Lux Helsinki will happen around the city taking into account safe distancing

The artworks are widely spread, mostly outdoors, around the City of Helsinki and can be safely enjoyed since the design and production of Lux Helsinki have taken into account the safe health of viewers from the outset. For example, the dramaturgically progressing route was abandoned to spread the public more evenly and to prevent crowding at the various artworks. All the same, we will respond to the worsening Covid-19 situation with last minute programme changes to ensure public safe distancing.

The Falin Mynd audiovisual installation by Italian multidiscipline studio fuse* and Pink Caravan by Ainu Palmu will relocate to Suvilahti and the Chirp & Drift installation by UK artist Kathy Hinde will relocate to Mustikkamaa. Relocating these artworks to more open environments means they can be viewed from further away and so enable safe distancing to be maintained. Some of the artworks already announced are so complex that it is not possible from afar to experience them as the artists intended and regrettably we have had to cancel them in the 2022 programme. The works cancelled are Yle’s The Face of the City, Lux Architecture: Uimastadion, Tommi Musturi’s Deep Show, Lantern Park, Eetu Huhtala’s Toinen and Ville MJ Hyvönen’s Fragments. The Symposium for light art professionals and part of the ancillary programme have also been cancelled. You can find the updated programme at Lux Helsinki's website.

“Of all the options, it was ultimately best to create the works taking into account safe distancing. Although the work of a great many artists and production has been done in vain, even more works have become a reality. After a year’s hiatus, Helsinki will again become the global capital of light art. This time it will take the visitor a bit more time and a sense of adventure to explore all the works. But what better place to go on an adventure than Stadi, the Finnish capital,” says Stuba Nikula, CEO at Helsinki Events Foundation, which is organising Lux Helsinki.

Members of the public are requested to come and see the light artworks only if they are healthy and keep a safe distance from others. Wearing a mask and good hand hygiene are recommended. If, for example, illness or self-isolation prevent you from visiting in person, you can still enjoy Lux Helsinki via the event’s social media channels, where photos of the works and atmosphere at the event will be shared. The public are also encouraged to share their own photos of Lux Helsinki for everyone to enjoy using the hashtag #luxhelsinki.

Lux Helsinki 5–9 January 2022 from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. Lux Morning also illuminates the works 1, 10, 15, 16, 17 and 18 on Friday, 7 January between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. The event is organised and produced by the Helsinki Events Foundation. Route and work planning and production is the responsibility of Sun Effects Oy. The curators are Lari Suominen, Ilkka Paloniemi, Christina Dvinge, Petra Martinez, the Finnish Light Art Society FLASH and Juha Rouhikoski.

Lux Helsinki partners are Sun Effects Oy, STEK ry, Korkeasaari Zoo, the Italian Cultural Institute, the Parliament of Finland, Citycenter, Shopping Centre Forum, UPM, UPM-Kymmene Cultural Foundation, Helen, Varma and Culture Centre Stoa.