Canary Wharf’s Winter Lights Festival is set to unveil 12 new artworks as it returns for its ninth year this month.
The event will feature artworks created by some of the world’s most creative and celebrated light artists and the collection now includes four artworks being showcased in the UK for the first time.
Additionally, the festival will debut two brand-new commissions created exclusively for the event.
A spokesperson for Emergency Exit Arts, which produced the work, said: “It exemplifies everything we like to do; to tell meaningful stories from people whose voices are seldom heard, and to create a beautiful artwork that will be enjoyed by thousands of people.
“We can’t wait for Canary Wharf Winter Lights and the reaction to this important piece of work.”
Mirage by Atelier Sisu acts as a metaphor for people’s relationship with social media.
During daylight, it reflects and refracts the sunlight as it moves across the sky, but at night the choreographed light show illuminates the artwork.
Stitching Light, the second commissioned piece, is a sound and light installation that amplifies the lives and histories of Bangladeshi women living in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
It uses traditional Bangladeshi folk-style painting and embroidered light thread to tell real life stories.
The festival aims to combine the surreal with the real to explore the transformative qualities of art and light, with a line-up which will take visitors from a towering stack of bathtubs pulsing with light and sound, to a mesmerising tornado of lights orbiting a pylon.
Canary Wharf Group’s senior arts and events manager Pippa Dale said: “We’re excited to be able to invite pioneering light creators from across the globe to exhibit in the extraordinary environment of Canary Wharf, bringing our customers and communities together in what we hope will be our most dynamic show yet.”
“Our Winter Lights festival will be lighting up London’s skies, bringing light to these dark January evenings.”
Visitors to the festival can enjoy a variety of food and drink offerings across Canary Wharf with stalls from the likes of Joe Blake’s, Dishoom, No35 Mackenzie Walk plus many more.
Those looking to spend a day out visiting the festival can also experience London’s longest running ice-skating rink, based in Canada Square Park, which remains open until Sunday 23 February.
Visitors are invited to explore London’s largest free light display as it opens for 12 nights from Tuesday 21 January to Saturday 1 February between 5-10pm.
Art enthusiasts visiting the installations can download the Winter Lights map via the Canary Wharf website or free app, or pick one up from the event stewards on arrival.
Featured image: Canary Wharf
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