Arts & Culture

Nocturne Returns With Dazzling Public Art Across Halifax

The city’s annual night-time art festival is back with installations in unexpected places — from parking lots to waterfronts — featuring local and international creators.

Ruby King | October 01, 2025 at 04:03 PM

Halifax’s annual night-time art festival, Nocturne, lit up the city streets once again this weekend, transforming public spaces into immersive artistic experiences. From waterfront docks to back alleys and urban parks, more than 80 installations invited residents to explore Halifax in a new light — quite literally. The theme this year, 'Echoes,' inspired artists to play with sound, memory, and repetition, delivering some of the most ambitious works the festival has hosted to date.

Crowds gathered around the flickering neon poetry projected on the former Bloomfield School, while others were drawn to a haunting soundscape woven from ship horns and archival radio broadcasts near the ferry terminal. “It’s about creating an emotional frequency,” said installation artist Amir Haddad, whose piece drew hundreds throughout the evening. Children danced beneath glowing arches in Cornwallis Park, while passersby paused to write anonymous confessions on walls lit by UV-reactive ink.

Nocturne’s power lies not only in its artistic breadth but also in its accessibility. All exhibits are free, and many are located in traditionally overlooked corners of the city. “We want to make art part of everyday life — not something hidden in galleries,” said festival director Vanessa Clow. Volunteers handed out maps and glow sticks, helping newcomers navigate the nighttime maze of events that extended from Gottingen Street to Point Pleasant Park.

Local businesses also embraced the celebration, staying open late and hosting mini-events of their own. A downtown café became a pop-up zine studio; a barber shop transformed into an experimental film screening room. “It’s amazing to see this much creativity spilling out into the city,” said Halifax-based poet and performer Clara Wexler, who led an outdoor reading illuminated only by LED umbrellas.

This year’s Nocturne saw increased representation from Indigenous, African Nova Scotian, and 2SLGBTQ+ artists, thanks to new equity-focused grants and mentorship programs. One standout piece featured a floating installation on the Northwest Arm, constructed by a team of Mi’kmaq artists using traditional materials and digital projections. Audience members were ferried out in silence to view the work, which pulsed with light and ancestral rhythms.

As midnight approached, festivalgoers lingered in small circles, buzzing about what they had seen. “Nocturne always makes me fall in love with this city again,” said student Rasha Sinclair. “It’s wild, it’s weird, it’s beautiful — and it’s ours.” Organizers say plans for next year are already underway, promising even more collaborations, more neighbourhood involvement, and more reasons to venture out after dark.