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Visual Monkeys and Ayrton illuminate Linnanmäki’s Carnival of Light

Helsinki’s Linnanmäki is the oldest amusement park in Finland. It is owned and operated by the non-profit making Children’s Day Foundation to raise funds for Finnish child welfare work. With Finland’s 24 hours of sunlight in the summer and 24 hours of darkness in the winter, Linnanmäki has, for the past twenty years, marked the final days of its open season with a Carnival of Light (Valokarnevaali), when visitors are entertained on site by samba groups and visual artists in illuminated costumes.

Having designing the pyrotechnic and light show for last year’s event, Helsinki-based Visual Monkeys was invited back to light the entire amusement park in 2022. Lighting designer Rölli Ridanpaa transformed the amusement park into an illuminated wonderland. He chose some of Ayrton’s newest and most powerful fixtures for his design.

“Our continuous summer sunlight means Linnanmäki doesn’t have its own lighting installation”, explains Ridanpaa, “so when our client requested a very festive atmosphere for the park during the 11-day Carnival, we had a blank canvas to work with. Mikko Enäkoski (Visual Monkeys CEO) established which areas and rides should be lit and we immediately launched into our ideas. This included using a 60 m wide disused red brick circular water tower located in the centre of the park, on the highest till in Helsinki, as a base for some lighting fixtures which would draw attention to Linnanmäki.”

“My approach was to get as much light and fun as we can from the budget”, continues Ridanpaa. “When Creative Technology Northern Europe’s Hannu Makkonen and Ayrton’s Marc Lorenz demo’d the Ayrton Cobra and Domino LT at our offices, we knew we had found our moving light fixtures.” Ridanpaa rigged sixteen of the IP65 rated, laser-sourced Cobra fixtures in a circle on top the water tower. “I used them in beam mode, with just a few colours, for old fashioned aerial effects”, he says. “The beams were visible 22 km east of Helsinki. There was some discussion on social media as to what was causing the beams, so people definitely knew there was something happening at Linnanmäki!”

Ridanpaa chose a total of six Domino LT long throw fixtures, using two to illuminate the main entrance of the park with deep blues and four more to light an art installation - a rock formation - in the centre of the park. “I washed the rock formation with LED washes and then had fun using the full range of Domino’s gobos, animation wheels and shapers to project on top of the base wash”, says Ridanpaa. Due to the Domino LT’s IP rating there was no need for protective domes.

As a final touch Ridanpaa used seven Perseo Beam fixtures to lighting up three 75 m tall tower structures that held free-drop rides which he washed in vivid colours.

(Photos: Petri Tuohimaa)

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