Panta Rhei Meanders Through Space

It is quite logical that a waterworks/energy company, having its anniversary, would arrange an art exhibition, concentrating on light as a material and water and time as themes. And that's what RheinEnergie did. The result is exhibition Panta rhei (29.4.–25.9.2022), where time, water and light intermingle effortlessly in the beautiful old waterworks building. 

Molitor & Kuzmin underground

There were two projection artworks, quite different visually, both dealing with rippling water. In François Schwamborn’s Nervous Water we see a water surface, reflecting greenery around it, in a very slow motion. It’s hard to tell if the material is filmed, painted of computer generated, since the slowness of it sheds the characteristics of rippling water and renders the material beautifully impressionist. 

Claude Monet would have loved this

Hartung & Trenz had a another piece called Panta rhei in Brixen Light Art Festival last spring, so they're familiar with the theme. Will get back to that festival later. The artist duo use projected texts regularly in their work, and Momentum is no exception. The words “kinetai kai pei ta panta” (another version of "everything moves") are projected to the wall, building up a meandering river of words. I did catch some other words as well, like “lager”, but that might have been just a premonition, see "Touristy Tips" at the end. The ripple here was caused by reflecting water pools and dropping water, but also by the viewers walking past the projectors. Interactivity!

Words rippling

Bastian Hoffmann’s two minimalistic water sculptures (both called Untitled) were the most concrete handling of water in the exhibition. A stable water jet, seemingly defying gravity and disturbance, disappeared in a hole, forming a glass-like arch. The simplicity and serenity of the artworks made a great impression to me. There really wasn’t anything to show off, just the idea. For once, I didn’t touch the artwork. But I really, really wanted to. 

Eero Saarinen would have loved this

Mischa Kuball, on the other hand, dealt with water in a more figurative way, quite unlike his other works I've seen. In Objects, artefacts and other damages abandoned historical and contemporary objects float in a long, video-projected river, while it turns all murky. The murkiness starts from a coffee box, which I, as an avid coffee drinker, take a little offense of. 

Yes, blame the coffee drinkers

Mirrors and infinity rooms are a big trend in light art at the moment. Huge trend. Remembering LUX: New Wave of Contemporary Art with its several reflections-based ideas I wondered if there’s still something new to it. Surprisingly, Jacqueline Hen’s super simple infinity grid Light High went back to basics, and it was quite refreshing in my simple mind. Even the slight ripple in lights in the start and end of the loop felt a tad unnecessary show-off.

Know your coordinates

Molitor & Kuzmin had a take on time and moving. Fluorescents en masse tend to be impressive and that’s what Molitor & Kuzmin went with. Which is no surprise, they are masters of fluorescent heaps after all. The obviously site-specific Scratch fills a pit and the space above it with rigorously organized fluorescents, and on the bottom of the artwork there are discs spinning, with “time” or “zeit” written on them with neon. Yes, everything moves, and time especially so.

Time is spinning

The route was carefully planned, meandering through the building in an unexpected but comprehensive order, revealing a nook (and artwork) after another. The artworks are in unity with the space, rather than objects scattered into an exhibition hall. I’m really glad that the space is not stuffed with artworks, the ones there are, are quite enough. The exhibition is coherent thematically, but diverse in form. I hope there will be other light based exhibitions in the space, it is really apt to it!

Touristy Tip

It's hard to imagine that a Finnish power company would have a bar of their own, but that seems to be no problem in Germany: there’s a really nice beer garden in the back yard. 

 

Breathing the space

The Light & Space exhibition in Copenhagen Contemporary (3.12.21 – 4.9.22) was an ambitious and comprehensive overview on the style, providing maybe a little bit more than needed.

A part of Helen Pashgian's Untitled (2006–2007)

Copenhagen Contemporary is a gallery – or, rather, an exhibition space – specialized on installation art. With its several large halls it is apt for the job, and certainly a venue to pay attention to, especially light-art-wise. 

The gallery provides a wide range exhibition of Light & Space movement– or “movement”, since it wasn’t a coherent consortium, but a bunch of people doing roughly same kind of stuff, more or less aware of each other. The style was born in California in the 60’s, concentrating on, you guessed it, light and space. In addition to Californian sunlight, the local airplane and car industry contributed, too, with easily available new materials and technologies, and an interest in cooperation with artists. Thus the sleek, finished, technological look.

