PSU/LAIKA: Light, Motion, Magic - Portland Winter Light Festival

Some collaborations feel inevitable in hindsight — like two creative forces orbiting each other for years until finally aligning. The roots of the Portland Winter Light Festival actually trace back to PSU’s Shattuck Hall, where the 2011 Illuminated City symposium first brought global light-based artists to Portland to explore nighttime artwork that carried meaning beyond illumination.

“That was the moment when the idea of creating a light festival in Portland started to percolate,” recalls Jeff Schnabel, professor at Portland State University’s School of Architecture and one of PDXWLF’s founders. Chris Herring and Jean Margaret Thomas approached him after the symposium and said, “We have to make a light festival happen in Portland.”

This year, that circle closes in a powerful way with a new creative partner entering the fold: L A IKA.

Film, by nature, is light with content — the perfect resonance with a festival built on glowing storytelling. And this collaboration arrives at the ideal moment: the 2025 theme celebrates how countless small things come together to create something extraordinary. Stop-motion animation, of course, is exactly that — tiny movements, tiny pieces, building entire worlds.

Bringing Worlds to Life on Campus

Across PSU’s Park Blocks campus, this partnership takes shape through a constellation of installations:

Graphic design professor Stephen Lee will debut projection art inside the historic Simon Benson House.
On the windows of Smith Memorial Student Union, artist Andrew Wade Smith will project towering images offering behind-the-scenes glimpses into LAIKA’s filmmaking — vivid slices of creative process interacting directly with the architecture itself.

Public-realm projection work breaks free from screens and devices, allowing imagery to reshape familiar spaces in surprising ways. As Jeff puts it, “We’re getting to create a new world here on campus.”

Rainbows by Larry Yes at The Benson House 📸 Amrik Kerketta
Ombre Musici by Thomas Cotik and Dave Coangelo 📸 Outer Elements Photography
Radiance Dome by Light at Play 📸 Hamid Shibata Bennett
Radiance Dome by Light at Play 📸 Brooke Hoyer

Campus as a Canvas

Portland State University has recently launched an ambitious placemaking initiative, aiming to transform the campus into a truly welcoming public space — creative and alive even on dark, rainy winter nights. Given PSU’s location on Broadway and the historic Park Blocks, the university sits at the nexus of Portland’s cultural corridor. Leaning into the arts doesn’t just make sense; it deepens PSU’s role as a cultural anchor.

That vision is matched by tangible support. The three-year partnership with LAIKA includes funding for student scholarships in the College of the Arts, faculty fellowships, and curriculum development — investing directly in the next generation of makers who will shape Portland’s creative future.

One of the PSU artists who are creating work for the Festival — Stephen Lee — is also a LAIKA Fellow, bringing academic and professional creative worlds even closer together.

Hypnotrons by Axiom Custom Products at PSU; Photo by Outer Elements Photography
Hypnotrons by Axiom at PSU; Photo by Hamid Shibata Bennett
Hypnotrons by Axiom at PSU; Photo by Hamid Shibata Bennett

what they hope you’ll feel

Jeff imagines festivalgoers wandering the Park Blocks with hot cocoa in hand, looking up with wide-eyed wonder — experiencing PSU as an illuminated creative landscape:

glowing trees
magical projections in the Simon Benson House
behind-the-scenes LAIKA imagery on Smith’s windows
mind-bending digital projections at an empty retail space on SW Jackson Street, created by Stephen Lee’s Creative Coding students
Pulse installation by MattCreative, shimmering farther north
and the illuminated bike ride drifting through campus on February 7th

“I hope we create an experience that captures the attention of students, families, kids — maybe even drops a few jaws,” Jeff says.

The collaboration between PSU and LAIKA is more than an installation. It’s a celebration of Portland’s identity as a city of makers — and a reminder that even on the coldest nights, creativity finds a way to shine.

(Editor’s note: All images in this post are from previous years of the Festival)