This year, the festival’s theme is ‘Be Curious,’ and the festival’s programme has been developed to explore, discuss and conceptualise this theme, challenging perceptions and asking visitors to never stop exploring and seeking new experiences and knowledge. Attracting those from across Scotland and beyond, visitors to the much-loved Spectra festival can expect iconic city locations to be transformed through breathtaking light installations, with a free programme of artworks situated across the city.
Explore Spectra 2026!
Fire Garden
Union Terrace Gardens will be dramatically reimagined as a Fire Garden, made up of mechanical fire sculptures filled with flame, movement and sound, crafted by some of the UK’s leading metal sculptors, produced by Salford-based outdoor arts experts, Walk the Plank Read more.
Inspired by Spectra
This successful programme will once again return with young people invited to create their own artwork inspired by the Spectra programme. Read more.
Storytelling
Join Pauline and Lindsey for storytelling, which will now take place in The Wee Trim on Schoolhill. Read more.
Solace
In dark moments, humans gravitate towards light, seeking to banish shadows and to create a flickering, fragile moment of illumination that guides their path through the depths of night. Read more.
Flux
Collectif Scale’s Flux (2021) is a kinetic art installation inspired by the dynamism and geometry of nature. Made up of 48 strips of light arranged in a circle, the structure moves at varying speeds, sometimes slowly and poetically, and at other times in a raging frenzy, creating light trails. Read more.
Jigantics
Artist Jig Cochrane and the team at Jigantics will create a field of colourful giant blooms. Offering a window into an otherworldly paradise, shining through the cold night, this uplifting sight is a promise of the spring that will surely come. Read more.
Distopia
A fast-paced audiovisual show will capture the audience with a crescendo of three-dimensional visual effects that redesign the architecture of the façade of St Nicholas Spire in synesthesia with the music. Read more.
Follow Your Heart
Commissioned as part of SPECTRA 2026’s Micro-Commission Programme. At its core, Follow Your Heart is about the subtle but powerful pull of wonder. Read more.
Stage of Light
Live performances from local and national musicians taking place in the Cowdray Hall throughout the festival. Read more.
Nocturnal
Marischal Square will host Nocturnal, a brand-new series from Lincolnshire-based Glow Art Creations featuring giant illuminated creatures that awaken after dark, including a fox, hedgehog and an owl. Read more.
Parallels
Parallels is an immersive installation that merges architectural light and sound, drawing inspiration from the dynamic movements and tones found in nature. Read more.
Mofingu
Broad Street will feature Mofingu, an interactive digital artwork by Dutch artist collective WERC, that brings motion, technology and human presence together in a constantly evolving portrait. Read more.