In the Light and Space movement, perception is the key, and light and space are the obvious tools to manipulate that. Installations are the usual format of Light and Space, for, you know, including light and space, but other genres of art are included as well. Artworks often count on the viewer: the artwork is not merely observed but experienced. And sometimes that is not just a fancy word. 

Some of the artworks in the exhibition deal with both light and space, some with either, some with neither, at least not more than artworks usually do. I’ll concentrate on the works checking both boxes. A crueler approach to choosing the artworks might have done the exhibition a tad more distinctive, instead of trying to give an example of everything. Anyhow, it was very well worth seeing as it was.

More of Robert Irwin's Light and Space below

Tricks and Treats

The strongest example of experiencing in the exhibition is Eric Orr’s Zero Mass, originally from 1969, a highly conceptual light art piece, with a minimal use of light. And I do mean minimal. The audience is lead to a totally dark, paper-walled room and supposed just to be there. And wait. Which I did. And realised I started to see in the dark. Well, almost. I think I caught a very weak light glowing behind the paper wall. The feeling of seeing absolutely nothing, only daring to move in super slow motion and then gradually getting a grasp of space and being able to move freely, is a tremendous one. It’s a bit like being able to breath the space, all of a sudden. I’m proud of myself for not whispering “Yeeeeesssss” in a husky demon voice to the ears of newcomers, wondering aloud if there are other people in the space. 

No photo, for obvious reasons.

There is no Light & Space exhibition without James Turrell. Here, the artwork is a walk-in installation Aftershock 2021 in his Ganzfeld series. If Orr’s piece made my brains create light, Turrell’s made it create smoke where there was none. And enjoy the colours. I am somewhat prejudiced towards artworks, where changing of colours is the main idea, always fearing the horror of a witless rainbow effect. In Turrell’s works, no fear of such. Random or not, the changes and colour combinations are surprising, deliberate and oh, so beautiful.

Persons standing in a traditional installation art poses in Turrell's piece.
James Turrell, Aftershock (2021) Courtesy the artist and Häusler Contemporary Zurich.
Light & Space at Copenhagen Contemporary, 2021. Photo: Florian Holzherr

Doug Wheeler’s LC 71 NY DZ 13 DW tricks the mind in yet another way. Even if I didn’t quite feel that my perception of time and space was challenged, as the exhibition text suggested, I did feel an elevating airiness and openness of space, which is quite surprising in a very closed, if white, dome. Mentally, I lost at least twenty pounds, the infinite white and convex floor fooling my sense of gravity.

A person standing in a traditional installation art pose in Wheeler's piece.
Doug Wheeler, LC 71 NY DZ 13 DW, 2013
Reinforced fiberglass, flat white titanium dioxide latex, LED light,
and DMX control 556,3 x 1958,3 x 2060,9 cm
© Doug Wheeler Courtesy David Zwirner
Light & Space, Copenhagen Contemporary, 2021.
Photo: David Stjernholm

Art for Gods, Possibly Not on Purpose

It takes me some time to figure if the hovering daisy-colored spot in the middle of Helen Pashgian’s Untitled (2021) is light or matter. Of course, it makes no difference. Even if the word “temple” was mentioned in the text defining the Turrell piece, this artwork reminded me most of a one. The room was the closest I can imagine a modern-day worshipper of Egyptian Sun god Ra could ask for.

Welcome to the temple of Hipster-Ra

Mary Corse’s light canvases seem like potential religious art in my mind as well. Almost all of the religions pay a great deal of attention to light, inner or outer, and it makes me wonder why light isn’t used more often as material in, for example, altar pieces? I mean, light would tell way more about spirituality than a dead body. But what do I know, I’m an agnostic. Anyhow, the glowing Untitled (2019) is a great source of inner peace, even if it was placed in quite a busy corner.

Mary Corse, Untitled (Electric Light) (2019)
© Mary Corse Courtesy the artist and Kayne Griffin, Los Angeles
Light & Space, Copenhagen Contemporary, 2021.
Photo: David Stjernholm

Light, Space, Art and Some Unforgivable Awesomeness

Robert Irwin’s Light and Space (2007) is another edition of his recurrent Light and Space series, rethought for every exhibition space. It is quite impressive here, yes, but I was spoiled in Light Art Space’s version of 2021 in Kraftwerk Berlin. It was absolutely great, so perfect in that space, that any other edition just doesn't do it for me anymore. It really was space as art, not art in a space. Even if I try to tell myself that they are all different artworks, I just cannot forget that awesomeness. 

