01
Tidewriter
Studio Halde Moss · North Pier
Afterlight
Three nights. Forty-one installations. One harbour turned into a lantern, an orchestra and a second sky.
Tidewriter
The Long Exhale
Cranes Singing
Six Thousand Lanterns
Fogbank Choir
Halo for a Lighthouse
Undertow
Last Ferry Home
01 · The idea
For three nights the harbour forgets the dark. Forty-one artists turn cranes, water, fog and the old ferry sheds into instruments of light, and every one of them is free to walk through. Bring warm socks. Leave the torch at home.
02 · The installations
Forty-one works.
Eight to start with.
Every picture on this page is painted in code, the way the artists sketched them before the first light went up.
02
The Long Exhale
Ines Varga · Ferry Shed 3
03
Cranes Singing
Okoro and Lind · Container Quay
04
Six Thousand Lanterns
Port Halden schools · Inner Basin
05
Fogbank Choir
Mareike Solberg · Breakwater
06
Halo for a Lighthouse
Tomas Arkwright · Signal Point
07
Undertow
Nine Knots · Dry Dock
08
Last Ferry Home
Yuna Castell · Ferry Terminal
03 · In numbers
Last year, the harbour stayed up late.
Figures from Afterlight 2025
visitors over three nights, busiest at eight on the Saturday
installations along the water
artists from fourteen countries
of harbour walk, step free
lanterns made by local schools
pounds to walk the whole route
04 · The walk
Seven stops.
About seventy minutes.
0.0 km
- 01Ferry TerminalLast Ferry Home
- 02North PierTidewriter
- 03Signal PointHalo for a Lighthouse
- 04BreakwaterFogbank Choir
- 05Container QuayCranes Singing
- 06Dry DockUndertow
- 07Inner BasinSix Thousand Lanterns
05 · Artists
Who’s lighting it.
- 01Studio Halde MossLight and tidePort Halden
- 02Ines VargaBreathing lightBudapest
- 03Okoro and LindSound and steelLagos, Malmö
- 04Port Halden schoolsSix thousand lanternsPort Halden
- 05Mareike SolbergA choir for fogBergen
- 06Tomas ArkwrightOpticsWhitby
- 07Nine KnotsWater projectionValparaíso
- 08Yuna CastellLight that tells storiesLisbon
06 · Programme
Three nights.
Three moods.
Night one · Friday 14 November
Ignition
- Every harbour light goes out
- First flame at the Ferry Terminal
- Cranes Singing, first performance
- Fogbank Choir on the breakwater
Night two · Saturday 15 November
Drift
- Lantern procession from the schools
- High water: Tidewriter at full tide
- The Long Exhale opens late
- The silent walk, phones away
Night three · Sunday 16 November
Afterglow
- Six thousand lanterns set afloat
- Halo for a Lighthouse, the finale
- The harbour lights come back on
- Last ferry home
07 · How to do AfterlightMove your cursor through the light
Look up.Listen.Stay late.
08 · Passes
The walk is free.
The sheds need a pass.
Harbour walk
£0
All 1.8 km, all three nights, from 17:30 until midnight. No ticket and no queue. Step free, with a warm drink at every second stop.
Night pass
£18
- One night inside the five ferry sheds
- Timed entry, no waiting in the cold
- A hot drink at the Inner Basin
Three-night pass
£42
- Every shed, all three nights
- A reserved place at the lantern release
- The Afterlight scarf, knitted in Port Halden
- Late entry to the silent walk