City in Motion: GLOW 2014

In a mass of people, surrounded by Belgians and Italians, I visited the GLOW festival again this year. This ninth edition has the theme Stad in Beweging (City in Motion) and comprises of 20 light art installations and performances scattered around the city centre of Eindhoven. No less than 650,000 people attended GLOW this year, a record number!

The art work 'L'Amore non fa rumore' by Luca Pannoli consists of a collection of luminous traffic signs and advertising displays, completely integrated in the background of the urban environment. The artist has reworked the signs and logos, thus undermining their meaning.

The performance art on the Church of St Catherine is a major attraction year after year. This year saw the performance of 'The enchanted cathedral and the seasons' by Ad Lib Creations with Christian Gimat.

'Spidron Mapping' by Bordos.Artworks is an art installation that combines 3D light projections and music.

The official route starts at the Schellensfabriek a former textile factory where there is a café, a restaurant and several exhibits as GLOW side events. Here, 19 up-and-coming designers and artists, nominated for the Foederer Talent Award 2014, show their work. Each one has in their own way interpreted the theme of light. A large number of mannequins crowd the courtyard  and change their character with the changing lights (left). A desolate winter landscape with birches is presented in a box of see-through mirrors (middle). 'Feeling light headed' is the cheeky title of this art school student's work (right).

No less than 2000 group-five and group-seven children from all primary schools in Eindhoven have contributed to this year’s GLOW for Kids project, ‘Glowing in the Wind'. Each child created a small work. These are combined into panels that are top lit and suspended from a structure that snakes through the public garden at the site of the former Mignot & De Block cigar factory.

'Zero Hidrográfico' by Gisela Motta and Leandro Lima is showcased in the abandoned VDMA factory buildings and mimics the movement of the sea. 'Ancora una volta' by Valerio Berruti, could be mistaken for festive seasonal lighting from a distance. In fact the work consists of 10 panels of lights showing a boy making a 'salto' (a jump) that span the Dommelstraat.  'Statemachine: a kinetic light sculpture' by Michel Suk transforms the DELA offices into one large piece of sculpture using light.

'Parklaan Flashback' by Les Orpailleurs du Lumière (left and middle) transports the onlooker back to the roaring twenties with musically chimed projections on two opposite industrialists villas on the Parklaan. 'Guardian Angels' by Mario Avrabou and Dimitri Xenakis in front of the Dommelhoef mansion (on the right).

The installation 'Merellaan Glows' by Iris Dijkstra of Atelier Lek in collaboration with the residents of the Merellaan (Black Bird Avenue) express the residents individual occupations. On the banks of the Dommel river 'L'Envol' by Studio Pitaya appears like a flock of radiant origami birds has settled in the trees (shown on the right).