Light artist Matti Jykylä says that some municipalities have canceled new light art events planned for winter due to the energy crisis. Traditional light festivals are organized as usual.
The lights flicker on Wednesday evening in Vantaa’s Koivukylä, when light artworks are tested. The edge of the forest seems to wave when the light sets it in motion. A couple on an evening walk stops to take pictures.
Today, Thursday evening, the public will be able to see all the works, when the light art event Reflektor Vantaa, which lasts until Sunday, starts.
It is a free event in the same way as Lux Helsinki, organized in January, which attracted more than a hundred thousand visitors last year.
However, Finland’s largest light art event Lux Helsinki is being organized as usual at the beginning of January. Similarly, Linnanmäki organizes light carnivals in October.
When talking about saving electricity, is the message of light art wrong in this time? The question clearly frustrates Jykylä.
However, the lighting artist understands why they are the ones who need a view on saving electricity.
– It’s a simple coil: people see light, aha, it takes energy.
Not everyone necessarily knows how much electricity the lighting consumes, continues Jykylä. Thanks to LED technology that has developed in recent years, the electricity consumption of the lights is reasonably low. An experienced light event organizer illustrates the matter with a rough calculation.
– The Mäkelänrinne swimming pool consumes more electricity in a week than the entire Finnish light art field in a whole year.
Any event takes energy, compares light artist Jykylä. Sports halls and concerts also have lights. Due to the corona pandemic, all kinds of events were on hiatus for many years, but do we want to go back to it, asks Jykylä.
– After uncertain times, we want to create stability and confidence in our customers that the promised event will actually take place. Amid the worrisome news, we feel that bringing joy is of great importance in these times, says Linnanmäki CEO Adlivankin.
According to Jykylä, electricity consumption decreases during the light festival Reflektor.
– Martinlaakso had twenty thousand visitors last year to see Reflektor’s works. The lights and televisions are dark in their own homes while they are looking at art.
You can take a selfie with the work depicting Putin
The central idea of \u200b\u200bReflektor, which is organized for the fifth time, is to temporarily transform an urban space into another, says Matti Jykylä, one of the founders of the event.
– We create something magical somewhere where it normally doesn’t exist. It is a wordless art. The story is created when the audience walks around the route along which the light works are located. It is the concept of a modern light art festival.
– Many of these work already in the early evening, but the contrast of light breaking through the darkness is at its best after dusk, Suominen advises.
Reflektor’s budget is considerably smaller than that of Lux organized in the center of Helsinki. Reflektor’s biggest financier is Helsinki-based light art producer Sun Effects. Vantaa, Espoo and Helsinki also finance the festival.
– Reflektor is underground. This is a soul project for us, which we finance by doing commercial work. We want to give artists opportunities to come out, says Jykylä, who herself works at Sun Effects as an artistic director.
Sun Effects has made lighting for public buildings. For example, Ukrainian flags have been ordered from them for the colors of the facades of several buildings in Helsinki after the war broke out.
Light art has increased in recent years. For example, permanent light artworks have been made on Helsinki’s Kruunuvuorenranta, which people can enjoy in their everyday life.
– Even though Corona slowed down development, in the last five years the amount of light art has exploded, Jykylä describes the development.
It is possible to make fixed solutions for architectural lighting, with which, for example, the color and intensity of the facade lighting can be changed. Finlandia Hall is one such building where it is possible to program changes to fixed lighting.
– You can make big and impressive statements quickly with light, says Jykylä.
*What do you think about light art? You can discuss the topic until Friday 30.9. until 11 p.m.*