Visit Bristol looks ahead to some exciting openings and events coming to the city for buzzseekers, food lovers and cultural enquirers alike. Bristol is also set to host its hugely popular recurring events and festivals that the city is so famous for, to make 2022 a year to remember!
New Openings and Events:
Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
9 April – Oct
Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience has had a thrilling start in US attracting 2 million visitors and this year comes to Bristol. The immersive experience is 20,000 square foot light and sound spectacular featuring two-story projections of the artist’s most compelling works where people can encounter the brilliance of one of history’s greatest artists in 360 degrees. In addition to a spacious central area where Van Gogh’s works stretch floor-to-ceiling, the experience includes separate galleries that chronicle his life, technique, and influence thru informative panels, larger than life re-creations and engaging interactives. The experience features a one of kind Virtual Reality interactive, which guides you on a ten-minute journey through “A day in the life of the Artist.” Walk alongside Van Gogh during this peaceful, visually rich journey to discover the inspiration behind eight of his iconic works, including: Vincent’s Bedroom at Arles, and Starry Night Over The Rhone River. Venue will be in central Bristol (yet to be announced), but you can buy tickets now from Van Gogh Expo website.
Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Wake The Tiger Amazement Park
Summer 2022
Opening in Bristol this summer, this new fantastical, interactive and immersive art experience is brought to you by the team who have been creating Boomtown Fair for the past ten years.
An edgy alternative to the traditional art gallery, Wake The Tiger is a one hour journey for all ages to another world. Diving through a portal, visitors will be transported to the magical realms of an ‘alchemist's dream’, exploring 27 unique artistic rooms which ignite the imagination and demonstrate how age-old ideals continue to transform the way we live and make positive steps to create a brighter future.
Aimed at audiences of all ages, we encourage visitors to follow their hearts, explore the surroundings, discover secrets and interact with a world beyond their imagination.
Mysterious by design, this perfectly imperfect world is unforgettable… you need to see it to believe it.
SEE MONSTER
July - September 2022
As part of the UK-wide project UNBOXED: Creativity, a decommissioned North Sea offshore platform will be transformed in summer 2022 into a public art installation in Weston-super-Mare, a 30-minute train ride from Bristol. The free-to-visit installation called SEE MONSTER will be situated in the Tropicana - a former Art Deco lido where Banksy’s Dismaland was held in 2015 - and promises to be an immersive, sensory art experience, harnessing renewable energy from the natural elements, celebrating the Great British Weather and exploring the concept of re-using inherited structures. “SEE MONSTER is an experiment in transformation, an art installation that is forward-looking, aiming to frame and open an optimistic conversation around reuse.” Patrick O’Mahony, Artistic Director & Founder, NEWSUBSTANCE
https://unboxed2022.uk/see-monster
The World Reimagined
August-October 2022
The World Reimagined is a ground-breaking, national art education project aimed at transforming how we understand Transatlantic Slavery. The project will see a trail of large Globe sculptures in Bristol starting in August and ending during Black History Month in October. The Globes will be created by artists seeking to bring to life the reality and impact of Transatlantic Slavery.
https://www.theworldreimagined.org/
New Accommodation:
Artist Residence
November 2021
Eclectic fusion of art and vintage chic, Artist Residence Bristol is in a former boot factory now fully restored with 23 stylish rooms, garden, events space, café/restaurant and bar. Housed in a former boot factory, adjoined to a Grade I listed townhouse in Portland Square (between St Pauls and Cabot Circus shopping centre in the heart of the city), the new hotel is a continuum of the bohemian Artist Residence style. The much-anticipated hotel opened in November 2021 with the initial phase opening bedrooms and guest lounge only, with the main restaurant and bar opening to the public in the next phase (set to be early 2022, date to be confirmed).
Image: CGI of Clayton Hotel
Art Noveau beauty becomes Clayton Hotel
March 2022
The former Edward Everard printworks in Broad Street, an impressive example of Art Nouveau architecture and one of Bristol’s most distinctive buildings, is to become a four-star Clayton Hotel courtesy of the Dalata group. Built around 1900, the printworks closed in 1967, and later became part of a complex of offices built by Natwest bank – only the original façade remains. It is said that William Morris had some of his wallpapers and textiles printed here, including his familiar Strawberry Thief design. The new hotel will provide 255 rooms and a restaurant as part of a mixed-use development in the heart of the city. The building’s exuberant, Doulton-tiled exterior – Grade II* listed - will form the entrance to the hotel which is due to open in March 2022.
Moxy Bristol Hotel
Late April 2022
Part of the Marriott group, Moxy Hotel is currently under construction in Bristol and set to open in April 2022 (after Easter). Located at the end of the M32 in St Pauls, the 214-room boutique, funky and affordable hotel will be in a convenient location for visitors looking to stay close to the city centre and Bristol Shopping Quarter with accessible travel routes nearby and the vibrant area of St Pauls to explore on its doorstep. Sustainability is key to the business and so we will see a focus on the building credentials and operation.
