5th anniversary edition!

"The Light of Nature"

Arvika Light! is a project that aims to lower the threshold between contemporary art and the local community, making art accessible to everyone. During the autumn, we want to light up and connect during our darkest time! Our fifth anniversary theme is 'Nature's Light', which aims to shed light on nature's mystery and beauty, with the purpose of renewing a sense of reverence for nature. So that we can re-evaluate and appreciate it anew, and from there heal our relationship with nature. We have invited 7 artists from 5 different countries, each of whom shows an aspect of this idea in their own way.

Guided tours are arranged for visitors during the festival. Information about the artworks is available via the QR code next to the works and through flyers available in shops around town and at the Tourist Office.

"Underworld"

LED light installation by Aleksandra Stratimirovic – Serbia

Location: City Park

Underworld is a light installation consisting of glowing shapes depicting an imaginary 'mini underwater settlement'. Underworld uses discarded fishing material collected from the ocean floor, having rested there for many years. The project arose from the purpose of drawing attention to sensitive marine life and its fragile environment.

Aleksandra Stratimirovic is a Serbian artist who works with light and lighting technology, creating temporary and permanent site-specific works in the public space.

"Sol"

LED light sculpture by Tamar Frank – The Netherlands

Location: City Park

"Sol" is a tribute to the sun. The light installation consists of six amber-colored LED light lines forming a semicircle. Mounted above the water, the lines continue as a reflection, creating a perfect circle. It is a visualization of the setting sun, a beacon, a source, and a focal point that draws spectators towards it as they walk along the water.

Tamar Frank works with light, location, and the process of visual perception. She wants to create new awareness and sensitivity regarding how we view the world and how it affects us. She primarily focuses on temporary installations in the public space.

"Nordic Sculpture"

LED light sculpture by Lin de Mol – The Netherlands

Location: The Harbour

The image of a pile of logs is very typical in the Nordic landscape. Wood means life: It gives us warmth, shelter, and economic security, but as living trees, we also need them for oxygen and to maintain our natural environment. These often conflicting needs are symbolized and merged in a sculpture called "Nordic Sculpture," which introduces this typical Nordic form into a light artwork.

Lin de Mol is a multimedia artist who works with sculpture, installation, and photography. The human relationship with nature is an underlying investigation in much of her work.

"Plasma Bees"

Neon installation by Ilkka Paloniemi – Finland

Location: Köpmangatan 3

Plasma Bees (2024) is a series of portraits of four bees made of neon light and recycled frames.

In this work, neon light illuminates four bees, powered by artificial energy, creatures that generate their own natural energy – honey. Neon gas inside its glass tube transforms into a glowing plasma under the influence of electricity. The same plasma also exists in stars and nebulae and constitutes 99% of all matter.
The red glow in these modern portraits stands in contrast to the classic elegance of recycled frames, highlighting the importance and dignity of bees.

Ilkka Paloniemi is an artist, curator, and designer who works in light, art, and architecture.

"And Now"

Mirror installation by Fabien Gruau – France

Location: Storgatan 26D

Fabien Gruau's 'And Now' is like a huge billboard advertisement, but with nothing to sell. It is an invitation to reflection and wonder. The constantly changing light offers a new perspective every time you pass it. What is eternity? Does it even exist? "And Now" stimulates people to think about how they want to shape life, but also how we can influence and recreate the future.

Fabien Gruau is a French photographer who has a degree from the MJM Art Academy in Rennes and has exhibited in France, the Netherlands, and Belgium and has worked as a set and lighting designer in theatre, circus, and dance.

"Rising"

Light projection – Niko Tiainen – Finland

Location: Hamngatan 11

The work "Rising" is a custom repetitive sequence of falling water, projected across the length of the building at Ritz Parking. Tiainen made this work specifically for this location in Arvika to counteract the urban environment with this powerful natural phenomenon. Aside from the water's beauty and meditative qualities, there is a distant undertone of a second meaning of this waterfall, in our time of melting ice caps and rising water levels. Yet beauty and fascination for the water prevail where the water wave falls down in slow motion and softly hits the pavement.

Niko Tiainen is a Finland-based multidisciplinary artist, specializing in interactive projection mappings and video, light, and sound installations in the public space.

"Gallery 1:10 - Mood Board"

Project by Anna Lidberg with 11 miniature light installations – Sweden

Location: Kyrkogatan 33

Since 2006, Gallery 1:10 has been an exhibition where the artist Anna Lidberg invites artists to collaborate and participate in exhibitions in the gallery's premises, which is a dollhouse, where art is shown in miniature versions. The exhibition "Mood board" brings together Lina Kruopyte, Niklas Wallenborg, Cornelia Sojdelius, Catti Brandelius, and Sara Forsström, and is a collage of art interacting together.

Anna Lidberg comes from Skoghall, Värmland. She primarily works with video installations, objects, and public art commissions. In her works, Lidberg relates to scale shifts, where enlargements and reductions become a tool to awaken the viewer's interest.

”Under the pines”

An exhibition with several dioramas in miniature with light, sound, video, and objects by Anna Lidberg. Music by Jon Ekström – Sweden

Various light sources are directed at objects and scenographies, whose shadows create horizons with recognizable shapes from Swedish forests and landscapes. In the installation series 'Views towards the apocalypse,' a mood of something quietly beautiful, fateful, and gently skewed is sought. In the exhibition at Arvika Konsthall, Anna Lidberg is interested in anxiety about disasters and how it can paralyze or incite resistance.

”Minneberg School at the Ritz”

Window decoration with light – students Minnebergskolan Arvika

Location: Hamngatan 12

This year, young creators and students at Minnebergskolan will also get an opportunity to be part of the Arvika Ljus! concept by creating their own light artwork in Ritz's window. Young creators and students at Minnebergskolan got an opportunity to be part of the Arvika Ljus! concept by creating their own light artwork in Ritz's window. Natural shapes based on the contour lines of a landscape were the starting point for a 'freestyle project' with the students. Illuminated in changing colors, the transparent shapes painted on film became a mysterious whole.