festivals of light
Northern Lights GlasGLOW is the first light festival to appear in the Scottish city and received a staggering 75,000 visitors over the sixteen days it was open to the public.
G
lasGLOW debuted in 2018 as the
Groupe LAPS and a Disney-like finale from
West End resident Oli Norman. With
the lawn with thousands of dancing lights.
creative output of itison CEO and
a £500,000 investment, Norman’s
aim was to created a new outdoor experience for
the residents of Glasgow. The team behind itison Drive in Movies joined forces with the creative
minds from some of the country’s best sound and light events to completely transform Glasgow’s
Botanic Gardens into a world of light and fantasy. The event ran for sixteen nights from 27
October 2018 and welcomed more than 75,000 visitors that walked the immersive light and
sound journey through the Botanic Gardens.
The installations took inspiration from current film and TV trends, wanting to incorporate the essence of Stranger Things, Game of Thrones
and Spielberg-esque 1980s nostalgia.
Some of the installations included a Dragon
farm, an Avatar-style takeover of the Kibble
Palace, a spider circus from French designers
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Brighton-based designers Ithaca, who covered itison has announced the event will return with GlasGLOW2 in October this year.
“We are overwhelmed by the demand for the first ever GlasGLOW and we’re even more
excited for year two. Like The Godfather II, The
Dark Knight and Home Alone 2: Lost in New
York – the sequel is going to be even better than the original with a bigger budget, even more
awesome special effects and loads of amazing things to see and do,” commented Norman. “We’ve had loads of brilliant feedback
from folk who loved the event and lots of feedback of things we can do better too –
we’re taking it all on board and super sizing GlasGLOW2 to make it an even richer and
more enjoyable experience for everyone.” www.itison.com/glasglow
Top Left A moon balloon floats above the festival’s illuminated sign, adding to the sci-fi atmosphere of the event. Top Right The lawns outside of the Botanic Gardens are filled with thousands of lights as part of the Disney-inspired installation of dancing lights. Above Right The glass Botanic Garden buildings are illuminated in a myriad of red, orange and blue hues, helping to create the magical and 1980s retro ambience to the space.