LET THERE BE LIGHT
The Distillery District will illuminate the dark, winter nights from Jan. 27 to March 12
Cutting through the dark nights from Jan. 27 to March 12, the Distillery District will be host to 5.2 hectares of lights.
“It’s that time of the year when there’s not that much happening,” says Matthew Rosenblatt, executive producer of the Toronto Light Festival. “So we thought this would be fun.”
The festival will see 17 large light artworks by Canadian, European and American artists, Rosenblatt says. Some of the installations are up to nine metres long.
The inspiration for the Toronto Light Festival is the Amsterdam Light Festival, which started in 2011.
The Amsterdam Light Festival ran from Dec. 1, 2016 to Jan. 22, 2017. It showcased more than 35 artworks from international artists, designers and architects, according to its website.
Rosenblatt says he wanted to make sure that the light festival is accessible and affordable. The light festival is a lot more passive than Nuit Blanche and all in one place rather than across the city, he explains. With a mix of light installations and sculptures, people can choose to learn about them or simply look at them, he says.
“I didn’t want to make people feel like they were going into an obtuse gallery,” Rosenblatt says.
The Distillery District looks beauti- ful when it’s lit up, so the light festival seemed like the natural next step, he says.
Coming off the Christmas market, which has a yesteryear feel to it, the organizers wanted something more urban and cool, he adds.
“And,” Rosenblatt says with a chuckle, “I like shiny objects.”
The Light Festival runs in the Distillery District Sundays to Wednesdays, sundown to 10 p.m., and Thursdays to Saturdays, sundown to 11 p.m.