‘Nordvestlys’ (Northwestern Light) is a co-creational light art project in Elsinore, that invited the residents of the city’s Northwest neighborhood to participate in the creation of the artwork. The project has been realized in collaboration with, Catch, Helsingør Kommune and the Community Center Northwest of Elsinore.

Taking place in the midst of the Corona pandemic, ‘Nordvestlys’ is based on the idea of showing solidarity and creating a sense of unity between people in some of the darkest and hardest months of 2021. As the participants were not able to meet, interact or create in a physical space due to Covid-19 restrictions, ‘Nordvestlys’ took place in people’s own homes. Residents were invited to pick up a LED-tubes with gels in the color of their choice at the community center and bring it home in their own to install in their windows.

Thus, the participating residents helped to share light in their building by sending a luminous greeting about unity and solidarity to each other.
After a period of three weeks the light fixtures were recollected and rebuilt into a site-specific light sculpture for the community center. The sculpture is based on the specific LED-tubes and colors that each resident had chosen. The shape of the sculpture imitates DNA string and are based on the LED-tubes as the primary physical expression. ‘Nordvestlys’ sends the message that everyone in the Northwest area are connected to each other by light against the pandemic, and that light can create a visual bond between people and bring them together without physical interaction.

‘Nordvestlys’ opened on February 4 th 2023 and was realized with contributions from Catch (www.catch.dk), Helsingør Kommune (www.helsingor.dk) and Statens Kunstfond ( www.kunst.dk )

Photos by Kim Matthai Leland www.leland.dk