The Southbank Centre’s free, outdoor exhibition Winter Light, will soon be setting the riverside aglow; a series of artworks from contemporary artists that play with luminous light and colour to explore topics at the forefront of society such as identity, community, the environment and technology.
This year there are five new works, including bespoke neon shapes created by Waterloo’s Oasis Academy Johanna and Brixton-based architecture practice, Squire & Partners.
Traditionally displayed in the Squire & Partners’ offices at The Department Store in Brixton, a reiteration will also be coming to the Southbank Centre for the first time ever, lighting up the windows of the Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer.
A real love letter to the community, Winter Windows celebrates a Lambeth organisation collaborating with a Lambeth school, showcased in an iconic Lambeth location. The lights are the results of two workshops where Year 6 students put pen to paper, brainstorming what festivity means to them.
Other Winter Light Delights:
Jokob Kvist: Dichroic Sphere
13 November 2023 – 7 January 2024, 4pm – 11pm daily, Level 2 Terrace, Riverside, Liner Building side. Free.
In the hands of this artist, an ordinary light bulb becomes a thing of wonder. Jokob Kvist’s geodesic dome features a single LED bulb at its centre, casting multicoloured light in every direction – a different, colourful experience from every angle. https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/festivals-series/winter-festival/winter-light/jakob-kvist-dichroic-sphere
FRED TSCHIDA: SPHERE
13 November 2023 – 7 January 2024, 10am – 11pm daily, Blue Side Foyer, Level 2, Royal Festival Hall. Free.
SPHERE is an ambitious six and a half-metre tall pair of rotating rings that glow a striking orange-red neon – the natural colour emitted by the gas when high-voltage electricity passes through it. Rotating at a slower speed of 15 rpm, when photographed with a long exposure, the work produces the illusion of a giant glowing orb. https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/festivals-series/winter-festival/winter-light/fred-tschida-sphere
MARINELLA SENATORE: WE RISE BY LIFTING OTHERS
13 November 2023 – 7 January 2024, 4pm – 11pm daily, Queen Elizabeth Hall Riverside Terrace. Free.
A large-scale light sculpture inspired by the southern Italian tradition of illuminated decorations, We Rise By Lifting Others was handcrafted in Apulia, Italy and is rooted in Marinella’s research into the power of art to start a process of individual and collective emancipation. Of working with light, she says it ‘can prove to be a tool for narration and poetic creation, as well as for resistance and cohesion’. The artwork is commissioned with the generous support of the Italian Cultural Institute in London. https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/festivals-series/winter-festival/winter-light/marinella-senatore-we-rise-by-lifting-others
LEO VILLAREAL: COSMIC BLOOM
13 November 2023 – 7 January 2024, 4pm – 11pm daily, Royal Festival Hall. Free.
Leo Villareal’s hypnotic installation sees 1,300 intricate digital artworks projected on the wall of the Royal Festival Hall. Inspired by organic and biological structures, stellar phenomena, and atomic patterns, Cosmic Bloom is the second collection of NFT artworks in the Villareal’s Cosmologies series. Cosmic Bloom by Leo Villareal was created in collaboration with Outland, the first editorial platform dedicated to contemporary digital art. The work is accompanied by tracks from international electronic music artist Kode9. https://www.southbankcentre.co.ukwhats-on/festivals-series/winter-festival/winter-light/leo-villareal-cosmic-bloom
TIM ETCHELLS: SUDDENLY (MORNING AND NIGHT)
13 November 2023 – 7 January 2024, 4pm – 11pm daily, Balcony Terrace, Level 5, Royal Festival Hall. Free.
Pause for a moment as you consider Tim Etchells’ intriguing pair of neon light artworks that shine out across the Thames. Using two linked phrases rendered in glowing white neon letters, Suddenly It Was Morning and Suddenly It Was Night make contradictory assertions about the perceived passage of time, playfully invoking distinct and mutually exclusive narrative scenarios. https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/festivals-series/winter-festival/winter-light/tim-etchells-suddenly-morning-and-night
DENMAN+GOULD WITH MAEVE POLKINHORN: HAVEN
13 November 2023 – 7 January 2024, 4pm – 11pm daily, Riverside Terrace, Level 2. Free.
Continuing into the winter months, an artist-created pocket garden transforms one of our concrete spaces into a native British wildflower-rich sanctuary for bees, butterflies and other insects. The planting is punctuated by wildlife pods that can house nesting birds, drawn and hand-carved in sustainably sourced oak by Denman+Gould. https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/festivals-series/winter-festival/winter-light/denmangould-maeve-polkinhorn-haven
DAVID OGLE: LOOMIN
13 November 2023 – 7 January 2024, 4pm – 11pm daily, Riverside, Level 1. Free.
David Ogle’s Loomin, is an electric neon canopy that bathes the riverside Queen’s Walk in light. With a practice deeply rooted in drawing and mark-making, Ogle combines the natural forms of the London plane trees, extending and merging them with brilliantly-coloured neon flex to create a futuristic landscape. https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/festivals-series/winter-festival/winter-light/david-ogle-loomin
DAVID BATCHELOR: SIXTY MINUTE SPECTRUM
13 November 2023 – 7 January 2024, 4pm – 11pm daily, Hayward Gallery Roof. Free.
Beginning the hour as a vivid red, the pyramid rooflights of David Batchelor’s Sixty Minute Spectrum move gradually through the entire visual spectrum – at times throughout the cycle appearing orange, yellow, green, blue, purple or pink – before returning once more to red. Sixty Minute Spectrum is part of Batchelor’s ongoing exploration of the intense, synthetic colour that characterises modern cities. https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/festivals-series/winter-festival/winter-light/david-batchelor-sixty-minute-spectrum
KENDELL GEERS: HOPE IS A FOUR LETTER WORD
13 November 2023 – 7 January 2024, 4pm – 11pm daily, Riverside Entrance Foyer, Level 1. Free. Hope Is A Four Letter Word demonstrates Geers’ characteristic use of wordplay to foreground multiple narratives, exploring the relationship of language to power and truth. The glowing, ‘dangerous’ red composition plays with the word ‘hope’: lines splice the piece horizontally and vertically, creating an ‘X’. This contradiction distils Geers’ artistic approach: razor-sharp provocation as a way to incite positive change. https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/festivals-series/winter-festival/winter-light/kendell-geers-hope-is-a-four-letter-word
