Winter Lights at Canary Wharf

Last night I went to London't other big light-art show, Winter Lights at Canary Wharf in East London. Unlike the unfortunately brief Lumiere London, this show lasts for ten days and includes 33 artworks both indoors and out. Again, I didn't try to see everything, but I did make it to the largest outdoor installations. Some of the indoor ones proved challenging -- I wound up wandering through acres of glass and marble and escalators and I still couldn't locate a few of them.

"Sonic Light Bubble" by Eness glowed like a big jellyfish in front of the Canary Wharf tube station. It emitted sounds and shifting light patterns, responding to the touch of visitors.

"The Cube," by Ottotto, created a cage of light around a public walkway over the water.

"Halo," by Venividimultiplex, created a glowing solar double-image in one of Canary Wharf's reflecting ponds.

LBO Lichtbank's "Lightbenches" and Kasjo Studios' "Urban Patterns" (rear) brightened Columbus Courtyard. Apparently the benches are a permanent feature.

"Apparatus Florius," by Tom Dekyvere, was a shifting, growing light show meant to symbolize the growth of plants, as I understand it.

"Dazzling Dodecahedron," by Amberlights, may have been my favorite. Visitors were able to climb inside this colorful box and it did indeed seem to dazzle, as you can see from the expression of the boy in my photo. (I didn't go in because I didn't want to wait in line.)

"Intrude" by Amanda Parer brought a trio of inflated, glowing bunnies to Jubilee Park. The bunnies are "intrusive" because they're an ecological pest in the artist's native Australia.

I went to Winter Lights two years ago and saw another work by Parer, as well as Julius Popp's "Bit.Fall," which was on display once again this year. (I think it's also a permanent fixture.)

Anyway, it was fun to get out and do something after work for a change, and unlike my last visit I wasn't pressed for time. (And it wasn't crazy windy or bitterly cold, conditions I seem to remember contending with in 2016.) I had a modest dinner at a sandwich shop while I was there, and lingered long enough to get a good look around -- this is just a selection of all the works I saw.