Lucerne’s old town becomes a canvas for its giant interactive festival of lights

Category: (Self-Study) Lifestyle/Entertainment

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Tens of thousands of visitors flocked to Lucerne as the Lilu Light Festival turned the city’s cobbled streets and riverfront into a glowing, interactive art experience.  The festival drew artists from across Europe, blending inspiration and technology, to transform the city into one of Switzerland’s most picturesque winter destinations.

In the square of Vögeligärti, the planet “Venus” by Immersive Light Factory glowed at the center, radiating warm light and showing one of Earth’s closest neighbors in wonderful detail. The planet installation was flanked on one side by the swirling colors of “Carnival of Lights” by Lightspray Visual.

Mechanical structures brought the visuals to life, projecting small light displays onto the walls of Lucerne’s Central and University Library. Nearby, “Coloured” by Immersive Light Factory illuminated the Torbogen arch outside Lucerne’s main rail station. The combination of historic squares and cutting-edge installations created a surreal winter landscape, where centuries-old architecture met modern art and dynamic color.

Along the river Reuss, Jesuitenkirche, the Jesuit church is bathed in light. Inside, the ticketed projection mapping show “SOUL” by PROJEKTIL immersed visitors in dynamic visuals all over the church’s interior, creating a spectacular reshaping of the space and music.

André Bulli, marketing manager at Lucerne Tourism, says the festival has grown into Switzerland’s largest light event. “It’s the biggest light festival in Switzerland, with around 150,000 people every year. So, we have around 15,000 people in the city each day, which is a lot. We sell more than 80,000 tickets for the light show here in the Jesuit church, and we have more than 70 light shows in the church during the whole festival,” he says.

Bulli explains why the festival began in 2017. He says, “The reason was that in January, Lucerne is always empty for tourists and there’s not much going on. It’s cold, and people are inside. So, we tried, in cooperation with the hotels, to do something to attract more people to the city. And this was the light festival.”

This article and video were provided by The Associated Press.

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[Vögeligärti in Lucerne with light installation “Venus” by Immersive Light Factory in the center]

[“Venus” and “Carnival of Lights” by Lightspray Visual]

[“Carnival of Lights”]

[Projector]

[“Venus”]

[“Coloured” by Immersive Light Factory next to Lucerne Rail Station]

[Jesuitenkirche, a Catholic Church, covered in light]

[Light show “Soul” by PROJEKTIL taking place inside the church]

André Bulli (interview): “It’s the biggest festival, light festival in Switzerland, with around 150,000 people every year. So we have around 15,000 people in the city for each day, which is a lot. We sell around more than 80,000 tickets for the light show here in the Jesuit church and we have also more than 70 light shows in the church during the whole festival.”

[Lights on church altar]

[Audience at the end of the show]

André Bulli (interview): “It started in 2017. And the reason was like in January, Lucerne is always empty for like tourists and there’s not much going on. There’s no festival. It’s cold, people are inside. And we tried in cooperation with the hotels to do something to attract more people to the city and this was the light festival. It was happening in the Netherlands and in Lyon in France with big festivals. We went there, we saw that, we loved it. We came back and tried as well.”

[Excerpt from “Solar Dust” installation by Quiet Ensemble]

Nicolas Roziecki (interview): “So this piece is called Solar Dust. It’s part of a research from the studio that aims at reproducing the effect that we can feel when we look at the grandiose cosmos or the tiny elements of nature.”

[Lasers performing in “Solar Dust”]

Nicolas Roziecki (interview): “This installation is quite a simple technical setup aimed at reproducing the effect of what we could see for the big bangs, the stars dying, or the birth of stars.”

[Lasers performing in “Solar Dust”]

[Lights on the Old Swiss House restaurant]

[Octo.Lux by 2Strahlig]

[Visitors along the lakeside amongst the “Walk Through Colours” installation by Immersive Light Factory]

[Lake-mounted element of Echo by BIBI]

[Visitor saying: “I love you” into the shout hole and taking a picture of lights responding]

[“A Geometric Sky” by Javier Riera]

[Installation]

[“Sounds of the Sky” by Daniel Kurniczak]

[Boats on lake as part of “Capt’ain Memo” by Chezbulb]

[Visitors trying to replay the sequence given by the colored boats]

[Boats lighting up]

[Robin Baumgarten’s Line Wobbler]

[“Big Blue” by Simón Aurel Schwarz & Jasmin Hauser]

[“Breathe” by Latvian studio Artistic]

[“The Apothecary’s Awakening” by Jésus Baptista]

[Countdown on the water tower and the “Mantra” by Eastside Lights.Media]

[People walking across the Rathaussteg bridge]

[Bridge]

[Lucerne from the top of a hill]

[City walls]

This script was provided by The Associated Press.