Canada: Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Area to brighten up winter with light festival

Running from Mar 1-31, the festival will span the entire Downtown Yonge neighbourhood with six installations that are free for the public to engage with.

The interactive installation SPECTRUM by Mirari at Trinity Square Park would shed light on the phenomenon of communication and display the path taken by the waves generated by voices and other sounds.

Included in the festival is Sam Hardwicke’s “SAM Lamp“, a large sculpture, you can sit or stand inside, seasonal affective disorder (SAD) lamp technology to help alleviate some of the symptoms of the winter blues.

Photo Courtesy: https://downtownyonge.com/illuminite

Another inclusion in the festival called “You Were Here” by Meghan Cheng will use motion tracking technology to illuminate LED butterflies as you walk by on Yonge Street.

Composed of hundreds of individually lit butterflies, each butterfly being 3D printed and individually shaped would serve to create a unique creature.

The hundreds of LED lights are controlled using the program, TouchDesigner.

Photo Courtesy: https://downtownyonge.com/illuminite

All of the windows at the HNR Properties at 19-21 Dundas Square would be transformed with “Digital Drapes” by MattCreative, with grids of colourful LEDs that can be programmed to different designs.

Being a crossover between light, motion, and architecture, Digital Drapes exhibits all windows of a building being covered in grids of programmable LEDs.

“Downtown Yonge is so much more than just high-rise buildings and offices – it is also a cultural corridor,” says Cheryll Diego, Downtown Yonge’s Public Realm Experience Director was reported saying.

“With Illuminite, we invite friends and families, visitors and tourists to come by and stay for a while, and truly feel the heartbeat of Toronto.”

Photo Courtesy: https://downtownyonge.com/illuminite

Also being home to Biolumen by Radha Chaddah x RAW Design, an interactive art experience, Yonge and Dundas Square experience changing light and sound, to make sure Downtown Toronto shines all through the winter.

Featuring ten large luminescent structures where art, science, and nature merge the art installation is inspired by deep-sea Radiolaria, “Biolumen” representing resilience and beauty in harsh environments.

This project is funded by the Government of Canada through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario)