Athens’ Stavros Niarchos Park Features New Light Installations for Christmas

Photo: SNFCC / Nikos Laranikolas

Four new light installations were recently unveiled in the park of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) in Athens, completing its decoration for the Christmas holidays.

Created by renowned foreign artists, the light installations are presented for the first time in Greece, offering the opportunity to visitors to experience a dream-like atmosphere and explore the interplay of light and sound, nature and beauty, science and art in the park’s Mediterranean Garden, Great Lawn, Pine Grove and Labyrinth.

Large Pendulum Wave

Photo: SNFCC / Nikos Laranikolas

Among the impressive artworks is the “Large Pendulum Wave”, an installation created by Ivo Schoofs from The Netherlands, which features 15 illuminated pendulums that are suspended at a height of 12m. All of them are lifted up and then simultaneously released to fly freely, as visitors enjoy a fascinating dance show that oscillates between harmony and chaos, with gravity being its only driving force.

Visitors can see the “Large Pendulum Wave” at the Great Lawn.

Wave Field

Photo: SNFCC / Nikos Laranikolas

“Wave-Field” was created by Lateral Office/CS Design and Canadian composer and visual artist Mitchell Akiyama, and invites visitors to the Pine Grove to play and get creative, while exploring different light and sonic dimensions of space.

“Acoustic, illuminated seesaws… await visitors to play in a sensory playground from the future. When set into motion, the seesaws erupt into an impromptu composition, each time evoking a unique soundscape,” SNFCC said in an announcement.

Infinite Support

Photo: SNFCC / Nikos Laranikolas

LightForm, an artistic collective comprising four artists and close friends from The Netherlands, has translated ideas about friendship into a beautiful light object named “Infinite Support”. The installation consists of two large luminous drop-shaped “nests” that help each other stay upright.

The audience can hide within or interact with the multiple mirrors, exploring an unusual sensation of depth. The installation can be seen in the Mediterranean Garden.

The Pool

Jen Lewin, a New-York-based light sculptor, features “The Pool”, an installation inspired by the thousands of luminous ponds of light left behind by the ebb on a moonlit Australian beach.

“Lewin conjures this magical memory in an environment of giant, concentric circles created from dozens of interactive circular pads where play and collaborative movement create mesmerizing patterns of shifting and fading colors,” SNFCC said.

The Pool is currently on display in the Labyrinth.

Photo: SNFCC / Nikos Laranikolas

SNFCC’s light installations came alive with the support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).

They are operating daily – until January 6 – from 5pm until the Stavros Niarchos Park’s closing time.