– 11.11 – 18.11.17

The dust of Dutch Design Week has not yet settled and Eindhoven ignites into GLOW, the yearly open air exhibition showing some 30 installations across town, enhancing autumn urbanity through a variety of luminary arts, concepts and designs from all over the globe. 

Architecture and light are all time companions. During the 'dark' Middle Ages the high pointed arches of the gothic style were invented to allow the heavenly lights fall into the church, illuminate stained-glazed windows to deliver their biblical stories to common and illiterate people. The German interdisciplinary artist Daniel Margraf transfers the same stories by projecting them on the exterior of the neo-gothic St. Catarina Church, blending colors and themes into a new graphic composition of contemporary divinity. 

SCALE & Structure

The grid was crucial to Modernist architects, who could not help but dream BIG. The Hooghuis building on the Keizersgracht remains one of the few examples from an ambitious city-plan devised by the end of the sixties to rationalize the city centre to an unsurpassed scale. While the grand plan failed, the video projection 'Light over Matter' by Har Holland's Office for Architectural Lighting reiterates and emphasizes the exemplary clarity and aesthetics of the concrete- and glass façade of this lonely left over office-tower. 

drama & Scenography

The fact that Philips had more influence on light than any other company in the world, makes Eindhoven the perfect stage for lighthearted storytelling. Artists Dirk van Poppel and Jan Fabel pay tribute by projecting a temporary monument honoring the beauty of the classic bulb on the Blob building at the foot of the Light tower. In the heart of the 'city of lights' drama soars skyhigh. Lighting technician and designer Michel Suk manages to quadruple the dimensions of Town House Square using powerful white beams. An intriguing scenography of composed sound and lighting effects is unfolded at the Philips Villa by Kari Kola. The Finnish Light Artist made a site-specific artwork using LED walls and PANI projections to suggest a history of inventions leading humanity from darkness into light. Prosperity calls for melancholy. Knowing the blue skies and gold light will quickly fade, the gilded season of autumn brings low, slanting light and glow.

Facts

11th- 18th of November GLOW route is accessible for free. Tickets are available for GLOW guided tours and Once upon of a Light shows at Philips Stadium 19.30h or 21.00h each night. 

Obviously, there is much more to see in this years GLOW Eindhoven festival in the City of Light. Click here for the full program.