My friend recently moved to Eindhoven and meeting him is a good excuse to see this city as well and what occasion better than the GLOW festival! Glow is a Light Art Festival that happens every year in November and this year it was the 14th edition and is happening right now, this year from 9-16 Nov! This year the theme is called 'Living Colors'. Many of these installations were created here in Eindhoven itself, by designers from across the globe. It begins at 6:30pm and we started at about 7:00pm and were on the streets till about 9:30pm and could complete about, a bit more than half the route.
We visited there last weekend. Living close to the railway station, our first stop was Sunflowers for Van Gogh. Ofcourse, its Netherlands, so it definitely has a connection with Vincent Van Gogh and he definitely has a connection with Sunflowers!!! This light installation is created by Gu Yeliang and Hugo Vrijdag made in the traditional Chinese Lantern style! Our next stop was Sink, at Warehouse of Innovation. Its an interior display & is the brainchild of Lumus Instruments and Albert van Abbe. It felt like a warehouse turned into a discotheque, complete with laser light show. Check out the video below for it. Just outside this building is a huge discolight ball, which is an artwork called Panic at the Disco by the local artist, Lucas Maassen. Our next stop was Hypar, an artwork by the Ignite, a team of students from Eindhoven Institute of Technology. Its several aluminium cubes together forming a hyperbolic paraboloid. Next was Lumiere Tango at Heuvel Mall which were a set of about 48 blue stage-spotlights making a synchronized dance! This is an artwork by Astor Piazolla, from Amsterdam. The mall also has 7 more displays in the first floor and 1 more at the exit which we chose to skip!Soon we were at Augustijnenkerk, for the incredible video-mapping by the Portugal Studio, Ocubo called Triptych. This projection is a part of a 3 part series, with this depicting Heart, followed by 2 more depicting Light & Time. This series is totally worth the wait in the line in that crowd. The show is mesmerizing and is a visual spectacle! The end of the video below is this video mapping.After passing by smaller displays, our next big stop was at Floral Flow in the Dommel River near Van Abbe Museum. This has 4 buds that are 'fed' by light and bloom into flowers! This is created by the students of Fontys University. The next video mapping was supposed to be on the Van Abbe Museum itself which wasn't working on the day we went!Our next stop was Ping, a roller-coaster like display but of lights! This is also a creation of an Eindhoven based artist, Gijs van Bon. Its a series of beacons, that lays 150m long. Light & Sound are transmitted from one beacon to another till the end. Some are slow and melodious while some are quick and loud! Located outside of the central city area, this installation in the middle of dark night was splendid! Have a look at the video to get an idea of this spectacle!After a few more smaller installations, we stopped at another splendid video mapping on De Witte Dame, a modern building, plain and perfect lending a clear canvas to be creative! This is called Color Symphony and is a masterpiece of Jan Fabel, Dirk van Poppel and Erwin Steijlen. Further ahead were 3 more video mapping and the Light Show Noviter in Philips Stadium. Unfortunately it was getting a bit too late and a bit too chilly outside to be with our little Atyudarini and we chose to skip those and head back home. The only issue with Glow Eindhoven is that its too many displays in too small space. In comparison - for the size of London, there were 50 installations split in 6 areas during London Lumiere and in Brussels there were only 12 installations during Bright Brussels! Eindhoven on the other hand is a smaller city and it has 33 installations, within a smaller area within the city!!! The crowd was unbelievable. With the size of this city, and the small part of the city which was used for the displays, it felt very crowded. At some places we had to just walk with the crowd, we couldn't go back or overtake! The crowd was very well managed though. Volunteers & guards were present everywhere. I really hope they utilize more area in the upcoming editions and place the installations across different areas, including Strijp S area, north of the Railway station etc. Here's a tip: Be aware of the crowd, esp., if you're traveling with young children or elderly people. You may want to skip those strollers and take baby carriers. If you have limited time choose only to see the 'Great Lights' (the pink dots on the map) which are gorgeous visual spectacles like video mapping on buildings!
To Get There:Glow Eindhoven Route 2019.All are free of cost, except the Noviter show at Philips Stadium.Noviter Show - €5 - online; €7.5 at ticket desk, €1 for children below 12.
