Christmas 2023: Annual Winter Light exhibition sets London's Southbank Centre site aglow

As the dark winter nights draw in, London is alight with festive installations that are best enjoyed outside after dark.

Squire & Partners x Southbank Centre Winter Windows 2023 

For one, the Southbank Centre, situated on the bank of the River Thames, a stone's throw from the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, is featuring a series of outdoor artworks from contemporary artists that play with light and colour, at the same time exploring topics at the forefront of society, such as individual and collective identity, the environment and technology.  Also included are five new works for 2023.  

All free to be viewed and enjoyed from now until 7 Januanry 2024.

Jokob Kvist’s Dichroic Sphere 
Image by Christoffer Askman
Courtesy of Southbank Centre

Southbank Centre encourages visitors to follow their map to find the artwork as one wanders around the various venues, terraces and buildings, including the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Royal Festival Hall and Hayward Gallery.

The exhibition features work by David Batchelor, Jakob Kvist, David Ogle, Fred Tschida, Tim Etchells, Leo Villareal, Marinella Senatore, Kendall Geers, Squire & Partners with Oasis Academy Johanna and Denman+Gould with Maeve Polkinhorn.

Illuminating the windows of the Queen Elizabeth Hall is a brand new installation by Year 6 students from local school Oasis Academy Johanna, in collaboration with Brixton-based architecture practice, Squire & Partners. Squire & Partners x Southbank Centre Winter Windows 2023 transforms the drawings produced during workshops into bespoke, winter-themed neon shapes.

Fred Tschida's Sphere
Image by Owen Billcliffe
Courtesy of Southbank Centre

Visitors can encounter Marinella Senatore’s large-scale decorative light sculpture We Rise by Lifting Others and hypnotic, intricate patterns in Leo Villareal’s generative digital installation Cosmic Bloom.  Produced by Outland Art, the work is accompanied by tracks from international electronic music artist Kode9. 

David Ogle's Loomin
Image by Owen Billcliffe
Courtesy of Southbank Centre

Tim Etchells’ intriguing pair of neon light artworks Suddenly (Morning and Night), provide a moment to ponder over the perceived passage of time. Stand in the red glow of Kendell Geers' Hope Is A Four Letter Word (2017), combining language and light to explore power and truth and incite positive change.

Marinella Senatore's Installation as viewed at
Palazzo Strozzi, Florence
Image by OKNO Studio

David Ogle’s fluorescent light canopy Loomin (2020) returns to the South Bank riverside, as well as David Batchelor’s glowing chromatic roof installation Sixty Minute Spectrum (2017), Fred Tschida’s giant rotating orb SPHERE and Jokob Kvist’s glimmering Dichroic Sphere (2020). 

Continuing into the winter months from its summer residency is pocket meadow Haven by Denman + Gould w/ Maeve Polkinhorn, a wildlife sanctuary nestled in the brutalist concrete of the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Winter Light is curated by Cedar Lewisohn, Curator of Site Design at the Southbank Centre, with Assistant Curators Mark Healy and Madeleine Lynch, and Curatorial Assistant Helena Adalsteinsdottir.