I heart Helsinki

Now that the weather has gone all wild in America, it seems to be equally confused around here: the unusually mild but depressingly wet and grey conditions have continued. Nevertheless, we haven’t let ourselves be completely discouraged. For example, we spent the whole of Wednesday in Helsinki. First we ran some errands – who could resist spending an hour or two in a good bookstore when the sale is on – while waiting for the clock to strike 5. It was the last night of the 5-day Lux Helsinki light festival and that was the time when the light installations were switched on.

I had decided to start the tour at the Senate Square expecting to see something spectacular as the Helsinki Cathedral offers such a remarkable setting to play with light and colours. This time, it was a huge graphic heart at the top of the stairs rising from the square to the cathedral, a heart beating in countless colours with the colour-lit cathedral as a dramatic chancing background.

The installation entitled Corazón was designed by the Spanish fashion designer and cultural figure Agatha Ruiz de la Prada in collaboration with the production and design company D-Facto from Lyon, France. The installation was first seen at the Fêtes des Lumières in Lyon in 2012.

I shot a video but I am sorry it didn’t catch much of the music that was composed specially for this work. Moreover, it seems YouTube has made some changes since I last used it. The uploaded video is of considerably poorer quality than my original (so are the photos on Blogger by the way) but I am posting it anyway.

More to follow on Lux Helsinki 2013 in a day or two.

Have a look also at my post about the light installation Lux Helsinki showed at the Senate Square in 2013 here.