With the spring equinox, Central Europe finally joined the US in that we pushed our clocks ahead and started Daylight Savings Time this week. Frankfurt hailed the lengthening day and Easter week not only with the Spring Dippemesse (a good old-fashioned carnival) but also with the Luminale – a celebration of light and art around the city center.
The weather this week was truly awful; however, we got a nice respite on Wednesday and it seemed like the entire city came out to see the exhibits on offer. We weren’t disappointed.
The absolute highlight of this year’s Luminale was Philipp Geist’s Frankfurt Fades at the Römerburg. The Luminale website describes the installation as “abstract, painted compositions [which] are projected onto the Römer and the City Hall façade. Including the façade elements, which are precisely adapted, visitors are sent on a visual journey through time, through typographical compositions of terms and illustrations. Words and images on the sweeping significance of the Roman Empire on Frankfurt and German history are subtly captured and artistically integrated. The installation is accompanied by contemporary, ambient sounds.” The result was mindblowing.
The Rathaus wasn’t the only building illuminated. The entire Römerberg became a canvas.
Crossing the river, or in the words of Friedrich Stoltze moving from Hibb der Bach to Dribb der Bach, we encountered this fun light sculpture. The artist was on hand to explain that if you touch the sculptures in certain areas, they change colour. They were really impressive against the night skyline. As we were leaving, she was recruiting people to form a human/sculpture circle to try to get them all to change colour at once.
Back Hibb der Bach (Frankfurt dialect for the city side of the river; Dribb der Bach is the Sachsenhausen side), was a series of neon sculptures called Your Point of View. It was lovely seeing how seemingly random shapes suddenly formed and reformed as you moved around them.
This is just a peek. For more on all of the exhibits, check out the exhibit’s website. The next Luminale will be in 2020 and we can’t wait.
Thanks for dropping by this week. If you have any comments, feel free to leave them below. If you have any questions, please contact me. I look forward to hearing from you.
A Baltimorean Abroad 