Sorry, Robert.

Light and Space in Light & Space, where it was light in space

Light and Space in Light Art Space, where it was space as art

So Far Unfinished Web

The artworks in the exhibition are advertised with words like magnificent and gigantic, which is not the whole picture, to say the least. Yes, some of the artworks are big indeed, but there are quite a few ordinary sized artworks as well. Words like that lay out expectations that I’m not sure the subtle, stylish, and delicate artworks of the exhibition fulfil. Nor do I think they should.

There were a lot of sections in the exhibition, like Nature as Material or Architecture and Art. All of these were great themes, even if some were not that essential to Light and Space movement. The exhibition was also a good summary of who’s who in Light and Space, but even there were a few hangarounds – although interesting artists in their own right. The wide scape of themes left some of the artworks quite unconnected to each other, or even to the main theme of the exhibition. 

In my dream world, this would be a crash course to Light and Space, followed by a whole series going deeper in the themes introduced here. 

I would go! 

The perfectly rough façade of the CC

Other People Writing about Light & Space

• Nanna Friis / Kunstkritikk: Quantity Consciousness 
• Jeni Porter / Wallpaper: ‘Light & Space’ at Copenhagen Contemporary: ‘moving art without moving elements’ 
• Veena / Mycafe101 Light & space – Copenhagen Contemporary

F-light: Hooray for History

A friend of mine once said that Florence is so full of old art that it really isn’t motivated to find contemporary approaches. Judging by the F-light festival 2021, that is true. Most of the material seen was based on old masterpieces and/or shown in historically important venues. And why not – masterpieces are called masterpieces for a reason! 

The festival includes light art, video art, architectural lighting and something I would call Christmas lights. The pieces were spattered around the city, giving a chance to see other places than just the Duomo. Which is – I can't stress this enough – worth seeing. The outer skirts venues were mostly about architectural lighting, the flashiest projections were in the immediate centrum. After six weeks of travelling and feet tired like a prayer of a person fallen asleep (another Finnish expression for you to enjoy), I decided to concentrate on the central area.

The very loose theme for the edition was reflections. I quite didn't catch it while watching the artworks, not in a concrete way anyhow. Except for reflecting the old masterpieces. The theme was mentioned in some of  the info texts, but defined so widely it basically included everything. Also, Narcissus was referred to. 

Judith reflecting future with Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi.
Go see the painting in the Uffizi, it's supreme!

There was history in many layers in the projection based on La Divina Commedia on the façades of Museo Galileo and Camera di Commercio (artist unknown). I couldn't quite follow the plot, since I, unlike Italians, don't know Dante's texts by heart. So, I took it as an enjoyable piece of dada art, where anyone or anything could float to the wall next. Reflections by The Fake Factory, projected to the trademark Ponte Vecchio bridge, was more twofold. The art treasures of renaissance took turns with more modern, colourful and abstract images. I'm not quite sure of the latter, though. Maybe one theme is enough for one artwork and in this case, I'd go with history. 

Ponte Vecchio was one of the spots where sponsors' messages and information clips gained a tad too much time for my taste, in addition to being quite unbecoming. I know Italy's range in culture is wide to say the least, but the incessant tacky spacers were more Ragazze Cin Cin than Artemisia Gentileschi. Art is always a question of taste, but I do prefer the latter.

A Dada Commedia

Ponte Vecchio coated with history

Ponte Vecchio coated with colours

Even if history played a great part, the modern days were not totally forgotten. In the Reflexus series of short video artworks by the 2nd year students of ISIA Florence, the historical imagery was mixed with flashes of nowaday people – and some nowaday fauna, in a simple, stylish way. The Stream of Consciousness by METAEXPERIENCE. ART combined Piazza della Santissima Annunciata, one of Medici statues and projected texts, that are all the rage in the modern video art. As are "artificial intelligence and the most complex algorithms", which were used also here, not that it made any difference. Unfortunately, the projectors were a tad weak for the existing light and the texts did not appear as powerful as they could have. 

