Wonderland Festival
Wonderland was a large-scale festival delivered in pertnership by Culture Aberdeen and our member Aberdeen Performing Arts. Taking place from 8–11 September 2022, the festival transformed the city into a stage, inviting audiences to explore Aberdeen through art, dance, music, sound, and theatre.
Across four days, Wonderland animated both iconic and unexpected city spaces with performances, installations, and events for all ages. At its heart was the Wonder Hoose, a pop-up venue created in Marischal College’s historic quadrangle, which hosted a daily programme of music, comedy, theatre, dance, and family shows. The festival also extended across the city centre, with specially commissioned works that invited audiences to see familiar places in new ways:
Right Up Your Street
Created by award-winning choreographer Thomas Small and Shaper/Caper, this interactive performance combined community stories, dance, and a jukebox soundtrack of popular songs from the last century. Staged in the Bon Accord Centre, it celebrated Aberdeen’s long-standing love of dance and encouraged audiences to share their own memories.
Terra Incognita (as above, so below)
A collaborative commission from MIASMA and Look Again, this project re-enchanted the city through installations and interventions across a circular route from St Andrews Street. With themes of archaeology, folklore, ecology, and the uncanny, the work invited audiences to consider Aberdeen’s deep-time histories alongside imagined futures.
Sense of Wonder
A breathtaking aerial performance created by All or Nothing Aerial Dance Theatre with Fusion Youth Dance Company. Performed on Broad Street and Hazlehead Park, it combined contemporary circus and dance, with young people from Citymoves’ Fusion company trained in aerial techniques to perform alongside professional artists. Suspended from cranes and structures up to 80 feet in the air, the piece explored dreams, possibility, and transformation.
Through these works and the vibrant programme in the Wonder Hoose, Wonderland offered something for everyone, from large-scale outdoor spectacle to intimate encounters with art and performance. Families, local residents, and visitors alike were invited to see the city with fresh eyes, celebrating creativity as part of the everyday fabric of Aberdeen.
Supported by Aberdeen City Council and delivered as part of the city’s cultural recovery efforts, Wonderland was both a celebration of Aberdeen’s cultural community and a demonstration of how culture can bring people together in shared spaces. It left behind a legacy of collaboration, imagination, and public engagement — showing what is possible when the city itself becomes a stage.
Photo credit Ross Johnston/Newsline Media, Wonderland Day 3, Aberdeen, Scotland, 10 September 2022