Nan Nan

    there_sun@163.com

    THE fourth Sea World International Light Festival opened Saturday in Shekou Sea World.

    Themed “Boundaries of Light,” the festival was organized by China Merchants Shekou and Sea World, and co-curated by Pin Projects.

    This year, Amsterdam Light Festival and Connecting Cities were invited to be co-partners to provide a platform for the two port cities Shenzhen and Amsterdam to communicate in the form of light.

    The festival, which will last until Feb. 15, is showcasing nine large lights distributed around Sea World, six of which being interactive installations. These lights were designed by Dutch, Chinese, German and Canadian artists.

    Instead of lamplight, which is a common thing in people’s daily life, artists creatively used LEDs to explore the further possibilities of lights. Light here serves as a rope to tie together audiences and artworks.

    For example, the Water Light Graffiti is a wall embedded with thousands of LEDs that light up when their surface is touched by water. This mock-up is part of a research project led by French artist Antonin Fourneau about water-sensitive materials. It is a place to leave ephemeral messages as well as play noughts and crosses.

    Another interactive work, Light Battle, was designed by Venividimultiplex for Amsterdam Light Festival. The installation is an arch that is made out of almost 5,000 LED lights. On both sides there are five bicycles that challenge visitors to get on and take part in a light battle. By pedaling, contestants push a beam of light to the other side to defeat their competitors. The winner gets overwhelmed by a magical waterfall of light.