Liquid light artist Glenn Turner creates stunning scenes with water, lights at SPARK Ipswich Festival

‘I urge people to be in the moment and experience what they’re seeing’: Artist opens up about unusual evening display.

Liquid light artist Glenn Turner combines light and water to create stunning art. His work will be on display during SPARK Ipswich Festival between July 8-18.

A laser skipping along a wall 50 metres away caught the eye of an apprentice technician.

That’s how liquid light artist Glenn Turner first became fascinated by light, a discovery which led him to an entirely new line of work combining fountains, lighting and lasers.

Ipswich residents can experience his work without leaving the city, at SPARK festival’s after dark installation Refraction.

“It revolves around the uniqueness of how light interacts with water and there are many aspects to that,” Turner said.

“Refraction is the process of light entering a water droplet and throwing light out in different directions.”

The display is pre-programmed and cycles through nine scenes.

“The first scene pays respect to Indigenous people, then it goes into a sequence of electrification, before going to energise the water,” Turner said.

“That’s where we start seeing the energy of the water come out.”

Turner said the namesake scene was set to shock audiences with its height and boldness.

“When it kicks into Refraction, the jets go really high – I arc the jets so they meet about 50 metres high,” he said.

“As they’re going up and down, they’re creating a massive wall of water to project light onto.”

The kaleidoscopic interplay of colour, water and light is set to a soundtrack, which audiences can plug into using their smartphones.

“We have a web-based audio system with codes around – you can scan with your phone to get to the website and it will sync the music with the show,” Turner said.

“There is quite a lot of technology going on behind the scenes.”

Although it isn’t vital spectators see the show from the beginning, Turner said the it was important to spend at least 15 minutes watching.

“I urge people to be in the moment and experience what they’re seeing,” he said.

“Stay for at least 15 minutes because, if they come through for just five minutes, they’re going to miss everything.”

The liquid light show will run during Ipswich City Council’s SPARK Ipswich Festival (July 8-18).

Audiences can watch it between 6.30pm and 10.30pm from the Riverheart Boardwalk, Riverlink Shopping Centre, David Trumpy Bridge or Bradfield Bridge.

Read more news by Ebony Graveur.