Light Matters: Europe’s Leading Light Festivals

Within the last ten years, more and more light festivals have globally emerged. The reason for the success of light festivals is simple, as the German curator Bettina Pelz concludes

The most famous light festival today, “Fête des lumières” in Lyon, is derived from a 17th century Catholic procession. However, some towns have developed their light festivals due to a strong technical history with local lighting manufacturers; for example, the city of Eindhoven with Philips and the city of Lüdenscheid with ERCO. Other cities have connected their light festivals with trade shows of the lighting industry, such as the Luminale in Frankfurt. Other festivals have started as educational events like „Light in Alingsås“. And then there are the cities that have just picked up the idea as an attractive initiative for tourism. Of course the concept and aesthetic quality varies depending on whether the tourism board, a technical team or a curator selects the artists and designers. More light is rarely better light

http://www.archdaily.com/443556/light-matters-europe-s-leading-light-festivals/