In the Magic of the Dark Moonlight: Portland Winter Lights Festival
This blog post is coming about a week later than I wanted it to, but the flu called my name last Monday and I spent most of the rest of the week either sleeping or in a illness-infused delirium. Shout out to the friends in my life who delivered me medicine, soup, and snacks! It was honestly difficult for my fried brain to craft a text message asking for help, much less write something substantial here.
Nonetheless, the only expectations here at The Hodgepodge are self-imposed! So I want to take a moment to rave about something I adore about Portland, the Winter Lights Festival. Started in 2016 by the Willamette Light Brigade, the Portland Winter Lights Festival (PDXWLF) is an annual event that aims to “bring art, technology, and inclusivity together, invigorating Portland in the winter.” It’s free, it’s entertaining, and it’s a reminder of the power of accessible public art.
Taking submissions from artists in the region, the exhibits, installations, and performances that pop up over the 9 days are all based around various forms of light and fire. PDXWLF takes place during a perfect timeframe, since Portland gets about half of its annual precipitation between December and February. It’s easy to fall into the doldrums after Christmas and New Year’s here, with seemingly no end in sight to the dreariness. That bleak outlook is magnified in a post-pandemic world where downtown is no longer the hub of activity it once was. Transforming dark and quiet city blocks into a technicolor world of wonder is such a genius idea.
High powered projectors sit in parking-garage offices, turning building facades into colorful waypoints.
1st Experience: Saturday, February 8th
The main programming and installation availability are focused around two weekends, and I spent one day each weekend taking it all in. I joined the biking collective NakedHearts:PDX on Saturday the 8th for a group bike ride that started at one of the festival’s three “anchor sites”, the Electric Blocks in inner SE, and it was such a delight to see my friends and their kids, as well as hundreds and hundreds of other riders. I think what stuck out to me on this bike ride was the unbridled joy that would spark through passerby upon witnessing a literal parade of bicycles taking over city streets with a giant boombox bouncing tunes in skyscraper canyons. Joy is infectious if your heart is open to it!
After our meandering route through downtown, we ended up at Director Park for a LED Hula Hoop synchronized dance performance set to Abracadabra by Lady Gaga, and it was such a cute moment. I’ve spent more time reflecting recently on how despite all the “advances” in society, we are still the same species we’ve always been. It was easy for me to imagine how generations of people throughout time have found their niche or passion, worked on that interest in private spaces, and then shared that passion for others to bring a light in dark times. This process played itself out in front of me as children danced along to the show.
After the hoopers put a smile on my face, I broke from the pack to take in the sights down at the 2nd of the three anchor sites, the Portland World Trade Center. It was packed with people, so I took a moment for myself to grab a snack from a food truck. I slurped down a clam chowder in front of an installation that looked like LED guts, while a person in an inflatable alien-duck costume danced around to the house music played by the DJ. This is why I love festivals, the absurdity of a moment that can take place while you are attending to your basic human needs. “Expect nothing but the unexpected” is an adage that helps me make sense of these often unpredictable environments. In a testament to either the smallness of Portland as a city, or the connections I’ve made here, I ran into a few people I knew and joined their adventure searching the blocks around for something mesmerizing. I didn’t grab a picture of it but we found one of my favorite installations this year tucked inside what appeared to be an abandoned storefront (why can’t we have things like this all-year round??) and we all pressed our faces into the glass like longing kids.
Illoominated II was the name, and I think it captured the theme of the festival so well! It was a large-scale loom with lasers “etching” out a pattern onto the floor in front, creating a morphing, ever-changing digital rug. This renewable-resource technology-laden spectacle put a 21st century spin on an ancient art form, and caused me to reflect on the digital fabric we weave throughout our lives through our time on the internet. Such as this very blog post :]
The scene at my favorite anchor spot, the World Trade Center.
2nd Experience: Friday, February 14th
Love was in the air and snow was on the ground! Fresh out of my solo fancy dinner date at Higgin’s, I started strolling towards Pioneer Square with excitement. That pep in my step must have been evident, as a woman called me over to a lobby across from the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Always up for a side-quest, I lowered the heart-shaped sunglasses I was wearing as she asked me if I was downtown for the Winter Lights Festival. After my affirmative response, she said go check out the basement, we have a giant Lego sculpture with over 15,000 pieces. Say no more lady, I’m on it! I strolled down bright yellow halls, down the stairs, and found my way into a dark room with a single attendant. The piece was stunning, and worth the detour, an underwater ocean scene with audio piped in of droning echoes and whale calls. It was inspired by the role that the ocean plays in our processing of grief, as a force that can both take lives and honor them.
Next up was Pioneer Square, and I walked into a performance of Crazy Train by Ozzy Osborne played on the piano as giant flames shot into the air corresponding with the audio. A rad way to start the night. After meandering around the different installations at Pioneer Square, I found the one I most connected with was simply called DOOR(S). Apparently a fan favorite, this one was interactive, and was created to symbolize the metaphor of an open door creating inspiration, anxiety, and a wide range of emotions. There were two unassuming white doors, with a glass cut out belying nothing out of the ordinary behind it. But each time it was opened, a door-sized screen would play a different video: galaxies, cities, digital code, or even mind-warping visuals with accompanying sound effects. My interest here was sparked by the people-watching, and their subsequent excitement or disappointment that each would express upon seeing the video they received. Witnessing play and emotion in adults is a beautiful thing.
I followed along with the crowds towards the waterfront, wet heavy snow melting quickly on the sidewalks we passed over, until I made it to one of the iconic elements of this year’s festival, Dread of Dufur: The Fire Breathing Dragon.
The sense of scale is hard to conceptualize in writing, but this fire-breathing bad boy was around 25 feet long, and each time the flames shot out of his mouth, the crowd surrounding him would hush. Kind of made me wish dragons were real.
I ended the night back at the World Trade Center, taking the time to see more of the installations. Wish (Vol 1) had people reaching their hands into a giant flower to see its petals retract, I saw families take photos under a 12 foot tall dark Heron, a magician danced around to Electric Light Orchestra while juggling (mad respect to the man Spencer Sprocket; he masterfully entertained a group of 8 year old children at a birthday party I attended for the girl I babysit for), Portland Time Machine created an opportunity for floating heads to come together to witness altered realities, I played wooden synthesizers connected to strobe tuners for impressed onlookers, sat inside a woven structure in silence with a stranger, and ended my night with the pounding drums of the Portland Samba while little UFO costumed people bopped along, exciting me for my upcoming trip to Brazil.
This is why I live in a city! This is why we need art! This is why community is the lifeblood that keeps my heart pumping! Writing this recap up has made me realize more about what lights me up in regards to public art, and it is definitely the people watching and interactions. If this festival were to happen just for me, it would be so much less enjoyable. I love to see the curiosity, playfulness, and joy that come from the change in our typical environments. Thankful to have something like this, easily a highlight of my two Portland winters so far.
