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An art installation years in the making that promises to amplify Calgary’s nighttime skyline will officially debut on Saturday night.
Northern Lights, a light show installed on two sides of the Telus Sky building, was created by artist and author Douglas Coupland. It features 2.2 kilometres of LED lighting, 600 custom bulbs and 89,000 pixels of light.
The lights — which wrap most of the windows on the building in an inverted L shape — combine to depict the aurora borealis in motion, along with a myriad of other patterns. The show will be visible on both the north and south facing sides of Telus Sky, a 59-storey skyscraper at 685 Centre St. South.
Calgarians have been seeing test runs of the show periodically for months, but Saturday night will be the official launch of the full show.
At 160,000 square feet, Northern Lights will be the largest art installation in Calgary.
After the Saturday night premiere, Northern Lights will run every night year-round, starting about one hour before sunset to 11 p.m.
Telus is recommending people watch the show from the ground from Centre Street and Stephen Avenue or Centre Street and 9 Avenue.
