Turin’s Light Bulb Moment
Written by Jaillan Yehia
Flying Carpet by Daniel Buren
Paris may be known as the City of Light, but Turin is making a bid to be the City of Lights, as its avenues and squares, its Roman walls, and even its public bicycles are adorned with light installations for the Winter.
But these are no mere gaudy Christmas baubles, they’re an all-encompassing city-wide endeavour to make Torino a living, breathing, illuminated contemporary art project.
Come along on a photo journey to see the lights that symbolise Turin’s big idea..
Creative types talk about the light bulb moment, but for the fourteen Italian artists whose work is on display in the Northern Italian city of Turin over Christmas and New Year the light bulbs are physical as well as metaphorical.
Running from November until January as it has every year since 1998 these core works form the basis of an installation art series, Torino’s Luci d’Artista which brings the city streets twinkling to life at Christmas with creativity, concept and colour. This is all part of an even bigger ongoing project to reposition Turin as a major European capital of contemporary art, starting with the city streets.
Each year new and exciting work is added to the collection and for the first time this year artist Martino Gamper has added light displays to the city bikes to inject yet more energy into the Piedmont capital.
As you cycle over the cobblestones mischievous monkeys frolic in your wheels and kaleidoscopes of neon are left in your wake. You succumb to the childlike temptation to cycle ever-faster, the more you peddle the more delight you bring to open-mouthed passers-by.
Being surrounded by light as art for days on end does strange things to you; everywhere you see art you expect light, and everywhere you see light you find art. Light is everywhere in cities and so the street lights, the headlights, the tram’s lights, the TV screens, the lit shop windows, all become drawn into this shiny nocturnal world.
So come for a virtual walk through the Alpine city’s high-concept, low-temperature stradas, and spot the difference between new art and old lights. You may get chills but you’ll be staying warm.
This reads ‘Love difference’, written in many languages
One of the bicycles suspended in a pedestrianised street
SavoirThere cycles an art bike
SavoirThere was like a kid on Christmas day thanks to Torino Tourism‘s tour of Turin’s contemporary art scene
Tags: cities, City Break, Italy, Piedmont, Torino, Turin
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[…] See a photo essay of Turin’s amazing public Christmas light installations […]
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ENV
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Delightful for holidays & seasonal displays simplicity isn’t enough, for another holy christmas years ! Will next years be again with any available energy into stringing lighting not just if “LED’?
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GlobalGrasshopper
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Great shots and write up, I don’t think I’ll ever forget that bike ride either! Pleased we had such a nice group, really made the trip.
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savoirthere
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Thanks, it was such a memorable bike ride wasn’t it? And I’ve been on a few. Yes what a lovely group, hope we’ll get together again soon. Enjoy Iceland. 🙂
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Andrea Mueller
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Great post and outstanding photos! I love Christmas lights… I’d love to be in Europe one year at Christmas!
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savoirthere
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Thank you! I love Christmas lights too, and what I love about Turin is that the lights are so cerebral and classy. No jars of Marmite here (London’s lights have become very commercial in recent years and this year there is a giant jar of Marmite above Oxford Street!).
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Turin Educational Consortium
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really beautiful pictures!! they really make you feel like visiting!!
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savoirthere
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Thanks I’m so pleased you like the pictures, I loved my visit!
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Emily
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Great post, Jai. It really showcases the exhibition 🙂
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savoirthere
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Thanks Emily, I think the project deserves to be a bit more well-known, hopefully this helps.
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French Foodie in Dublin
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Lovely post! You made me want to visit the city :-0
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savoirthere
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I think that is the idea 🙂 I must say it was a perfect city as a weekend getaway, small enough not to feel overwhelming but never dull. I hope get to go someday soon.
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Miret
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Lovely pictures from my country! Makes me proud 🙂
Thank you so much, Jai, for sharing these!
Miret
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savoirthere
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You should be proud to be Italian anyway, the whole world knows you have the best food, hands down! But seriously Turin was an eye opener for me, so much art there.
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Global Grazers
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Stunning and very original! Abidjan launched an ambitious light project last year; but, it’s nowhere near this creative. Bravo Turin!!
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savoirthere
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I agree it’s very creative especially the bikes, but I think much of it is quite typically Northern Italian the way they have approached it, they’ve done a great job that’s for sure.
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