The 3rd Shanghai International Light Festival will run from Sept 17 to Oct 16, featuring one main venue and 16 sub-venues across the city with a total of 158 themed events, delivering a diverse integrated audio-visual light show for residents and tourists.
The main venue, situated in Huangpu district, encompasses the Rockbund and Yanzhong Green Space. Yanzhong Green Space will feature Shanghai's first urban forest light experience in the city center, hosting opening ceremonies, projection shows, industry exchanges, and light fairs across four interconnected green areas.
A 10-day music and light show will take place in the square outside the Shanghai Concert Hall, blending architectural lighting with diverse musical lineups to create an immersive audio-visual experience.
Along the Suzhou Creek near the Rockbund, a waterfront light art space will showcase works by light artists from 16 countries worldwide, alongside exclusive themed cruises and parent-child light viewing tours.
The 16 sub-venues each leverage local strengths to present distinctive experiences.
Pudong will build an 800-meter forest light street and a kilometer-long continuous light corridor. Xuhui will premiere site-specific works by top global new media artists at the Gate M West Bund Dream Center. Hongkou will integrate rowing events with tech lighting at the North Bund. Yangpu will form a riverside light belt linking industrial heritage sites and music festivals. Putuo will launch Shanghai's first large-scale floating light installation as a night tour destination paired with food and beverage offerings. Jing'an will build a city-center light art park centered on Jing'an Park.
Baoshan will debut the Changtan IMAX dome water screen light show, complemented by drone displays and fireworks. Lin-gang New Area will create immersive light zones with naked-eye 3D and water screen shows around Dishui Lake.
Additional sub-venues in Changning, Minhang, Fengxian, Jinshan, Jiading, Songjiang, Qingpu, and Chongming will also roll out tailored light experiences combining historic architecture, intangible cultural heritage, gardens and commercial districts.
The festival prioritizes public co-creation and shared participation, evolving from a city festival into a city-wide art platform built by and for the public. It offers all-age events, including youth light engineering camps and student lighting design competitions, as well as public cultural programs such as light science outreach and non-profit art co-creation projects.
