory aids. Look for the bright green "Ninjas."
Accessible toilets are at Marischal College, Aberdeen Art Gallery, the Town House, Central Library, Union Terrace Gardens and Union Terrace.
All event sites use wheelchair-accessible routes that avoid stairwells.
