Lux Helsinki’s urban light installations illuminate the dark of winter each January. Our photographers take to the streets and return with a colourful slideshow.
In 2014, Finnish artists were joined by colleagues from France and Germany for a total of 12 different installations that lit up the city in early January, including one indoor light-art exhibition. The annual event attracted more than 150,000 tourists and Helsinkians to explore the city from new points of view despite the cold weather.
Lux Helsinki: Colour in the capital
Jukka Huitila’s “Variant Spectrum 2” illuminates the 72-meter (236-foot) tower of the Olympic Stadium. Photo: Susanna Alatalo
French artist Philippe Morvan created “Cosmocole,” a solar system of light and sound, in the amphitheatre behind the Finnish National Opera. Photo: Susanna Alatalo
Hong Kong meets Helsinki at Hakasalmi Villa in Twinsen Ho’s installation “Little Spirits” inspired by the “Secret Book of Gnomes.” Photo: Leena Karppinen
A member of Fire Troupe Etna kindles torches for the performance “Disk,” in which the central idea is the interaction between fire and light. Photo: Leena Karppinen
In one of the four episodes of “Disk,” performers from Fire Troupe Etna protect themselves from the rain with burning umbrellas. Photo: Leena Karppinen
Old low-pressure sodium lamps from the Helsinki–Turku highway were used in Jenni Kääriäinen’s light installation “Sodium Sun.” Photo: Leena Karppinen
Dan Shorten’s video mapping work “Reveal” allows passers-by to interact with the piece via infrared cameras along the Baana pedestrian and bike path. Photo: Susanna Alatalo
The Finnish National Theatre was the first public building to be turned pink by Ainu Palmu’s “Pink Caravan.” Each day during Lux Helsinki, a different landmark building got a new, pink facade. Photo: Leena Karppinen
German artists Sabine Weissinger and Freidrich Förster team up as Casa Magica. Their sound and video projection “Emergence” is inspired by the sea. Photo: Susanna Alatalo
The video projection “Emergence” presents Helsinki Cathedral as a mythological object between the sea and the sky. Photo: Leena Karppinen
Jukka Huitila’s “Variant Spectrum 2” represents the colour spectrum of coal on the side of the Olympic Stadium tower. Photo: Susanna Alatalo
By Susanna Alatalo and Leena Karppinen, January 2013, updated January 2014