Moxy Hotel
Events and Exhibitions:
Slapstick Festival
26-30 January 2022
2021 saw Slapstick Festival pivot to an online version of events which was very well-received and much-needed in the lockdown period. In January 2022, there are plans for Slapstick Festival to return to Bristol venues for its 18th edition for a five-day hybrid festival with around a third of the events also being streamed online, making for their most accessible festival ever.
https://slapstick.org.uk/laughter-is-live-slapstick-festival-2022/
Bristol Light Festival
1-6 March
After a hugely successful inaugural event in 2020, Bristol Light Festival returns 1-6 March 2022. A free, outdoor event aimed at bringing colour, light and play to the city centre with a series of commissions from local and internationally renowned artists. The light installations will illuminate both well-known and unexpected locations in this playful and engaging trail across the city. Think of a gigantic illuminated slinky toy that lights up to create the familiar flowing movement of the nostalgic toy (End to End installation, pictured above). Or playing on swings on College Green by Bristol Cathedral, with lights and music being triggered with each swing. Or see projected images of the windows surrounding Banksy’s famous Well Hung Lover on Park Street which will offer a peek into the lives of those living next door during the pandemic.
https://visitbristol.co.uk/bristollightfestival
Upfest
28 - 29 May 2022
In 2022, after three years’ break, the annual celebration of street art returns to the streets and parks of south Bristol with a date to be confirmed. Europe’s biggest free street art and graffiti art festival attracts 250 international artists and over 25,000 visitors, and is now one of the city’s biggest, unmissable summer festivals.
Love Saves the Day
2-3 June 2022
Love Saves the Day will return in 2022 to celebrate its 10-year anniversary, with the event set to be bigger then ever before from its new home at Bristol’s Ashton Court. Love Saves The Day will kickstart the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations and the four-day Bank Holiday weekend. Taking place on Bank Holiday Thursday 2nd and Bank Holiday Friday 3rd June 2022, the organisers are promising the best edition of the festival to date.
https://visitbristol.co.uk/whats-on/love-saves-the-day-p2361653
Elton John Farewell Yellow Brick Road: The Final Tour
22 and 26 June
Elton John returns to Bristol in summer 2022 for two dates on his Farewell Yellow Brick Road: The Final Tour. Ashton Gate Stadium is the only venue in the south west where the legend is performing and the two nights are set to be an unforgettable experience.
Bristol Harbour Festival
15-17 July 2022
The city’s iconic festival takes place in July 2022, celebrating its 50th anniversary after being postponed the last two years due to COVID. Expect a mix of music, maritime fun and markets based around Bristol’s historic and beautiful harbourside with live performances, family entertainment, circus acts, children’s events, street food and market stalls, and hundreds of sailing ships in the harbour.
https://visitbristol.co.uk/whats-on/bristol-harbour-festival-p2369253
Bristol International Balloon Fiesta
11 - 14 August 2022
Bristol’s largest free fiesta returns in August at Ashton Court Estate. Over 100 hot air balloons gather for mass ascents, tethered displays and the highly anticipated Night Glow spectacles at the largest event of its kind in Europe. Held over four days, there are market stalls, live music, fairground rides and street food stalls that also help attract over half a million people to the fiesta each year.
Home - Bristol International Balloon Fiesta (bristolballoonfiesta.co.uk)
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery
4 December 2021 – 4 September 2022
An exhibition of works selected by leading artist Grayson Perry during season two of the popular TV series, Grayson’s Art Club.
www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/bristol-museum-and-art-gallery/whats-on/grayson-perry-art-club
M Shed Museum
Various dates
After a hugely successful summer with the Vanguard street art exhibition and the Colston statue display, M Shed museum is running Think Global, Act Bristol - an exhibition and public engagement programme addressing Bristol’s role in the climate and ecological crises, past present and future (25 June – October 2022). Also, the hugely popular Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition will be at M Shed from 27 Nov 2021 – 5 June 2022.
https://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/m-shed/whats-on/
Spike Island
Various dates
Spike Island - the international centre for the development of contemporary art and design – has an eclectic mix of exhibitions next year from world-renowned pioneering creatives including Candice Lin’s Pigs and Poison exploring marginalised histories and colonial legacies (5 February – 8 May) and Eric Baudelaire and Alvin Curran’s exhibition When There is No More Music to Write (28 May – 18 September).
Spike Island 2021–22 Exhibitions and Commissions - Spike Island
Anniversaries:
Queen’s Jubilee – many events in Bristol to be confirmed yet, but Love Saves the Day music festival has announced it will kick off the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations for the long bank holiday weekend at start of June (see info above).
100 years of BBC in 2022 – BBC Bristol studios is known for its wildlife content and is home of Natural History Unit.
Bristol Harbour Festival will celebrate its 50th anniversary event in 2022 (was postponed due to Covid in 2020 and 2021). See information above.
75th anniversary of Bristol twinning with Hannover and Bordeaux. More information to follow.
Watershed celebrates its 40th anniversary of opening in 2022 with a programme of events, workshops and celebrations that reflect on the last four decades and looks ahead to the next four.
If you would like additional information, high res images or would like to arrange a press trip, please email Susie Bowers at press@visitwest.co.uk.
Additional information: Famed for its passionate character, maritime history, and for the acres of parkland and sustainable approach that earned it European Green Capital 2015 status, Bristol has created its own distinctive identity. Visitors are attracted to the city’s year-round festivals, award-winning cycle tracks, gastronomy in rejuvenated shipping containers and behind secret doorways, stunning cityscapes, inspiring street art and lively music scene.
About Visit West: The Destination Management Organisation (DMO) for Bristol, Bath & North East Somerset, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset. It supports the visitor economy of the region which is worth £2.33billion and supports 45,000 jobs. Visit West operates the Meet Bristol & Bath Convention Bureau and Visit Bristol and Visit Bath consumer websites.
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