Europe's biggest street art festival in Bristol to go online in light of coronavirus pandemic
Bristol's popular Upfest street art festival will be held online this year following the coronavirus pandemic.
'Virtually Upfest' will allow users to experience an online reconstruction of North Street in the Bedminster area of the city with more than 30 new pieces of work on display.
It will be streamed from the festival gallery at the Tobacco Factory between 25 and 27 September.
The announcement follows the news that the 2021 festival is being slated for early June subject to funding, licensing and the state of the pandemic.
If the event does go ahead next year an extended programme starting a few weeks before June will also take place.
Artists who were successful in being allocated a space in 2020 will be given first refusal on returning to the festival next year.
Upfest's founder Stephen Hayles says: "As we were unable to run the festival the same as we have done in previous years we thought it would be fun to find a way to bring the festival to the people and the team at ZubrVR have done an incredible job at helping us bring this alternative to life."
The portal to 'Virtually Upfest' will be available via Upfest.co.uk and will be compatible with both VR headsets as well as mobile phones and regular laptops.
Access to the virtual world will be free to all in line with the Upfest Organisation ethos of making art accessible for everyone.