amsterdam light festival 2018 illuminates the city’s streets and canals

the seventh edition of the amsterdam light festival has been officially opened today by the mayor of amsterdam, femke halsema. previewed yesterday, the popular event takes place from 29 november 2018 until 20 january 2019. every year, luminous, high-end artworks co-created with (inter)national artists, designers and architects are selected by the jury to light up the city and this year designboom has been part of the deciding jury. the 29 light artworks are only illuminated between 5pm and 11pm daily and the exhibition can be experienced by boat, bike or on foot. 

‘two lamps’ by artist jeroen henneman places a shining spotlight on the streets of amsterdam

all images © janus van den eijnden (also main image)

this year the artists were challenged to work within the theme of ‘the medium is the message’, which is the famous oneliner of media scientist marshall mcluhan. guest of honour jeroen henneman designed the installation ‘two lamps’ for the exhibition and a smaller version – ‘one lamp’ – which is available as a limited edition via the festival. for the first time, visitors can vote for their favourite artwork and the public award will be presented in the final weekend of the festival. 

‘two lamps’ by artist jeroen henneman

‘light a wish’ by artist OGE group 

this installation sees dandelions rotate over the city’s famous canals

‘light a wish’ by artist OGE group 

‘starry night’ by artists ivana jelić & pavle petrović plays with the expressionism of van gogh

‘starry night’ by artists ivana jelić & pavle petrović

‘spider on the bridge’ by artist groupe LAPS is composed of 80 luminous spiders and programmed so they appear to crawl

‘all the light you see (is from the past)’ by artist alicia eggert

‘waiting’ by artist frank foole frames a window with a reinterpretation of the loading icon

‘natuurlijk licht’ by artist meke vrienten is an ode to all our technical devices

‘antenna sud’ by artist michela bonzi 

‘antenna sud’ by artist michela bonzi 

‘antenna sud’ by artist michela bonzi 

 ‘ARCHEStextures PORTAM CIVITATIS’ by artist peter snijder

‘mr. j.j. van der veldebrug’ by artist peter vink

‘O.T. 976’ by artist stefan reiss

‘continuum’ by artist sebastian kite 

‘transmission’ by artist serge schoemaker

‘shadow scapes’ by artist marcus neustetter 

‘shadow scapes’ by artist marcus neustetter 

‘aftereal’ by artist yasuhiro chida

‘aftereal’ by artist yasuhiro chida