A person of history

Persons of today

Looking carefully, you'll see the writings on the floor

Florence is a fairy castle before Christmas, with streets adorned with abundant but stylish Christmas lights. Well, as stylish as Christmas lights go. In addition, F-light did its part in decorations, if only in off-program. The Mercato piece by Faniuolo reminds me of some other light works I've seen during my trip, like Valerio Festi's Porte Celesti in GLOW Eindhoven and Famiglia De Cagna's La Cat­te­dra­le di Luce in Ghent. Sometimes these mosaic-like light installations are classified as decorations, sometimes as art. An interestingly fluid demarcation.

Also in off-program there was the Christmas explosion on the façade of La Rinascente department store. A net of lights ran through different kinds of colour schemes, interrupted by a tad artsier animations. Anyhow, this one is easily classified as a decoration, if a splendid one.

Mercato Christmas lights are a tradition

A subtle moment in the Rinascente Christmas lighting

As to the actual light art part, there wasn't too much of it.  As it happens, this was also the most high art stuff in the festival. The most obvious example, Siamo con voi nella notte (We are with you in the night) by artistic collective Claire Fontaine at Museo Novecento has its roots in neon letter art, big in the 60's, having a comeback, it seems. Led lights have replaced neon, though, as they have here. Could have fooled me, led lights are pretty damn good these days. Anyhow, light letter art is often laconic and / or political, and same goes here, starting with the name. Siamo con voi nella notte is a graffiti slogan from 70's, expressing solidarity with political prisoners. The artwork is a comment on closure of museums because of the epidemic, a kind reminder that art is still there, and is provided to the public by all means possible. Like making a square a piece of art by claiming it with a sign.

Subtle art takes over the whole piazza

Even though I’m really into contemporary art, I found the old-fashioned approach quite refreshing and something I haven’t witnessed in any other flight art estival. Maybe Florence isn’t a beacon of contemporary light art but why should it be? In a city like this, full of historical beauty, why not flaunt it proudly – and maybe take a little more daring take, artistically? 

And while at it, think of a more stylish way to advertise the sponsors.

Other people writing about F-light

Ciao tutti: Firenze Light Festival – prachtige lichtshow op de mooiste monumenten van Florence (in Dutch)
Emergenza Cultura: L’anima e l’arte di Firenze svendute a sponsor e loghi (in Italian)

Touristy tip

If you're travelling by train to/from Bologna and want to enjoy the scenery while travelling, a warning: two thirds on the route from Florence is tunnels. Florence-Rome stretch is quite tunnel-y as well, but not nearly as bad. 

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Spectacular thanks to Niilo Helander Foundation, that has made possible my Grand Tour of Light Art, including the visit to F-light.

Candles in a Plastic Garden and Easy Exits in Lyon

Fête des Lumières in Lyon is the grand old lady of the light art festivals. It has a pedigree ever since the 17th century and is still one of the most revered light art festivals in Europe. It’s kind of a Maggie Smith of light art festivals.

To put its history simply: the festival evolved from previous festivities in 1850’s, when a celebration for a St. Mary’s statue had been postponed several times for everyone’s frustration, lastly because of a storm. But behold, the skies unexpectedly cleared and the people of Lyon spontaneously lighted up the candles and celebrated on the streets. It was such a blast that it became a tradition. The nowadays festival is still held during the days surrounding December 8th, the original party-hard day. These candles, lumignons des coeur, are still an important part of the festival, even though there are fewer of them on windowsills. In modern times the candles light a park, for charity. With blue lights and plastic decoration to match.

History meets led-lights

The assortment of light art works on display in the festival of 2021 is, according to the program and my observation, eclectic – as it usually is. No specific theme is decided, there's something for everyone and the range of the artworks goes from spectacular projections to small scale demos. 

I found favourites throughout the spectrum. 

Mandatory cathedral projections rarely check my favourites box, but Iris by AV Extended had its moments. I do appreciate the idea of turning the wall around and studying the light that falls inside the church from its windows. Even the flaming iris part of the show was tolerable.

Even though there was a lot of material included in the Ricochets-projection by Jérôme Donna, the style of it was stylishly simple. There was mostly black and white imagery with clear motives, of which I just loved the cubistic moment of plain squares. One sees anything this minimalistic in large projections so rarely that I felt like I was witnessing history in the making. The Lyon Zoo is somewhere around the trees where the piece was projected, that’s probably why there were apes and other animalia as well. I preferred the cubes.

