A Day Out at Battersea Light Festival 2023

We are huge fans of light festivals in our home, so when we heard about the free to attend Battersea Light Festival, we had to go! Dann and I went as a little date night, exploring the lights and the area generally. Battersea has had a bunch of new construction, especially in the Battersea Power Station, which is a giant mall that includes some of the lights from the festival! There is a free, online map which shows the route you can walk around to see all of the different lights in the area – there are 8 of them in total!

When we got off the train, we actually instantly saw the first two lights, which was really exciting! There was a giant green person walking as well as a red person stopped. This mimicked crossing lights, but these were stuck as they were. This light exhibition was called Strangers in the Light, and there was a board by them, that tells all about the artist and the artwork. This was how all of the works of art were, which made the Battersea Light Festival feel like a really exhibition! There was a lot of information on these signs, and there were also giant arrows that helped you stay on the path if you started going far from it!

The next light we ended up finding was my personal favorite – a giant slinky lighting up as it slinks down. This slinky had a few different patterns that it showcases as it falls, which really makes this slinky come to life! I loved how rainbow and colorful it was. There were some others exploring the Battersea Light Festival when we were, and we ended up talking to a few others about the classic toy and our memories with them, which made this festival feel like such a community event. From there, we followed a path of well lit trees along to a sort of outing on the water. This outing had ample seating, as well as a rainbow colored lights going down it. Though this installation felt more like it was highlighting the area, the rainbow lights were very fun to take a picture of and walk around! There was another light nearby, showing a massive plug, sitting on a little fountain.

We then saw the Moonburn which is located on top of the Battersea Power Station – showcasing what Dann thought was a marble or what I thought was a planet! It’s got so many details on it; shifting of color, and is so massive, really making the building itself look so cool! Inside this building, you can find two more exhibitions on either side of the power station. One of these light exhibitions were a bunch of different people, made of lines of light, walking forward through the mall. The other indoor exhibition was probably the biggest of the lot; featuring a creator that would change and evolve as it grows. There are several of these monsters nearby it, too, wrapping around a large portion of the building, changing color as well.

Lastly, we saw the hanging laundry in the Battersea Light Festival, which had a bunch of different traditional and religious clothing, all lit up on a washing line. This installation was meant to showcase how multicultural the area was, and how everyone was a big community; a great end point! It is worth mentioning that at the start and end there were a few food stands, selling crepes, melted cheese dishes and falafels. We didn’t end up getting food here, but it was nice that there was that option! This festival is around until March 5th.

You can check out our other Days Out to see what else we’ve been up too!