Light art enchants Chemnitz - a new view of architecture

When night falls, artists from various countries will cast Chemnitz in a new light over the coming days. The second edition of the "Light our Vision" festival features works by 21 artists. From Wednesday to Saturday, thousands of visitors will be attracted each evening. Starting at 7.30 pm, 14 locations will be illuminated - buildings such as the Karl Marx Monument, the opera house and the main railway station.

The giant Marx head - popularly known as the "Nischel" - is staged by Berlin-based video artist Vanessa Cardui. In her work "Finger weg!", an imaginary artist's hand gives the grim face a constantly changing facial expression. "It's about a dialog between the artist's hand and the face, the portrait," said Cardui about her work. The painting hand searches for a facial expression, whereby the face takes on a life of its own.

Just a few steps away, the multi-award-winning Australian artist duo Atelier Sisu transforms a dreary parking lot with large, colorfully illuminated bubbles into a fantasy world that is intended to convey fleeting moments of beauty.

Breaking open the divided city centre with a vision

The initiator of the festival is the Baukultur für Chemnitz association, which links it to an architectural vision for the city. It is also about using light art to break up the divided city center in a visionary way, explained artistic director Majo Ussat. The installation "Widerstandsmoment II" by Hinrich Gross from Hamburg on the "Parteifalte" - the elongated office colossus from the GDR era directly behind the Marx Monument - shows how this can be achieved. His installation makes the building transparent and reveals the side behind it for a moment.

The festival is reportedly financed by donations and sponsors. The majority of the light installations can be seen free of charge. The individual locations and areas will be illuminated simultaneously for 5 to 10 minutes at a time between 7.30 pm and 11 pm. This is followed by a 15-minute break so that visitors can move on to the next location. An "art support ticket" must be purchased for two locations.

According to the organizers, the light spectacle will continue next year, when Chemnitz hopes to attract visitors from Germany and abroad as European Capital of Culture. Another four days are planned for the end of September.