More imaginary fauna was available in Visions by Luminariste, also very black and white and stylish. Bringing forward some Finnish light art: Olivia Pohjola had a similar touch in her piece Edeltämenneille in the FLASH3 light art biennale Light and Death earlier in 2021. The Finnish approach was a tad more pessimistic, concentrating on (nearly) extinct species, but both of the artworks raised some valuable what if -questions, I'm sure.

Light is pouring from the windows

A cubistic moment in the history of light art

An imagined biota

A foregone biota of Olivia Pohjola's Edeltämenneet
from FLASH3 light art biennale in Helsinki, Finland.
Photo: Hannu Iso-Oja / Finnish Light Art Society FLASH

In the student section there was the wonderful Epure (Godfathered by Daniel Rackowice and Massimo Uberti, I'm sure), a study of space by Aurelien Colliou, Ayman El Biyadi and Manon Girard, students in Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Lyon. The glowing box was a simple, ethereal object amidst the very material buildings. A perfect combination with the environment, with a perfectly absurd location. I especially enjoyed the poster below the artwork, with a man staring starkly towards the box. I hope it was intentional.

Then there was an old acquittance from Ghent, Museum of the Moon by Luke Jerram. As in Gent, it was successfully placed in a totally wrong environment, that enhanced the contrast of the highly naturalistic moon and its unnatural placement. Now, there’s an artwork that radically changes in relation to its venue, without a proper one being just a novelty air balloon.

As I approached the Aftereal by Yasuhiro Chida, I wondered what that eerie blue mist was, vibrating in a parklet. Turns out, it’s UV-coloured threads. I love how the piece had no magic whatsoever when watched up close, but how it didn’t lose any of its subtle beauty because of that. Even though a darker and more peaceful location would have supported the artwork better, I think. Obviously, there are not too many such places in the heart of a big city.

An extra room from another dimension

Blue and Moon

Mist of ribbons

I run into the first waiting lines at the entrance of Tête d’Or park. I had a chance to call a friend and bypass the cue, but since I am a staunch democrat and the cue looked short, I didn’t grasp that privileged chance. I immediately regretted, as I noticed the cue just looked short and there was an extra marathon in the end of it. But the park was worth it. It was a perfect venue for the electric dragon Hydra of La créature du lac by Nicolas Paolozzi, which I have to say, looks way better in real life than in my photos. The movement of light is an integral part of the piece, and it was done with restraint and skill. The artwork was a diptych of a kind, combining Hydra and a flower themed piece by the same artist. In this case, I think the artworks would have been stronger and more equivocal on their own. Resist the horror vacui!

This is probably a fifth of the whole Hydra

A special high five from me goes to signs. Marking the route people should follow is a constant blight in big light art festivals. In Lyon it was easy to just go where everyone else is going, and the exits where especially distinguishable. Artworks of their own.

Other people writing about Fête des Lumiéres

Lucky Sophie: Notre Fête des Lumières 2021 à Lyon (in French)
Planes Trains & Shanes: Fête des Lumières in Lyon

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Spectacular thanks to Niilo Helander Foundation, that has made possible my Grand Tour of Light Art, including the visit to Fête des Lumiéres.

Light Art about Lausanne

At Lausanne Lumières 2021, it's all about the city.

For a couple of years, Lausanne Lumières festival has included mainly façade projections in its programme, which practically makes it more of a video art festival than light festival. But nevermind that, since the light art might make a come back anytime. I’m not sure if I hope that, I’m surprised to say, since there are not too many this cozy projection festivals. Usually, it’s all about spectacles on cathedrals, but in Lausanne, it’s all about Lausanne.

The festival of is egocentric in a healthy way. Many of the artists are lausannians, the artworks are made for Lausanne, premiere there and/or usually even the topics are related to the city and its buildings. Also, the festival makes one really look at Lausanne as a city: not only the most striking buildings, but also the not so pretty or noticeable. Even the size of the festival favours the city. It's not too large artwork- or areawise, but leaves plenty of time and energy to admire the city and have a cup of glühwein while doing that.

