Mesmerising FREE outdoor light trail Lightwaves returns to Salford Quays next week

  1. Home
  2. Art & Culture

The 'Monad' installation at Lightwaves Salford 2024 / Credit: MediaCity

One of the most mesmerising light trails in the North West is returning to Salford once again this festive season.

After having successfully lit up MediaCity like never before in recent years, and going on to become an undeniable winter season highlight in Greater Manchester, Lightwaves Salford is set to return for another year from next week, and will be joining the growing list of light trails already in place across the region and beyond.

Presented by Quays Culture, the full festival will run from Thursday 5 through to Sunday 8 December – but there’ll be a special extended run of the showstopping water-based ‘Monad’ artwork until 22 December.

This year, Lightwaves Salford will feature 14 illuminated artworks along a 2km fully-accessible trail around MediaCity and Salford Quays.

The mesmerising immersive experience will include installations of different scale, all making use of light, sound, and technology in innovative ways.

The ‘Monad’ will act as the centre piece, overlooking MediaCity’s iconic Piazza.

Some of the other installations visitors will get to see light up the night sky this year include ‘SomniUs’, which is a huge interactive piece of art constructed using more than 6km of LED lights suspended 3m above the audience, as well as ‘The Matter of The Heart’, ‘Stellar Waves’, ‘Entwined’, and ‘On the Wave of Light’.

Another particularly special installation this year is called ‘The Light Within’, which has been commissioned by Quays Culture, and designed and produced by students at the Academy of Live Technology by harnessing the students’ skill in cutting-edge creative technology.

Lightwaves is returning to Salford Quays with loads of mesmerising installations next week / Credit: MediaCity | Laszlo Toth

Set to be premiered at this year’s event, the artwork explores the impact that light has on our wellbeing in a “playful and interactive way”.

Lightwaves Salford is part of the Quays Culture Programme, which is a partnership initiative on a mission to “animate” public spaces and bring “extraordinary” art and culture events into the heart of the community for everyone to experience free of charge.

Read more:

The event will run from Thursday – Sunday 8 December, with the ‘Monad’ installation open until 22 December.

Featured Image – MediaCity