A Light Festival On The Banks of the Thames

The Light Festival | Battersea Power Station

Battersea Power Station is going to light up London once again.

Only, it’ll be a considerably smaller portion of it. And only for a few weeks. But nevertheless, it’s looking like it’ll be pretty amazing.

It’s all on account of The Light Festival, which is being ported over from Amsterdam to the banks of the Thames by the people at the Light Art Collection. The light art they’ve got lined up has never been seen in the UK before, and they’ll be showing it for just over a month. It’s all free, and it includes:

Action Reaction 2.0 by Sjimme Veenhuis – this interactive display is basically an absolutely gigantic screen covered in exactly one thousand buttons. Each one acts as a single ‘pixel’, and press any of them, and they’ll light up in a variety of colours, meaning you can make patterns, pictures, or just pretty abstractions.

Talking Heads by Viktor Vicsek – This one is comprised of two massive heads covered in 4000 individually controlled LED lights each. Those lights create different facial expressions, and the two heads basically react to each other (and ‘talk’) with new emotions.

Eternal Sundown by Mads Vegas – hitting the historic Grade II*-listed Coaling Jetty, this work evokes a permanent sunset, with 140 filtered fluorescent tubes tuned to the beautifully dusky colours of a setting sun.

This Is It, Be Here Now by Tropism Art & Science Collective – this huge, interactive neon sign crackles, sparkles, and flashes, making noises, and displaying bright & colourful messages in a way that apparently “encourages visitors to come closer”. Which sounds ominous.

It’s basically an excuse to turn Battersea into a huge outdoor art gallery, over which the darkness holds no sway. In fact if anything, it improves matters.

NOTE: The Light Festival at Battersea Power Station takes place from 8th January-16th February. It’s completely free, and you can find out more at the website right HERE.

Battersea Power Station | 188 Kirtling Street, SW11 8EZ

Like the sounds of this? Head to Lightopia…

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