The Edinburgh International Festival has released free tickets for the Standard Life Opening Event: Bloom, the epic digital artwork which will mark the opening of the 2017 summer festival season and celebrate the 70th anniversary of the International Festival and Edinburgh’s enviable status as the world’s Festival City.
This year’s event evolves from previous Opening Events The Harmonium Project and the Standard Life Opening Event: Deep Time, to become the biggest undertaking to date – a massive installation on the largest surface area yet which will run for two hours over two nights on Friday 4 and Saturday 5 August (10pm – 12midnight).
Entry to the Standard Life Opening Event: Bloom is free for everyone. Tickets are available from via eif.co.uk and residents and visitors are urged to book in order to guarantee access to the event from the 10pm start on both evenings. Non-ticket holders are also welcome to attend and will be admitted from 10.30pm on a first come basis.
The Standard Life Opening Event: Bloom takes place in St Andrew Square in Edinburgh’s New Town. The Georgian New Town was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995 and this year celebrates its 250th anniversary. The event transforms not only a single building but uses the facades around St Andrew Square to create a vast canvas for projection-mapped animations. The Square becomes an immersive environment of colour, texture, sounds and sensations that places the audience at the centre of a visually stunning digital constellation.
59 Productions, the multi-award winning company behind the video design of the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games and the record-breaking V&A David Bowie exhibition has been commissioned to create the Standard Life Opening Event: Bloom. The epic public artwork brings together large-scale animation and architectural projection mapping, celebrating the cultural reignition sparked by the Festival’s creation in 1947. Featuring a newly commissioned musical score from award winning composer Nick Powell, the Standard Life Opening Event: Bloom charts the joyful transformation of Edinburgh, from the darkness and division of the post-war years to the colour and vibrancy of today’s Festival City. The event draws upon the architectural beauty of the New Town, Edinburgh’s rich cultural heritage and showcases the technological innovation for which the city is renowned.
In 2017, the world-famous Edinburgh International Festival celebrates its 70th anniversary. Its origins date back to 1947 when Sir John Falconer – Lord Provost of Edinburgh and the International Festival’s first Chair – spoke of his ambition that the inaugural International Festival should ‘provide a platform for the flowering of the human spirit’. 70 years later, Edinburgh has bloomed into the world’s Festival City and its impact has been a constant inspiration, propagating new festivals throughout Europe and beyond. The International Festival continues to celebrate our highest artistic achievements, our imagination and creativity, our generosity and diversity.
Friday 4 & Saturday 5 August, 10.00pm – 12midnight.
Entry to the event is free. To guarantee access for the 10pm start there are a limited number of tickets for both nights available on 3 July at eif.co.uk/bloom. Ticket holders will have access to the arena from 9pm. Non-ticket holders will be admitted from 10.30pm on a first come basis.
Tickets are available at eif.co.uk/bloom.