Returning for its third year to London’s most exciting new riverside neighbourhood, the free- to-attend Light Festival at Battersea Power Station will be brightening up the dark winter evenings again with the largest collection of installations to date from 19th January – 5th March 2023.
Eight spectacular pieces of artwork, curated in partnership with Light Art Collection, will be on display both outdoors and inside the iconic Grade II* listed Power Station, which opened its doors to the public for the first time in history in October 2022, alongside Electric Boulevard, a new pedestrianised high street for London.
Visitors can enjoy light installations from artists such as Atelier Haute Cuisine who have enlarged and illuminated an everyday object, a bath plug, to encourage people to consider the importance of clean water, society’s consumption and reducing how much water is wasted ‘going down the drain’. Another artist enlarging objects is UK based Studio Vertigo, using the nostalgic toy Slinky with the intention to see a city in a new playful way.
Returning to the Power Station for the third year is the popular Eternal Sundown by Mads Vegas, using 140 energy- saving LED tubes to create a post-apocalyptic sunset along The Coaling Jetty with the iconic Battersea Power Station as a backdrop.
Alongside the installations, visitors can enjoy some great food huts and trucks joining the festival this year including Cheese King, Chipsy, Fondue Power, Queen of Crepes, Roti King and Simply Hog Roast. Diners looking for somewhere to warm-up at Battersea Power Station can enjoy the likes of Where the Pancakes Are, Le Bab, Clean Kitchen, Megan’s, Fiume, Wright Brothers, Tapas Brindisa, Tonkotsu, Cinnamon Kitchen and Gordon Ramsay Bread Street Kitchen and Bar or Street Pizza. There is also Vagabond Wines, Battersea Brewery and Birdies if you fancy a glass of wine, beer or round of golf!
Kate Boothman-Meier, Head of Marketing at Battersea Power Station Development Company (BPSDC), said:
“Seeing our annual Light Festival return for a third year, bigger and brighter than before after such a successful 2022 is fantastic, with the majority of installations making their London or UK debut. It will also be the first-time hosting some pieces inside the iconic Power Station’s Turbine Halls since it opened last October for people to discover and marvel at during their visit.”
“We look forward to starting the new year bringing together some of the most innovative light artists for a bright and bold Light Festival that has something for all to enjoy.”
The eight light installations from some of the globe’s most innovative light artists on display at this year’s Light Festival, which is free to the public, include:
Badstop by Atelier Haute Cuisine (UK debut)
By enlarging and illuminating this common everyday utensil, it demands attention. Atelier Haute Cuisine wants to use the attention and the symbolic value of the bath plug to make people think about the importance of clean water. The bath plug ensures that water doesn’t drain away through the sink hole. It should remind people of the importance that clean, unpolluted water isn’t going down the drain either. Putting in the plug every now and then in this sense, is a symbolic call to reflect about the consumption of clean water and prevention of waste. After all, water is the driving force of the world and essential for the maintenance and development of life. On display for the first time in the UK, Badstop will be located in the water feature in Circus West Village next to the Power Station.
End Over End by Studio Vertigo (London debut)
“Slinky was once just a little old everyday spring on a ship. One day Dick took it home to show his family. His little boy, Tommy, surprised everybody by making the spring walk down the stairs— all by itself!” That’s what is written in an old Slinky toy sales brochure. And that’s how the spiral-shaped ‘stair walker’ was born, in the home of mechanical engineer Richard James in 1943. Shortly after James and his wife marketed the toy in 1945, it became an immensely popular gift that Christmas season. Since then, the number of Slinkys sold could circle the earth 150 times! In line with most of Studio Vertigo’s work, this installation turns your world upside down. The artwork is nostalgic – who didn’t place a Slinky on the stairs as a child? – while being surrealistic. Studio Vertigo’s creation will be on display in London for the first time, located next to the Power Station’s Switch House East.