Coloured squares are all the rave these days

The oldest buildings with most ornate façades got the most vivid projections to adorn them. The Zoological Museum is one of the museums Palais de Rumine hosts, and one can easily see a connection to the imagery of projections of Diving in the Sea of Colors by Daniel Margraf. They include an intensively staring fox, birds, plants and other stuff less easy to recognise, but no doubt belonging to the zoological realm. Another highly decorational artwork was Montfalcolor: Act 3 by Patrice Warrener, colouring the gate of Montfalcolor of the Cathedrale of Lausanne. The colours added to the bunch of statues in row reminded me of the ancient Greek statues, supposedly being fully coloured originally. Just like illustrations of those statues, the holies of Montfalcolor became interestingly cartoonish as colour was added. 

Animal kingdom, in and out

One of the least coloured scenes

Another colourful and vivid work, La ville étoilée, needs a middle weight pons asinorum to Lausanne, since connection between the city and Vincent van Gogh is not universally known. Probably because there isn't one – except for an immersive van Gogh show visiting the city and an amount of copyrights in the depths of lausannian vaults. Anyhow, wall-sized van Gogh is never a bad idea and projecting it on a wall of a bank gives it a certain Swiss je ne sais quoi!

Art and money meet

Not all the artworks in Lausanne were bursting with baroquesque colours and details, there were quite a few more straightforward and contemporary projections to see as well - on more modern façades to fit. Tempo by Rocío Eggío and Elisa Ciocca made wonders to the office building of Retraites Populaires, covering it with 70's style graphic shapes, flowers and record cover imagery. Such a boring building, such a great canvas! 

Horde approached the city of Lausanne from a typographical angle. L-A-U-S-A-N-N-E examined the letters of the name of the city and a font type named after it. As a lighting designer and a graphic designer I fully appreciate. An example of quite a niche idea giving interesting results (at least for people of my background).

Futuristic-renaissance style imagery of Random Access Stories give the Bel-Air tower a brave new look. Pronounced, angel-like characters, god's fingers and inevitable babies glide across the façade in clips designed by alumnis of Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne, commenting the ubiquitous media, flickering in our networks.

 

Simple shapes for a simple building

Typographical light art

There will be a massive fingerprint stain in that window

No light art festival is complete without an interactive artwork. In Lausanne it was Big Pac, a wall-sized Pacman game. Camille Scherrer with Sigmasix are not the first ones trying out this idea, it has been tested previously by artists and commercial ventures alike. But this was the first time it was done in Lausanne! And what a labyrinth the façade of Maison Mercier was! Luckily, the interface for playing the game was in a not so observable place, since my days as a celebrated Pacman champion of my youth were long gone. But it was still a great fun!

A most fun public humiliation

The exception to the projections-only-rule was the artwork Comets│Sublimation by Atelier Schlaepfer-Capt & Int Studio. Even in it, the projection played a big part, but it was connected to a light art installation from a previous year. An interactive one, with the funniest interface! By swinging, the audience made light signals move by lines stretched from the swing to the surrounding buildings. It had something to do with comets and other astro stuff, but hey, swings! Jipii!

My thighs were killing me the next day.

Surprisingly many adults in the swings

Chromatic variations

The festival was held already 24.11.–24.12.2021, but in my usual slow pace I'm writing about it now. I was lucky to have a private tour of the festival by Mr. Ben Essig, who is one of the curators / organizers / bosses of the festival. And a generous provider of glühwein. We had most interesting discussions about art and popular taste, which I’ll go back to as soon as I can remember them. That glühwein, it was really good though!

Other People Wrting about Lausanne Lumières

• ...alt werden kann ich später: Lausanne Lumières (in German)
• L'objectif en Balade: Illuminations nocturnes dans les rues de Lausanne (in French)

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Spectacular thanks to Niilo Helander Foundation, that has made possible my Grand Tour of Light Art, including the visit to Lausanne Lumières

From dusk till almost dark in Amsterdam Light Festival

Is darkness really needed?

The tenth edition of Amsterdam Light Festival in 2021 was defined by Covid restrictions, to the brink of madness. At least during my visit in early December. I’m all for vaccinations, masks, distances and all that stuff, but what is the point of restricting an outdoor happening? And even yet, by cutting opening times from the dark end? The festival closed daily at five pm, so there was dark enough for a half an hour to see the artworks properly. As clock turned five, I expected to see at least some civil disobedience the Netherlands is famous for, but no. The works just closed. Where’s the resistance!

