Travelling Light

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Public art

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

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According to the City of Calgary's public art page, Travelling Light, by inges idee, is a 17 metre sculptural ring integrated into the row of existing street lamps on 96 Avenue NE near the Airport Trail and Deerfoot Trail interchange in Calgary, with project completion in December 2013. The artists' page describes an 18-meter-high ring.

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Travelling Light

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Site-level location · 51.1424° N, 114.0420° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Travelling Light is a ring on 96 Avenue NE in Calgary, a public artwork by inges idee, the collective of Hans Hemmert, Axel Lieber, Thomas A. Schmidt and Georg Zey, according to the City of Calgary's public art page. The page says the group is based out of Berlin and lists the site as 96 Avenue NE, near the Airport Trail and Deerfoot Trail interchange.

The City's page calls it "This 17 metre sculptural ring", integrated into the row of existing street lamps, and says the arches of the lamps rise from the apex of the ring. It says the artists chose a ring because it represents "the most iconic symbol of movement, the wheel", and suggests viewers may read the lamp arches as the handlebars of a high wheeler, the silhouette of a bird about to take flight or a butterfly's antennae. It says the colour makes reference to the sky.

The artists' page gives "an 18-meter-high ring" that replaces a planned streetlamp while keeping the light fixture needed to illuminate the road. Neither page says what the 17 metres refers to. The artists describe the site as a bridge at the side of a busy four-lane highway near the airport, and say the work is experienced primarily while driving past.

The City page says fabrication and installation were completed entirely by local companies, and that the structure is free-standing, with no guide cables or secondary support structures. It says 55 submissions were received and the concept was chosen by a project-specific jury of five Calgarians, through the City's standard process of an open international call. The page lists a public art budget of $471K, the Department of Transportation as the commissioning unit, and project completion in December 2013. The artists' page lists the City of Calgary Public Art Program as commissioner. Neither page gives a publication date.

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WHAT TO EXPECT

On 96 Avenue NE near the Airport Trail and Deerfoot Trail interchange, Calgary, according to the City of Calgary's public art page. The artists' page places it on the 96th Avenue NE Extension and gives the coordinates 51.142447, -114.041984.

ACCESS

According to the artists' page, the work sits on a bridge at the side of a busy four-lane highway near the airport, and is experienced primarily while driving past. Neither source describes a viewing area or visitor arrangements.

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Find another Big Thing nearby

According to the City of Calgary's undated page, which gives a cost estimate as of October 2, 2018 (the beginning of the installation phase), Convergence is a pair of stainless steel public sculptures by Laura Haddad and Tom Drugan (Haddad|Drugan), planned for a knoll in the natural park east of the Rocky Ridge Recreation Facility in Calgary. The City gives each as about 14 m high, 6 m wide and 10.5 m long, of welded stainless steel tubes, with acrylic prisms planned for the ends of some tubes.

Public art

13 km away

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