Lux Helsinki light art festival switches on tomorrow

Light art will again become a national conversation topic when Lux Helsinki begins tomorrow, 4 January 2023. The event features a broad cross section of more than 30 quality international and Finnish light artworks. The art was earlier arranged along one route, but this year there will be three collections of artworks to create more space and let people experience the works unhurriedly. The collections can be found in the downtown, Ruoholahti and Suvilahti.
 
The collection of artworks in the downtown starts from Kansalaistori square and extends through Hesperianpuisto park to as far as the TAHTO Center for Finnish Sports Culture at the Olympic Stadium. BEAM, a 30-metre long and 9-metre high light installation by British design and fabrication studio Lucid Creates, will dominate Mäntymäen kenttä. Created in partnership with Polestar, the work uses changing colours and sounds to transport the experiencer to another time and place – this time to an emission-less future. Check out the collection of artworks in the city centre.
 
The collection of artworks in Ruoholahti stretches from Ruoholahdentori to the Cable Factory. Kaapeliaukio features the Turquoise video installation by visual artists Kaisu Koivisto and Anna Nykyri, who examine the colour of the water of the Baltic Sea, which is affected among other things by pollutants, eutrophication and blue algae. The image layers in Turquoise show the world of living creatures, aquatic plants, waves and sea animals depicted with the help of a microscope. Check out the collection of artworks in Ruoholahti.
 
The collection of artworks in Suvilahti can be experienced outdoors and also in the Kattilahalli and concrete gasometer. Kattilahalli will host The Dresses, by South Korean artist Tae Gon Kim, whose beautiful eerie large-scale dresses created by fibre optics glow in changing colours. Each of the dresses featured tells its own story. Check out the collection of artworks in Suvilahti.
 
In addition to these three collections, light artworks can also be seen in Kanneltalo, Malmitalo, Stoa and Vuotalo cultural centres when Lux Helsinki is open. Check out the works in the cultural centres. Visitors can also experience gallery-scale artwork in the Lux In exhibition in Valssaamo and Puristamo at the Cable Factory. Lux In opened yesterday and is open daily 15-22 until 8 January.
 
Visitors can also already admire light artworks ahead of Lux Helsinki, as the lights came on in Lux Korkeasaari on 26 December. The artworks there can be experienced daily 10-19 until 8 January. There is a separate admission charge to Lux Korkeasaari. €1 from each admission ticket and for each visit with an annual pass will be donated to snow leopard conservation work.
 
Lux Helsinki is a free, accessible event for the whole family from 4-8 January 2023 from 17-22. Lux Korkeasaari runs from 26 December 2022 - 8 January 2023 from 10–19 and is subject to an admission charge. The festival is organised and produced by Helsinki Events Foundation. Lux Helsinki’s artistic director is Juha Rouhikoski, whose curator team also includes Immanuel Pax, Lari Suominen, Mia Kivinen and Ilkka Paloniemi.
 
Lux Helsinki’s partners are Korkeasaari Zoo, the Italian Cultural Institute, Polestar and Yle.