<link https: www.frankfurt-tipp.de ffm-aktuell s ugc die-luminale-steht-in-den-startloechern-wenn-licht-zur-kunst-wird.html _blank>UPDATE: News about the program and highlights announced at the press conference can be found HERE
With a new concept, LUMINALE 2018 enters its now ninth round. <link https: www.frankfurt-tipp.de ffm-aktuell s ugc die-luminale-2018-bringt-den-roemer-zum-leuchten.html _blank>We already told you about one of the highlights of the festival, a special illumination of the Römer, a few days ago. Now there is more information about the festival of international light art, which will take place parallel to the international trade fair Light + Building from 18 to 23 March 2018 in Frankfurt and Offenbach. With specialist experts and artists from Germany and abroad, the Luminale aims to engage in an interdisciplinary discourse on the city and the future, incorporating social, ecological, technological and artistic aspects.
This will not only be thematically more comprehensive than in the past, but also larger and more impressive overall: a total of 140 projects are on the programme in the five festival categories ART, COMMUNITY, STUDY, SOLUTIONS and BETTER CITY. The ART category alone, in which a seven-member expert curatorium supports the programme team, brings together 30 outstanding light art projects and artistic works in the field of tension between light and the city. There are guaranteed to be some crowd-pleasers among them.
But it's supposed to be about more than just making people's eyes pop and creating beautiful images. The Luminale has also set itself the goal of providing important impulses for modern and sustainable urban design. Mayor Peter Feldmann, patron of the Luminale, is convinced that the ninth edition of the festival will offer visitors, but also the city, a great deal: "The optimised concept has given the festival a new quality. Luminale 2018 sustainably links artistic productions, technological development and meaningful social goals with each other and raises the profile of our city as a pioneer of modern urban development."
With the Römer, the Alte Oper, the European Central Bank, St. Katharinenkirche and the Eisernen Steg, no less than five of Frankfurt's most important landmarks will become the site of artistic explorations of light and the city in a variety of forms. Philipp Geist will stage the Römer as a walk-in light installation, the Italian artist collective Karmachina will illuminate the history of the Alte Oper in a video mapping show, which will be the venue of the Luminale for the first time. The Bremen artist collective Urbanscreen, together with illustrator Andreas Preis, will transform the façade of the European Central Bank into an animated street art gallery.
Viennese artist Victoria Coeln creates a polychrome light space in St. Catherine's Church using analogue means. Fabian Thiele takes the start of construction of the Eiserner Steg 150 years ago as an occasion for a typo installation with a poem by the Frankfurt dialect poet Friedrich Stoltze.
Discovering the city anew
The Light Walk is one of the innovations of the ninth Luminale. It combines 35 artistic works from all categories into an inner-city gallery, linking landmarks as well as monuments with undiscovered and off-the-beaten-path locations. Those interested can explore the Light Walk in numerous guided tours. The compact walks combine city history with exciting light art. Even long-established Frankfurt residents can gain a completely new perspective on their city. Guests from Germany and abroad can discover Frankfurt away from the usual travel guide tips.
The new concept
Following the new content concept of the Luminale as a "Biennale for Light Art and Urban Design", many of the submitted works take a position on urban design themes. The URBAN CLIMATE CANOPY was developed in collaboration with master's students from the Technical University of Munich at the interface of teaching and research, and intervenes in the public space as an installation, roofing or street furniture in a space-forming and climate-modulating way. In the project "Licht an" (Light on), Jens Schader illuminates nine "dark places" perceived as unsafe in the middle of the high-rise housing estate on Ben-Gurion-Ring, formerly known as a problem district, by means of various luminous elements.
The COMMUNITY category bundles the diverse Luminale programme of Frankfurt's and Offenbach's urban society and leaves room for innovation, experimentation and improvisation. Museums, studios, trendy meeting places, district initiatives, religious communities and associations organise exhibitions, events and art projects. "This deep rootedness of the Luminale in the urban society is truly unique," says Luminale director Isa Rekkab. This is proven not only by the 82 projects in what is thus the most extensive Luminale segment.
In the ATELIERFRANKFURT alone, around 1000 square metres of space will be occupied by nine installations, performances, light sculptures and video works. The studio and exhibition house is home to around 130 studios and offers flexible space for artistic projects, events and (thought) experiments.
An interactive façade projection with a high fun factor is the "Popcorn" project by the designer collective Meso: the largest popcorn machine in the world! Visitors clap their hands to produce popcorn. The more they clap, the more popcorn is "produced" on the facade. Many people make the machine boil over.
You can find information about this and all other projects at <link http: luminale-frankfurt.de startseite _blank>
