A choreographed fleet of more than 600 drones brought some of David Hockney’s best-known paintings to life in the night sky over the city of Bradford, northern England, on November 13.
Thousands gathered in Bradford’s Roberts Park to watch as works such as (1967), (1970–71), and (2021) were created by synchronized LED drones. The spectacle took place as part of celebrations surrounding Bradford’s status as the U.K. city of culture for 2025 and was a grand gesture in honor of the region’s most famous living artist.
The event was orchestrated by Skymagic, a drone light show company based in the nearby city of Leeds, that previously circled choreographed drones above the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022, the King’s Coronation Concert in 2023, and Coachella in the same year. The Bradford show marked the first time that drone swarm technology has been used to create a light painting in the U.K. It was also the first time Hockney’s work has been created by drones and also included (1976-77), (1989), and .
David Hockney’s (1998) created by drones. Photo: courtesy Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture.
David Hockney, Garrowby Hill (1998). Photo: courtesy Prudence Cuming Associates Museum of Fine Arts.
You sense Hockey, who was born in the city in 1937 and attended Bradford School of Art, would have appreciated seeing his swimming pools, self-portraits, and beloved dachshunds materialize in the Yorkshire sky. The 88-year-old artist has long championed the use of new technologies beginning with the Polaroid camera and Xerox fax machine in the 1960s, before his experiments with the Quantel Paintbox, an early computer graphics software, in the 1980s.
Recent decades have seen Hockney make work using a host of Apple products, most famously the iPad, with his paintings created on the tablet selling for millions. In 2023, his “Bigger & Closer” opened London’s new immersive venue Lightroom.
“Having embraced the latest digital technology in his work for many years,” Bradford 2025 U.K. City of Culture said in a statement. “This is a homage to Hockney’s lifelong exploration of new mediums, now reimagined in light by Skymagic.”
David Hockney’s (1972) created by drones. Photo: courtesy Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture.
The drone light show appeared above the village of Saltaire, a Victorian model village comprised of textile mills, public buildings, and workers’ housing from the second half of the 19th century that is a UNESCO World Heritage site. One of these mills, Salts Mill, now houses one of the largest permanent collections of works by Hockney. The building has also appeared in some of the artist’s paintings, including , , (1997).
A second night of the drone display, planned for November 14, was cancelled due to bad weather.
David Hockney’s (1994) created by drones. Photo: courtesy Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture.
Source: Exhibition - news.artnet.com