Oh, bollocks! 
Moonburn by Stichting Barstow was not too hallucinatory in daylight

On the other hand, not every light artwork needs total darkness. In fact, I often prefer watching outdoor pieces during dusk, while there still is some light left for the environment as well. It reduces the sometimes-strong contrast and I get to see more than just the afterimage burned to my middle-aged retina. 

So, let’s try to be positive here: how the artworks of ALF gained from (some) daylight? As said before, the dusky time slot is a short one, and the light changed all the time. So, no pure impartiality to be expected, just a few examples.

Hello Duskness My New Friend

There were surprisingly many artworks that either didn't suffer or even had some benefit of the daylight leftovers. Neighborhood by Sergey Kim was definitely one of those. The hanging laundry, an everyday item par excellence, became even more everyday-ish as its everyday surroundings were visible and became part of the artwork. Bunch of Tulips by Koros Design looked just as souvenir-like in light as it did in dark, and the surrounding Amsterdam, still visible, supported the theme of tulip craze.

Glowing clean laundry

Indeed, the tulips did change their colour,
running through the whole spectrum

1.26 Amsterdam by Janet Echelman was a real surpriser. I would have though that the huge net would all but disappear without a near absolute darkness, but no. The artwork might have lost an illusion, but gained another kind of vacillating beauty instead. Mr. J.J. van de Veldebrug by Peter Vink, with its linear, architectural approach, glowed in the thickening blue evening light like a drawing in AutoCAD. Most suitable!

Minuten in Blauw by Kira Ressing, Kyra van Baar & Naomi de Bruijn takes its inspiration of the moment of falling darkness, so it's no surprise the moment in question suits it superbly. I had a coffee break just to wait the sun go down a little bit more and during those fifteen minutes the change was essential. As I walked past the artwork some hours later, it was almost too dark for it, I think. The subtlety of the differences in light levels was gone.

Layers in scenery

A 3D light drawing

Amsterdam's windows

Alaa Minawi's My Light is Your Light is a winner in any light. It's bright enough to be (barely) visible even in full daylight, beautifully glowing in dusk, and calmly articulates the outsiderness of the characters, as they continue their eternal walk in the darkness, light shining from other people's homes. 

Loneliness is tangible also in Pas encore mon histoire by Vincent Olinet, but even the hue of solitude changed according to the level of darkness. The first time I passed the artwork it was still quite bright and the floating bed looked forgotten and misplaced. The next time, in dusk, it was romantically dwelling in its own dreamworld, as the light inside it glowed delicately and the setting daylight gently revealed the bed's pastel tones. According to a lady I had a discussion with about light art on the bank – as one does – who walks pass the bed every evening, it becomes most haunting, even hostile, in the darkness. 

I've seen these guys in so many cities,
hope they'll get to their destination one day

The bed in its romantic phase

Then there was the peeing... fishing Darth Vader, that totally gained from full daylight, which made the dark character well recognisable, even seen through a rain-beaten boat window. It's clever from Streetart Frankey to name the piece Darth Fisher, just to make some things clear.

The glowing rod of Darth

Just no

In case we will be meeting regulations again, which I fear is not too whimsical a prediction, I'd like to remind that not all the light-artworks are suitable for diurnal use. Some are, conversely, ultimately not. See for yourself, and if you are the one making decisions about the regulations, think again.

Drawn in Light, just without the light
Ralf Westerhof

Starry Sky, just without the stars
Ivana Jelić & Pavle Petrović

Meisje met het zwavelstokje,
stokje not shining like a beacon
Studio Aldo Brinkhoff - Stichting Nieuwe Helden

Other people writing about Amsterdam Light Festival

• Shirshendu Sengupta: Amsterdam Light Festival 2021-2022

• Lemons and Luggage: An Evening at the Amsterdam Light festival

• Me, about the 2019 edition: Amsterdam Light Festival: White Crispy Lines and a Spoiled Dystopia

Touristy Tip

The place I stayed in Amsterdam is worth a mention. Sweets Hotel provides bridge houses to stay in, all different, scattered around the town. I stayed in the Meeuwenpleinbrug house, in Amsterdam North. Most spectacular! I could have watched the scenery for hours. And did. It was like a grown up version of the huts I made while a kid. A very own house, hovering above the water. Just wonderful! And with some lucky timing, also almost affordable.

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Spectacular thanks to Niilo Helander Foundation, that has made possible my Grand Tour of Light Art, including the visit to Amsterdam Light Festival.