Light Festivals in major cities are definately an event in winter now (here), and (here), and I experienced some great artist installations whilst in the Danish capital as part of the annual Copenhagen Light Festival. The lights on Tivoli Gardens and amusement park above are a permanent fixture, but as part of the Copenhagen Light Festival an intense piercing green laser beam was shot from the Tivoli grounds across the city to the Christiansborg Slot tower (below). It was an installation by Martin Ersted. The Christiansborg tower itself was also illuminated in an ever shifting series of colours.
This building - House of Industry across the way from Tivoli at Rådhuspladsen was amazing as it displayed an arresting permutation of colour and light displays by Kollision.
These floral lights entitled Lighten Up, were installed along the length of Strøget in the shopping district.
This piece was entitled Pyramid Construction and was a student art installation by NEXT Cph. Again it was wonderful to watch it going through the phases of its pre-programmed light sequences.
The Magasin Du Nord department store dramatically floodlit by night.
Børsen - the old stock exchange was illuminated in purple in an installation called The Danish Chamber of Light.
I didn't manage to find out the name of this installation but it was large and situated on the waterfront and reminded me of 1970s-80s nightclub dance floors.
I love the architecture of the verdigris Control Houses of Knippelsbro bridge and I loved them even more when illuminated in glowing colours for the festival.
A very poignant installation - You Are Still Here by Anita Jørgensen on the facade of the Foreign Ministry building on the waterfront. Simple but very thought provoking, those four words loomed large out of the darkness, reassuring and comforting a message of hope for all.
I had to really search for this installation - Chromatic Field by light artist Jacob Kvis, but it was well worth it to experience this stunning light field divided into the warm and cool sides of the colour spectrum. It was both bright and beautiful.
There were many more installations dotted all over Copenhagen but I had little motivation to hunt them down after days full of sightseeing. I've saved perhaps the favourite of the ones I personally saw though until last. This is Eternal Sunset by Mads Vegas, and was absolutely stunning. Like Chromatic Field above, it displayed the colour spectrum along Kalvebod Brygge (Bridge) to amazingly vivid effect. Just so intense and gorgeous.
