Amsterdam Light Festival opens tonight with over 20 light installations
The twelfth edition of the Amsterdam Light Festival will open on Wednesday. Until January 21, visitors can view 24 light-based artworks along the canals of the capital by boat or on foot.
The event will showcase light art installations from both national and international artists. This year's theme is “LOADING… Revealing Art, AI, and Tech.” The organizers have invited artists to reflect on the impact of technology and artificial intelligence on people's daily lives. "We dive deeper into our relationship with personal tech, the mobile phone being at the forefront – we cannot live without it, but sometimes you wish you could throw it in the canal," the organizers wrote on their website.
Studio MAST produced a four-meter tall sculpture called, "Is it really you?" which is meant to satirize facial recognition algorithms. The Amsterdam design studio said the piece is about social bias and how it makes its way into AI, as well as society's continued reliance on technology.
"Facial recognition and its algorithms are part of crucial decision making nowadays. But technology that is claimed to be neutral actually reproduces biased outcomes. It is mostly trained on a majority of images of the stereotypical white, cis, male, able bodied user. We believe that our art piece can be a meaningful tool to spark conversation," said Stefan Fahrngruber, one of MAST's co-founders.
As in previous years, attendees can explore the route on foot or by boat. The walking route is approximately 7.5 kilometers long, and visitors can start wherever they choose, as the artworks are not placed in a specific order. There is no charge to view the artwork, but visitors can pay 7.99 euros to access a walking route map with the artwork locations, and detailed information about the pieces. Proceeds are needed to fund the festival. Cruise tickets are also available on the festival website for 26.50 euros, with the boat tours lasting about 75 minutes. Private boats can also tour the canals during the festival for free.
A new feature this year is the “festival hub,” a meeting place in the Hoftuin with two additional interactive walking artworks, open from December 14 to January 7. Moreover, approximately 1,500 elementary school students are taking part in an educational project associated with the festival. They will participate in workshops and help create artwork by visual artist Yasser Ballemans, which will be showcased during the event.
The art installations will be illuminated from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday to Tuesday, and will remain lit up for an extra hour from Wednesday through Saturday evenings. They will also turn off at 11 p.m. every night between December 23 and January 7, except on New Year's Eve when the light installations will be shut off.
