Winter Cathedral by Mandylights. Copyright Sony MusicGarden Transformed into Enchanting Winter Wonderland with Over One Million Lights Illuminating Outdoor Trail

On View November 19, 2021–January 9, 2022

Brooklyn, NY—Lightscape at Brooklyn Botanic Garden opens this month as New York City’s newest must-see holiday event. Lightscape is an after-dark, illuminated spectacular that celebrates the beauty of winter with a festive trail winding through BBG’s 52-acre landscape, animated by over one million dazzling lights.

Lightscape takes visitors on an immersive trail where they encounter monumental light installations, colorful light displays highlighting the Garden’s trees, landscapes, and architecture, site-specific music and sounds, and awe-inspiring views around every turn.

More than 18 works of light art will be on view, among them the Winter Cathedral tunnel, Fire Garden in Oak Circle, Sea of Light, an animated light installation covering Cherry Esplanade, and a series of new light-based artworks by local artists.

Lightscape at Brooklyn Botanic Garden runs on select dates from November 19, 2021, through January 9, 2022. Learn more at bbg.org/lightscape.

For Media:

A press preview will be held Thursday, November 18, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. To RSVP, for further questions, or to schedule an interview, please contact communications@bbg.org. Find high-resolution press images at bbg.org/press. Video b-roll is also available by contacting communications@bbg.org.

Lightscape 2021 Highlights

By the Numbers

Lightscape at Brooklyn Botanic Garden includes
 
Over 1 million lights along a 1-mile-long path utilizing:

  • 60,000 pea lights
  • 630 lighting fixtures
  • 600 strands of lights
  • 60 gobos (Go Between Optics)

It will take 20 people over 18 days to install Lightscape and there will be:

  • 14,000 glowing orbs of light
  • A 98-foot-long Winter Cathedral tunnel
  • 42 sculptures
  • 5 new poems by Jacqueline Woodson projected in light
  • 20 treetop Wisp sculptures
  • 13 miles of cabling
  • 12 Pampas grass sculptures
  • 8 Flynn “chandeliers”
  • 5 giant White Peonies
  • 2 lasers

1 Wish Tree

International Artists
Among the highlights of Lightscape at BBG are monumental light sculptures created by international artists including Flynn, Wish Tree, Poleen, and Wisp by Pitaya, a French creative studio founded by David Lesort and Arnaud Giroud; and Pampas and White Peonies by TILT, a French artistic studio that focuses on the exploration of light and its interplay with art, architecture, and space.

Sea of Light by Ithaca, an award-winning company of light artists, sound designers, composers, editors, and experimenters based in the UK, is an animated light installation covering Cherry Esplanade with breathtaking views from the Robert W. Wilson Overlook.

Winter Cathedral by Mandylights, a multidisciplinary production and lighting design house based in the UK and Australia, is a nearly 100-foot tunnel adorned with tens of thousands of individual LED lights. Guests enter the installation—with a shape based on a traditional Gothic arch—at one end and walk through to the smaller tapered exit on the other side. This immersive, welcoming tunnel of warm light is equally spectacular when viewed from the inside or out.

Other attractions include the Fire Garden, produced by Ashley Bertling, which uses bespoke structures to fill the garden with real fire (from candles) accompanied by seasonal music, and Laser Pond, designed by Fog-Man, in which lasers beam across the water in the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden in time to music, taking the surface reflection with them and creating shapes that rise into the sky.

Local Artists
BBG is excited to work with several New York artists on new site-specific works for Lightscape. Celebrated author and poet (and Brooklyn resident) Jacqueline Woodson has written site-specific poems, collectively called Remember the Light Inside You. Projected on trees, shrubs, and hillocks near Bluebell Wood, Woodson’s narrative adds a nearly spiritual dimension to this secular installation by asking participants to engage their senses completely in the wonders of nature during the darkest time of the year.

In the north end of the Plant Family Collection is A Theorem: Remembered by Jacob M. Fisher, an American installation artist living and working in New York City. The work makes dynamic use of string and light to create a contemporary take on a holiday tree.

Near the Rock Garden, Pathways by Challenge Your Imagination uses lasers to draw connections between trees and light the path forward. Challenge Your Imagination is a creative studio founded by Asher Young.

Christopher Wren’s One World will be installed in the scarlet oak–lined memorial path that borders Cherry Esplanade.

Other Attractions
Lightscape makes dramatic use of BBG’s living and built landscapes—its majestic trees, curving landscape, and historic buildings—by bathing them in dramatic sprays of color and patterns. Along the trail, visitors will hear a curated soundtrack representing the diversity of Brooklyn’s religious and ethnic winter cultural traditions. Concessions along the trail will offer hot drinks, light fare, and a roast-your-own s’mores station.

Tickets

Nonmember regular admission tickets are $34 for adults and $18 for children ages 3–12. BBG member regular admission tickets are $30 for adults and $16 for children ages 3–12. Children 2 and under enter free.

About Brooklyn Botanic Garden 
Founded in 1910, Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) is an urban botanic garden that connects people to the world of plants, fostering delight and curiosity while inspiring an appreciation and sense of stewardship of the environment. Situated on 52 acres in the heart of Brooklyn and open year-round, the Garden is home to over 12,000 kinds of plants and more than 30 specialty gardens.

For hours, directions, and admission information, see bbg.org. Visitor entrances are at 990 Washington Avenue, 150 Eastern Parkway, and 455 Flatbush Avenue. Find out what’s in bloom at bbg.org/bloom, read the Garden’s blog at bbg.org/news, and learn what’s happening at bbg.org/events. Follow @brooklynbotanic on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and join the conversation using #BrooklynBotanicGarden and #BBGLightscape

About Sony Music

Sony Music has been delivering illuminated Christmas trails for over eight years. Each trail is carefully designed to showcase the natural and unique environment of the individual location. There are currently 22 trails across the UK, Europe, USA, and Australia within the My Christmas Trails and Lightscape portfolios.

The chosen partners for national and international heritage and prestigious venues include: Blenheim Palace; The National Trust; Forestry England; The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh; Chicago Botanic Garden; and Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.

Learn more at mychristmastrails.co.uk.| FB @mychristmastrails | Twitter @mychristmastrails