Lux Helsinki, which has spread light and joy and inspired people during the dark season for almost 20 years, will take place over six days this year by popular request. For almost a week, starting on 6 January, Kanneltalo and façades of familiar buildings as well as parks and squares in the city centre of Helsinki will serve as canvasses for 20 thought-provoking and narrative works of light and colour.
The works will be on display all the way from Kansalaistori Square to Lasipalatsi Square, at Narinkkatori and Hietalahti Squares and in the Old Church Park. There will also be works in Erottaja Square, on the Espa Stage, Citycenter and Kanneltalo. Visitors can choose to view the works in the order that best suits them. This year, Lux Helsinki will also expand to a record ten art galleries in the city centre, which will feature a great variety of light art by both Finnish and overseas artists.
Lux Helsinki will illuminate the city on weekdays and over the weekend between 6 and 11 January from 17:00 until 22:00. The dark winter mornings of 8 and 9 January will be brightened by Lux Morning, when some of the works in the city centre will be lit between 7:00 and 9:00.
Stop time! – This year’s festival theme is an invitation to pause
This year, Lux Helsinki will be based on the theme Stop time!
“Stop time! is an invitation to pause at works of art in these troubled times. Only by stopping will we see what is important now that polarisation, climate change and war are shaping a new world order. Artists have approached the subject in diverse ways, for example by taking viewers to the timeless world of childhood and play,” says Juha Rouhikoski, Artistic Director of Lux Helsinki.
Families will be particularly delighted by the works that are evocative of the world of play, including a narrative animated work by Evgenija Gross, a Ukrainian artist who fled the war to Finland, which will be projected on the façade of the Annantalo Arts Centre and Twist & Shine, to be located in Lastenlehdon puisto Park, which will consist of bricks of shimmering colours that viewers can rearrange to create their own individual works.
The importance of pausing will also be approached from a multidimensional perspective through the festival’s key works. Turkish-Finnish artist Melek Mazici’s Rooms of Light will turn the iconic cranes of the Helsinki shipyard in Hietalahti into lighthouses that shine light into the winter darkness. Alexander Salvesen, one of Finland’s leading light artists, will take over of the entire Lasipalatsi Square with light, moving images and soundscape with his piece The Last Dance. The enchanting Mycelium Network installation will spread on the lawns of the Old Church Park, making visible the underground mycelium network and its fungi with thousands of glittering strands of optical fibre. Nordic Sculpture, a work by Lin de Mol, Artistic Director of the Swedish festival of light art Arvika Ljus!, will feature a translucent tree trunk resting on a pile of firewood and light that throbs to the rhythm of breath in front of the Central Library Oodi.
Works of light art will remain to delight people after the festival
Light art will be part of the cityscape all year round as Lux Helsinki brings more permanent art to the city. The work by the French artist Sébastien Lefèvre, Soleil Nuit, to be located in the Hietalahti Square, will remain in place for people to enjoy even after the festival has ended. Thousands of tiny, coloured mirrors within the work, symbolising the sun and the night, will form glittering reflections in the wind and light.
Lux Helsinki is an accessible and free event for the whole family. It will take place 6–11 January 2026 between 17:00 and 22:00 and 8–9 January also between 7:00 and 9:00. The festival is organised and produced by the Helsinki Events Foundation. The Artistic Director of Lux Helsinki is Juha Rouhikoski, and the curatorial team includes Jyrki Sinisalo, Mia Kivinen, Elisa Hillgen and Katja Muttilainen.
