Yi-Hsin Lin

Yi-Hsin Lin graduated from SOAS; now living in England as a writer. Lin has participated in the curation of Chinese painting in Victoria and Albert Museum and British Museum. He is also a lecturer in Chinese art at Christie’s Education and contributes to several Chinese-language art magazines.

The lights of the city

04 2016 | Issue 14

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In spring this year, London was brightened up by a collection of spectacular nocturnal artworks. Classical yet avant-garde, this capital city looks even more splendid and colourful than it used to be. The first event that hit the city was Lumiere London. Artists from all over the world were invited to design this sound and light show, which incorporated landmarks and iconic streets of London. With millions of visitors attracted to the city over four evenings, Lumiere London is one of the most extraordinary public art shows since spring. Not long after this, Magical Lantern Festival was held in Chiswick House & Gardens in suburb London. The festival was held during the Chinese New Year, attracting  flocks of visitors to catch a glimpse of the celebrations as well as the ginormous light installations. These two light shows not only attracted evening visitors to London, but also enhanced the beauty and reputation of the city.


Lumiere London


Prominent creative company Artichoke is the brain behind Lumiere London. It is the first time the festival of lights has been held in London. In 2009, Artichoke first held such event in Durham and it was highly acclaimed. Hence it’s decided that the event had to be held in the capital city. This memorable festival was supported by the Mayor of London, and turned four districts, including Mayfair, King’s Cross, Picaadilly, Regent Street, St James’s, Trafalgar Square and Westminster, into massive exhibition venues. Taken into account the ambience of the streets and buildings, each artist had to think out of the box to design these exquisite light installations, turning the city into a nocturnal delight. To ensure proper traffic flow and control, certain areas had to be cordoned off so as to allow visitors to view the illuminated art safely. So many people enjoyed the audio-visual feast of the Lumiere festival, as if the whole city of London was hosting a carnival.


Magical Lantern Festival


If Lumiere London is like a European-style party, Magical Lantern Festival is its eastern counterpart. Organised by Weli Creative, the festival was held in the classical Chiswick House and Gardens. The venue was filled with gigantic light installations, transforming it to a whimsical theme park. The most visually appealing sculpted lanterns are those with Chinese characteristics, including a ten-metre tall, lantern recreation of Beijing’s Temple of Heaven, an eight-metre high Imperial Palace lantern, and a life-size terracotta army. To mark the Year of the Monkey, the centrepiece of the festival is the awe-inspiring Mount Huaguo lantern (a recreation of popular Chinese fable, The Monkey King). In fact, the lantern festival was an ancient festival attested as having been held as early as the year of 206 BC. Since then, the festival is held annually during the Lunar New Year. The lanterns symbolise the return of spring, and people pray to the heaven for good harvests and a bright year ahead at this time of the year.


These kind of light shows have become fashionable in London in recent years. The organisers combined light installations with buildings and urban spaces, and a new form of art has been created. The light shows, no matter it’s of a European-style carnival or a traditional festival in Asia, are guaranteed to attract an influx of visitors and give more business opportunities to retailers around the exhibition venues. The events, needless to say, will also dominate the headlines and become the hottest topic in town. The teams working behind the scenes grabbed the point that an evening exhibition allowed more people to see it after work, and hence can attract more potential visitors. This proved that as long as you are creative and smart, it’s not difficult to pioneer new products and services, and expand the whole creative industry.