2024/25 ANNOUNCEMENTS
Now entering its 5th year, the multi award-winning Lights On Stratford annual winter festival, managed by Destination Stratford, will once again transform Stratford’s heritage downtown and park system with luminous art and interactive light installations. December 13, 2024 – January 19, 2025, Thursdays – Sundays from 5pm to 10pm.
The Lights On Stratford 2024/25 theme is REIMAGINE – to have a new idea about the way something should be.
The LIGHT TRAIL starts in Market Square with not one, but two light art installations!
Introducing the award-winning EMERGENCE by This is Loop, the collaborative artistic partnership of artists Harriet Lumby and Alan Hayes based in the UK.
“We are thrilled to be bringing Emergence to Stratford this winter. This represents not only the Canadian debut for Emergence but also the first time we have exhibited any of our artworks in Canada,” said Alan Hayes, Lead Artist of This is Loop.
‘Emergence’ is a place for contemplation. A sanctum within which to consider the dynamic interplay between order and chaos and the momentous role this plays in systems, life, the self and the entire universe.
The inside of the individual mirrored nodes of the installation offers surprising and awe-inspiring visual illusions that also culminate in an overall combined effect when viewed from a short distance. Each section is carefully constructed to create an optical illusion inside the unit creating a complete sphere of light when viewed from close by that morph into a giant grid of light when viewed from a short distance. This enables distinct experiences for the viewer ranging from collective to intimate depending on location.
With reflective surfaces completely covering all its facets Emergence takes on the surrounding environment providing new ways of perceiving a previously familiar space. The structure consists of 75 large mirror units covered on all surfaces with a mirror finish arranged into a cylindrical pavilion style structure with three entrances, these entrances are all wheelchair accessible.
Four lines of individually addressable LED’s run around the outer end of each unit creating a square making a total of approximately 14,000 pixels on the entire structure. These LED’s are visible from inside and outside and display a constantly evolving and mesmerising program of highly complex light patterns choreographed to the accompanying audio track.
This is Loop collaborated with the incredible ‘NYX: Electronic Drone Choir’ to create the choral, tribal-feeling soundscape for Emergence to which the lighting is programmed.
The second light art installation for Market Square is STARGATE.
“We’re so thrilled to be a part of Lights On Stratford this year! It will be the Canadian premiere for Stargate, and we can’t wait to share this amazing projection sculpture at one of our favourite festivals,” said Jay Tettamanti, a Canadian artist and the award-winning innovative force behind Chalk River Labs, a Melbourne-based creative studio.
Stargate features a 12ft square encompassing a circular ring, ingeniously designed to usher viewers on an awe-inspiring journey through the cosmos. This sculptural marvel employs projection mapping to wrap the entire structure with mesmerising visuals that can be appreciated from any vantage point. Viewers are encouraged to climb into the central ring, serving as both a meditative space and a source of breathtaking photo opportunities, creating interaction and shared experiences among spectators. Hypnotic visuals create an otherworldly portal where the audience is transported to the realm of the stars while standing firmly on Earth’s soil.
At the other end of the LIGHT TRAIL, Tom Patterson Island will be transformed into a GARDEN OF DELIGHT featuring two international light art installations.
Step into an enchanting musical garden where towering TRUMPET FLOWERS invite you to explore a vivid, interactive world of light and sound, inspired by the charm of vintage gramophones.
Mushrooms hold a symbolic allure across cultures, often heralded as harbingers of good fortune. SHROOMS transforms this folklore into an immersive art piece featuring a series of colossal inflatable mushroom forms.
EVERBRIGHT is a permanent, year-round installation located at the Destination Stratford Welcome Centre at 47 Downie Street. While there, be sure to purchase your glow-in-the-dark Lights On Stratford toque.
EVERBRIGHT is an interactive wall of light dials that gives participants the ability to create colourful, large scale pictures. EVERBRIGHT allows creation and collaboration across its dials for up to 20 participants at a time. Each of the 476 dials offer a spectrum of colour to create stunning patterns and designs. EVERBRIGHT is a modern re-imagination of the much-loved childhood toy: Lite-Brite.
