Frankfurt in a new light - The Luminale 2014

In 2014, the Luminale, the biennial of light culture, ensured for the seventh time that Frankfurt was transformed into a fascinating work of light art at night. Around 180 projects in the entire inner city area, as well as in Offenbach, invited visitors to marvel, stroll and dream. Hotspots of the seventh Luminale were, among others, the main station, the banks of the river Main, the Naxoshalle, the new Osthafenbrücke or the Palmengarten. No wonder that with the unique motifs created by the light installations, many professional and amateur photographers were out and about capturing "Frankfurt in new light". This resulted in some truly wonderful images, a selection of which has now been published as a handy illustrated book.

The whole thing was documented by Michael Frost, who regularly deals with the subject of photography for the Frankfurter Neue Presse. The book starts with introductory text contributions by Frankfurt's Lord Mayor Peter Feldmann and Head of the Department of Culture Dr. Felix Semmelroth, as well as interviews with FNP photographer Christian Christes, who also reveals some helpful tips for amateur photographers here, amateur photographer Volker Keller, the winner of the big photo competition, as well as with Luminale curator Helmut M. Bien. Especially the interviews with Christes and Keller are really interesting and are a perfect complement to the picture section of the book, especially for amateur photographers.

But the focus of "Frankfurt in a new light" is of course clearly the many great Luminale photos, which are presented on almost 140 pages. After the winning pictures of the photo competition, the book goes through the individual stations of the Luminale 2014. From the view of the Frankfurt skyline, the path leads past the main station to the participating churches and museums to the stock exchange, the Literaturhaus and the Palmengarten. By using different angles and lenses, by playing with colours and exposure time, a truly fascinating kaleidoscope of impressions is created here, which not only highlight the beauty of Frankfurt, but also reveal the beauty of an art project like the Luminale.

The way in which not only the skyline and its skyscrapers, but also squares, old buildings or more unusual places like the inside of a ship are used as projection surfaces for light art here is truly unique. This is very difficult to capture even with the best cameras. But even if they can't match the very special atmosphere of a real visit to the Liminale, the images compiled for this book make the festival's specialness very tangible. Moreover, the book is a testimony to the enormous fascination that photos can exert on the viewer. So "Frankfurt in a new light" is certainly not a replacement for the Luminale, but a good addition and the perfect way to shorten the waiting time for the next festival of light art in 2016. Absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp