Alicia Eggert's 'All the Light You See' at the Amsterdam Light Festival
It's here! It's here! The November 28 It has been marked in red on the Dutch calendar for months, and now that there are only a few hours left before the big day, Amsterdammers wait expectantly for one more year ** their city to light up in the most original way: with most fascinating modern art installations.**
We are talking about the ** Amsterdam Light Festival **, an annual event that every November, and until mid-January, conquers the streets of the Dutch city with luminous sculptures that compete with each other to see which one provokes the most astonishment.
This year celebrates its eighth edition and again it is ready to surprise us. Do you want to know a little more about this spectacular project? We tell you.
'Atlantis', by Utskottet, at the Amsterdam Light Festival
2019/2020 EDITION: INTERRUPTION
#DISRUPT or, in Spanish, “#INTERRUPTION”: that is the name given to the 2019 Amsterdam Light Festival. An ode to aesthetic inventiveness in which 20 works of art centered on 5 stories different are the result of the intense work of the artists who, from up to 16 different countries in the world, participate in this new edition.
Authors who have managed to shape their creativity generating everything a parallel world where stories come to life at nightfall: It is then –from 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.– when the installations light up and the public can contemplate them.
And why #Interruption? The idea on which the festival revolves this year, and in which the different works must have been inspired, starts from this concept. And it is that interruptions or disturbances usually come at inconvenient times. They mean an alteration, a conflict... Chaos. How to understand this applied to our lives?
Republic of Amsterdam Radio Nomad Tinker House's 'Hiding in the Wolf's Lair' at the Amsterdam Light Festival
In this sense, the artists involved have had an open letter, and their works, therefore, will show very diverse realities: from how the human being has “broken” into nature , altering it and causing situations that are not entirely desired –climate change, for example, is very present this year–, to how sometimes the opposite happens, and it is we who suffer the disastrous consequences of a "disturbance" of nature. Topics that are exposed, criticized and on which reflection is very present.
And all these options, seen even from the positive side –because, who says that changes, sometimes, cannot be for the better?–, will be reflected in the 20 works that will see the light shortly.
A set of proposals that, like every year, will conquer the most representative streets, canals and buildings of Amsterdam. That they will take over every corner with the intention of surprising us… And, if it happens as in past editions, we are sure that they will!
Now, yes: this has been the result of intense selection work in which the organization has received hundreds of proposals from designers, architects and artists from all corners of the planet, who with their projects have tried to be part of what is already the largest lighting festival in Europe.
Republic of Amsterdam Radio Nomad Tinker House's 'Hiding in the Wolf's Lair' at the Amsterdam Light Festival
A fascinating proposal that can be easily discovered on foot, by bike or, why not, by boat: There are several Dutch companies that, from November 28 -and until January 19-, will include in their offer a new tour of the canals that will start each day at dusk, when the light installations come to life and the streets completely change their appearance.
The itinerary, which is different each edition, will focus this year on the eastern part of the city center, with stops at places like Oosterdok, Oudeschans, Amstel, Nieuwe Keizersgracht or Entrepotdok.
Although we warn: in order not to miss any of these proposals, it is best to take a look at the official map available on the festival website , where the data of each project is indicated, as well as its authors and the exact place where they are found.
But the thing does not stop there, what's up! And it is that, in addition to the urban installations, the Amsterdam Light Festival also proposes a series of parallel activities including talks, exhibitions and workshops with them bringing the event, even more if possible, to locals and tourists.
Masamichi Shimada's 'Butterfly Effect' at the Amsterdam Light Festival
THE AMSTERDAM LIGHT FESTIVAL THAT ALREADY WAS
And what about the past? turns out this highly original festival started in 2012 and since then it has given away – to everyone, to the Dutch and to us, tourists eager for original proposals – a wonderful urban exhibition through which more than 200 light works of art have passed, allowing art to be free and accessible to everyone.
And to get an idea of the leveling, it is enough to comment that, among the artists who have participated in previous editions, there are names as acclaimed as Ai Weiwei himself, who surprised everyone in 2017 with his Thinline installation.
For those who are not lucky enough to coincide in the city with the festival, a note: after the premiere in the Dutch city, A large part of the works is included in a permanent collection that continues to travel to different parts of the world. Although, we are not going to fool ourselves: how they look in Amsterdam… They do not look anywhere else.
Countdown to the Amsterdam Light Festival