Launching this winter is LIGHTBRIDGE. Colourfully highlighting the arches on the William Hutt (Waterloo St.) Bridge, this installation will remain in place for year-round enjoyment.
The light adventure continues at LIGHTWALL, a permanent year-round voice-activated interactive installation mounted on the façade of the heritage building at 70 Ontario Street.
HEART, a crowd favourite, will be reinstalled at the heritage bandshell.
FREE HOP-ON-HOP-OFF SHUTTLE BUSES
Building on the success of the collaboration with Stratford Transit, FREE HOP-ON-HOP-OFF SHUTTLE BUSES offer a heated and accessible way for patrons to visit each of the main locations with buses visiting each stop every 15 minutes.
NEW! NYX LIVE AT TOM PATTERSON THEATRE
Stratford Summer Music, Destination Stratford and Stratford Festival are thrilled to collaborate in showcasing NYX: electronic drone choir during the final weekend of Lights On Stratford!
“NYX are excited to join the final weekend of the Lights On Stratford programme alongside of the EMERGENCE installation. We developed our electronic-choral score for EMERGENCE in response to the provocation of chaos and order and how our many voices find divergent paths to seek harmony. We’ve since developed this work and a body of other music into our debut album that will be released in Spring 2025. This opportunity will be our first time in Canada and our first project as a collective at the start of 2025. We are looking forward to meeting festival audiences through workshops, our live show and out and about exploring This is Loop’s incredible installation.”
NYX embodies live electronics, drone and ecstatic choral sound, testing the limits of organic and synthetic modulation to explore the entire spectrum of collective voice as an instrument. NYX are a self-managed collective that have performed at London Design Festival, London Fashion Week, Hyde Park, Pompidou Centre, Roundhouse, Rewire Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Kings Place, EARTH, Barbican, Dark Mofo Festival among other festivals and venues.
The NYX concert performance is at 7:30pm on Saturday, January 18th at the Tom Patterson Theatre. Tickets are available at stratfordfestival.ca/NYX-Live.
The Stratford Summer Music workshop session with NYX is scheduled for 1:30pm on Friday, January 17th. Tickets are limited so register early. More information and tickets are available at stratfordfestival.ca/NYX-Workshop
And from 6:30pm to 8:00pm on Sunday, January 19th, NYX will help close out the 5th annual Lights On Stratford by hosting an interactive experience at the EMERGENCE light art installation in Market Square.
This year, Destination Stratford is excited to partner with the Stratford Country Club to present GLOW & THROW, a unique glow-in-the-dark curling bonspiel.
Family and “try-it” glow curling sessions will be during the day on Saturdays and Sundays, while date night glow curling sessions are available on Friday and Saturday evenings. The main GLOW & THROW bonspiel is scheduled for Saturday, January 18th at the Stratford Country Club’s curling facility. More info, including online sign up forms (launching Dec. 2), is available at Stratford Country Club.
A street curling demo will also be hosted at Market Square for opening and closing weekends.
Light art experiences are also featured throughout the city including “Bright Ideas” at the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus, Stratford Public Library, Gallery Stratford, and Stratford Perth Museum, just to name a few.
The community truly comes together during the festival to celebrate winter with pop-up live music concerts, silent disco parties, glow-in-the-dark curling, winter film festival screenings, light-themed fine art shows, accommodation packages and local restaurant specials with to-go offerings including mulled wine and boozy hot chocolates that can be enjoyed Al Fresco while taking in the lights.
CHECK BACK SOON FOR MORE DETAILS.
Stratford is home to some of the world’s best artists, lighting designers, props builders and creative minds. Lights On Stratford harnesses this precious resource of local talent, crafting a truly unique experience that can’t be found anywhere else.
Come see Stratford in a different light!
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram or X for stories, contests and more videos and photos.
