16 December 2014
The Lux Helsinki light festival is being arranged for the seventh time, from Sunday 4 to Thursday 8 January 2015. The artworks will be on display in a total of 13 places around the centre of Helsinki, from the courtyard of the Tori Quarters to Finlandia Hall. A total of 17 individual artworks will be included.
The Finnish-German troupe of the hugely popular Fire Circus Walkea, already an attraction at Lux Helsinki for three years, will present a combination of dance and fire circus in Senate Square. In honour of the University of Helsinki's 375th anniversary, the Lantern Park will relocate its more than one hundred lanterns from Hesperia Park to the Topelia yard on the university grounds.
Lux Helsinki is suitable for the whole family and entry is free of charge. The festival is organised by the City of Helsinki. Lux Helsinki 2015 will celebrate the 20-year history of light events in Helsinki. The festival is part of the UN's International Year of Light 2015.
The festival will bring art out of the galleries and museums onto the streets. The works will be provided by the most exciting light and media artists and sound designers from Finland, Germany, France, Belgium and Japan. Seven of the works are being commissioned for the first time accompanied by a wide selection of the best of the international light festivals. Forming one of the locations of the event for the first time, the courtyard of the Tori Quarters will feature works familiar from the 2014 Lux IN exhibition in new surroundings.
The installations can be viewed daily and continuously from 5 pm to 10 pm. Only the fire show by Fire Circus Walkea will have set performance times. There will also be a programme of related events, which will be published later.
Lux Helsinki 2014 gathered lots of positive feedback from the audience of the event. Here's some of the best bits from the social media.
"Amazing guys!! Every year it gets better and better!"
"I would just like to mention that Lux Helsinki 2014 was my first Lux event I attended and it was MAGICAL. It's a wonderful and amazingly beautiful event organized by the city. I would just like to say a small Kiitos for entertaining us for five special days and filling our dark winter nights with light."
"Wonderful show...still not able to get over it and the music!" (About Fire Circus Walkea's show)
"Like almost every year I'm going to Helsinki to watch the event but yesterday (Sunday) was amazing. I've never seen so many people and because of that it was difficult to see everything. But it's good for you, it means that people like what you are doing!"
"Helsinki should be like that every day!! Keep up the good work - this year's edition was definitely better than last year which was already good :)"
The results and the winners of the Lux Helsinki 2014 competition are clear. We asked the participants to name their favorite works of art during years 2009-2013 of the light festival. The most votes went to Casa Magica´s work “Emergence” at Senate square in 2013. Mikki Kunttu and Kasperi Laine´s work “Reflections”, as well at Senate square, in 2010 came second. Jukka Huitila´s work “Variant Spectrum” from year 2012 at the Olympic Stadium Tower got third place and a renewed version of the same work from year 2013 “Variant Spectrum 2” got fourth place.
The winners of the competition were also drawn and the winners are Mirka Santanen, Jaana Sytelä and Sirpa Karjalainen. They have been notified of the win personally. Congratulations!
The Lux Helsinki light event, arranged for the sixth time between 4 and 8 January 2014, brought 150,000 visitors from Helsinki, the rest of Finland and around the world to the centre of the city and to the Cable Factory. The performances by Fire Circus Walkea on Kansalaistori were witnessed by an audience of more than 10,000. An exhibition of light art was held for the first time in Merikaapelihalli at the Cable Factory and attracted circa 6,000 visitors.
“Lux Helsinki fulfils the City of Helsinki’s strategic objective of arranging attractive events that are free and open to all residents and visiting tourists. This year we were able to expand the event through collaboration with business partners. We hope that in coming years we will attract even more businesses as organisers of peripheral events and as partners,” says Saila Machere, head of the department in charge of urban marketing at the City of Helsinki.
“Lux Helsinki is the biggest light-related event in the Nordic and Baltic regions. Having grown to this size, it is starting to make a splash internationally. One of the main objectives is to promote meetings and sharing of experiences between Finnish and international artists,” says the event’s Artistic Director, Markku Uimonen.
“The joy felt by the audience was palpable – not only onsite but also in social media. It was great to see families with children and senior citizens alike finding their way to the Cable Factory to enjoy the new exhibition. Lux is a genuine opportunity for new audiences to discover art and Helsinki’s events,” says Machere.
The next Lux Helsinki will take place in January 2015.
Audience during the performance of Fire Circus Walkea. Photo: Marina Ekroos.
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