Here’s a welcome ray of light to brighten the January gloom: the Canary Wharf Winter Lights Festival is returning to E14 from January 21 until February 1.
The free attraction, now in its ninth year, will feature 12 new light display installations from UK and international artists, alongside seven works from the permanent collection. Displayed over 11 nights across Canary Wharf, this outdoor immersive light exhibition is one of London’s best.
To help navigate around the warren that is Canary Wharf, visitors are encouraged to download the Winter Lights map from the Canary Wharf app to help them discover all the installations in the exhibition.
This year’s festival includes a range of new pieces not previously displayed in the UK, as well as new commissions from light artists who have exhibited at Canary Wharf many times over the years, and over at the Battersea Power Station light festival. The theme is set to showcase these innovative light artists in a festival which is said to explore the “transformative and otherworldly qualities of art and light” and will feature portals, mirages and black holes.
Key works include “Error” by Vendel and De Wolf, described as a “mesmerising tornado of lights orbiting a pylon” and “Bird Passing By” by Luminariste with Benjamin Nesme & Marc Sicard, a lofty structure that when fully lit almost resembles Hope, the whale at the Natural History Museum, but when lit by sections, resembles a bird taking flight.
Speaking about the huge Bird Passing By installation, France-based Luminaries studio said: “Bird Passing By is a monumental sculpture of a giant magical bird that emerges in the night, with several stories in its wake”.
The festival is set to finish at Canary Wharf’s newly opened Eden Dock, where visitors will be able to observe a 20m wide sinkhole encircled by light, in Illusion Hole, by UxU Studio
Festival visitors will be able to enjoy a bite to eat in-between viewing the installations from pop-up vendors serving street food and hot drinks. There will also be fire-roasted marshmallows being toasted in Jubilee Park and, of course, all the cafes, bars and restaurants around Canary Wharf.
The full list of artists, installations and locations are as below:
1. Aj Vana Be, Benedikt Tolar, Mackenzie Walk
2. Circa, Limbic Cinema, Riverside
3. Error, Vendel and De Wolf, Westferry Circus
4. Wave, Squidsoup, Columbus Courtyard
5. Evanescent Droplets, Atelier Sisu, Cabot Square
6. Stitching Light, Emergency Exit Arts with Ruhul Abdin and Oitij-jo, Wren Landing
7a. Artificial Humans, Atelier Haute Cuisine, Adams Plaza
7b. Artificial Humans, Atelier Haute Cuisine, Crossrail Place Roof Garden
8. Mirage, Atelier Sisu, Montgomery Square
9. Bird Passing By, Luminariste with Benjamin Nesme and Marc Sicard, Water Street
10. Portal, Lucid Creates, Union Square
11. Positive Spin, Liz Harry and Kazimier Productions, Jubilee Place, Level -1 (indoors)
12. Illusion Hole, UxU Studio, Eden Dock
Canary Wharf Winter Lights Festival runs from January 21 - February 1 across Canary Wharf. For more information, visit canarywharf.com
