Winter Lights Festival Begins Today

The Reykjavík Winter Lights Festival begins today and continues through Sunday, February 6. The festival celebrates the end of our darkest season by illuminating numerous buildings in the city at night.

The format of the festival will be somewhat different than usual: no formal opening ceremony is planned, and Museum Night and Pool Night — when free entry to museums and pools was to be offered — have been canceled. Instead, the focus will be on outdoor artwork in the form of  illuminated buildings. You can view the program here.

The Winter Lights walking path (see here) is the path you can take through the city center to enjoy all the artwork, from Hallgrímskirkja church to Austurvöllur square and from there to Reykjavík City Hall.

More than 20 works of art will illuminate the path every night between 6:30 pm and 10 pm.

The work Ofbirta, by designer and painter Marta Sigríður Róbertsdóttir, adorns Hallgrímskirkja church. In it, the artist attempts to capture the atmosphere over Christmas and new year, when Icelanders fight the darkness of winter by illuminating their homes and gardens.

The work Lifandi votlendi (Living Wetlands), by artist Katerina Blahutova, adorns the walls of Reykjavík City Hall. It is an interactive, inflatable crowdfunding installation, raising awareness of the importance of wetlands restoration.

Festival organizers encourage guests to take advantage of the Reykjavík Art Walk — an app which provides to access around 200 public works of art in Reykjavík, which are in care of the Reykjavík Art Museum. With this app you can access information on the works, look at images, read texts and listen to audio-guides, and even play art games. For more information, see here.