Brookfield Properties have partnered with Amsterdam’s pioneering Light Art Collection to create an extraordinary ‘light’ exhibition this Christmas as part of a movement to illuminate the city in the cold winter months. From 9th December to 17th January, IlluminoCity will present a stunning display of five light installations at London Wall Place and Principal Place in London.
‘Light Art’ is a relatively young art form but has enjoyed huge success at the annual Amsterdam Light Festival, where public art, design and entertainment meet. From the festival comes the prestigious Light Art Collection, which is now the largest collection of Light Art in the world.
The internationally renowned artists explore light as a medium, to create arresting and thought-provoking installations that interact and light up their environments. Each installation demonstrates the advancement and innovation of aesthetics and technology and how they affect our functioning and habitation in the world.
Both Brookfield Properties sites are part of the City of London’s ‘Cultural Mile’ initiative and are central to the commerce of London. London Wall Place is a setting of ancient history with its remains of the original Roman London Wall and public gardens, and Principal Place in Hackney is a hub of buzzing cultural activity.
Caitlin Warfield, Marketing Director of Brookfield Properties says:
“We are thrilled to present the second edition of Illuminocity, in partnership with the Light Art Collection. We are committed to transforming public spaces through art and feel that this year’s edition reflects the energy and creativity of the City. (We are really excited to see the light sculptures installed and hope it will light up and inspire passers-by during the long December and January evenings.)”
London Wall Place, Barbican
- Code by FrederiekeTop
- Garden of Schrodingers Cats by Takeo Sugamata
- Bunch of Tulips by Peter Koros
Code is part of a series of ‘Street Sentences’ written by Frederieke Top. The Designer’s mysterious neon manuscript of 34 letters and numbers is made using the cuneiform script – which was invented in Mesopotamia around 3000 BC, to record property, contracts and transactions. Top draws on the ancient script’s role in society’s advancement and reflects on the similarities of blockchain today, and it’s potential to radically change the world. Her designs for public spaces are playful in character and introduce a little poetry into each environment.
Takeo Sugamata’s Garden of Schrodinger’s Cats is a ‘mind-bending’ installation of cubic light structures, each with an image of a cat. The diachronic film on the cubes causes the form and colour of the cat to change, fragment and multiply, according to the viewer’s angle. Sugamata was inspired by Schrodinger’s 1935 thought experiment about the absurd laws of quantum mechanics and its interpretation of light. By observing the cat in the cube we are asked to see if it is moving or still, alive or dead. The artist then asks us to imagine if they can be both at the same time – and to contemplate that the difference between existence and non-existence (life and death) might not be as clear as we think.
Peter Koros reimagines the famous Dutch symbol in his huge 4.5m inflatable glowing installation, Bunch of Tulips. The neon colours, massive scale and kitsch design of the tulips evoke the Pop Art movement to reflect on the mass (ive) consumption of our culture, and to readdress the historical symbol within a new context.
Principal Place, Shoreditch
- LightBattlex by VENIVIDIMULTIPLEX
- Absorbed by Light by GaliMay Lucas
Joost Van Bergen, Dirk Schlebusch and Onne Walsmit are the trio behind Venividimultiplex, who have created an interactive bicycle-led light event called LightBattlex. For them, the spectator is essential to the artwork in creating an event and transforming the environment in a meaningful way. Participants peddle on 5 bikes, connected by state of the art computer systems, to an arch or path of 5000 LED lights. As they try to ‘out cycle’ each other, they create a stunning visual light show, generated by the speed of their peddling. The winner is then treated to a dazzling waterfall of lights.
GaliMay Lucas’ thought-provoking sculpture, Absorbed by Light, shows 3 glowing life-size figures sitting on a bench. Their heads are bent into their smartphones, with only the light of the screens illuminating their partially hidden faces. It is both domestic and familiar and also disquieting.
Donald Van de Deen of the Light Art Collection says:
“We are delighted to work with Brookfield Properties once again to recreate a bespoke light festival, that brings joy warmth and wonder to Londoners this Christmas in a fun and accessible way.”
