Before you shell out on that light box, why not get yourself down to Canary Wharf for this totally free lights festival?
The gleaming towers of the business district should be reason enough to visit the area, but the return of the Winter Lights festival may provide even more of a motivation to visit East London.
With Lumiere London taking a break this year, Canary Wharf is single handedly carrying the hopes of all of us light deprived Londoners this year.
The festival has become a staple of the London events calendar with the ultra modern buildings of Canary Wharf annually transformed by a dazzling variety of clever lights and effects.
Winter Lights is returning for a fifth time in 2019 and the organisers of the event are promising that this year’s event will be even bigger and better. A thrilling array of installations have been amassed from some of the most exciting and innovative artists in the field.
Highlights of the festival will include Prismatica in Jubilee Plasma. This installation was created by Raw Design in collaboration with Atomic3.
Two Hearts in Newfoundland Place. This projection is by cutting edge artist Stuart Langley. The organisers have advised that the installation would be best viewed from Cubitt Steps.
Time and Tide. This innovative installation comes from Paul and Pute and it can be seen in Columbus Courtyard.
Canary Wharf is best known for its skyscrapers. The area plays home to an array of financial institutions with Barclays Bank PLC, Citibank International PLC, Credit Suisse, Halifax PLC and HSBC all resident in the area.
The regeneration of Canary Wharf is a powerful symbol of the wider regeneration of London Docks.
With the coming of containerisation and the changes to import practices, the London Docks fell into a long period of decline with unemployment rising and businesses deserting the area.
However, just thirty years later, Canary Wharf is one of the most desirable areas in London with a thriving business community and high employment levels. The thanks must go in large part to the Canary Wharf Group who have overseen the dramatic changes that have revitalised the area.
The Chairman and Chief Executive of Canary Wharf Group, Sir George Iacobescu said: “I am incredibly proud of what Canary Wharf has become. Our ambition was to transform a declining docklands to a thriving centre for business and culture, to shift London’s centre of gravity from West to East and raise the bar for urban spaces and what they can achieve”.
For more information about the Canary Wharf Winter Lights Festival, click here.
For information on other great outdoor events in London, please click here.
