The Exploratorium’s beloved winter exhibition, Glow, will return to Pier 15 on Nov. 19 through Jan. 24, 2027, transforming the space into a luminous playground of the art and science of light. Returning favorites join striking new works as artists from around the world bring their groundbreaking art to San Francisco in an immersive installation that encourages participation in a singular sensory experience.
‘Hidden Beacon’
At the center of Glow 2026 is Hidden Beacon, a large-scale interactive optical installation by Canadian artists Caitlind r.c. Brown and Wayne Garrett, built from thousands of prescription eyeglass lenses acquired from the Canadian Lions Eyeglass Recycling Centre. The lenses hang in space and float in a wash of colors that make them seem effervescent, almost like floating soap bubbles, including the natural visual distortion that comes with prescription lenses. The Exploratorium commissioned this work for Gallery 3, and the sculpture will be unveiled as part of Glow and remain on view for visitors to experience for years to come.
Find your light
Glow acts as a portal to excitement by creating experiences that ignite wonder, upend perceptions, and inspire curiosity. Get ready to be dazzled and surprised by battle enemies, lava, and force fields with one-dimensional LED dungeon crawlers. Line Wobbler by game developer Robin Baumgarten is a 1DK experimental hardware game. The minimalist light design is attached to a spring controller — or wobbler — allowing the participant to control a green pixel while battling. Using a spring that moves the pixel along an LED strip, Line Wobbler lets the participant move the spring to push the pixel forward and backward, with sound effects controlled by the wobbler’s acceleration.
Delight in brilliant sculptures by Paul Friedlander in his exhibit Good Vibrations. Forms that spin and twirl become “light wave sculptures” using rotating or vibrating objects — strings or rods of carbon fiber or fiberglass. They appear as streaks or trails because of the light’s rapid movement and create multicolored waveforms, or a chromastrobic light – light that changes color faster than our eyes can perceive.
The Gateway by OK Design explores the curious patterns created by 91 infinity mirrors moving in harmony. The 182 motors bring the honeycombed mirrored shapes to life, illuminated by 11,000 RGB LEDs. The fully customized structure, mechanics, and electronics—along with the firmware and software to drive them—were choreographed and designed from scratch.
Inner Horizons by Cat Scott allows the viewer to experience the universe as one big bubble inside a fluid sculpture. Sixteen aquarium pumps, LED lights, and glycerin help set the mood and answer the question, “What’s it like to be inside a bubble?” The landscape evokes deep space, the depths of the ocean, or perhaps our experience inside the womb.
Your Point of View 2.0 presents a reality shift through clustered monochromatic light lines. Walk around the light sculptures to see the different shapes and forms they present depending on where you stand. Created by Studio De Schutter, the work is based on Gestalt psychology, or the idea that our brains perceive distinct elements as part of a larger whole.
Dive into an experience of storytelling and optics at Glow Cinema, a series of short films that explore the interplay between art and science through color and shifting light, traveling through natural landscapes and abstract worlds. Mountains glow, colors ripple, and familiar forms incandesce before your eyes.
An exploration of sensation
“What makes Glow so memorable is that every artwork asks visitors to experience light differently,” said Allison Roach, director of temporary exhibitions. “Some works shift as you move around them, while others invite you to play, look closely, or simply pause and take them in. Together, they create the kind of surprising, shared experience that draws people back to Glow each winter.”
.
