Light Art route 2022

Nederlandse versie »

Eager to get into the mood before ALLUMINOUS opens on October 20, 2023? This film of the 2022 edition should give you a taste of what to expect for ALLUMINOUS 2023.

1 - FLEVO LACUS / HAPPY DAYS

In Lumière Park, on the banks of the Weerwater, a lone excavator produces a small but elusive miracle. A magical stream of water runs uninterruptedly from the digging bucket into the ground, as if the digger has tapped into an ancient, mythical source of water. A technological waterfall, with no origin, no function. But full of suggestion as to the magical meaning of water - a connector in this landscape so rich in history.

2 - HINTERLAND

In the middle of the darkest part of Lumièrepark, visitors encounter a glistening, transparent room. A space in which the shapes and colours of nocturnal nature take on a new and unrecognisable character. Here you see nature in its strangest, most futuristic forms. And here you can imagine a future in which the urban, Dutch nature that we know changes so absurdly that we can barely recognise our own, small, city biotope. In the middle of the space is a smaller, second space - a small diorama of Almere's nature, seen in isolation. In this perfect, futuristic form, it looks just a little more menacing than we are used to. Perhaps thus giving us a glimpse of a future in which human action is suffocating nature.

3 - ETERNAL SUNDOWN

Eternal Sundown is the urban sun of the future. Also the future of Almere, a future of natural growth. Above the Weerwater lake, the work of art on the Weerwater Bridge is a technological sun at night and, indeed, one that can only be fully experienced after sunset. This work of art consists of dozens of coloured fluorescent lights - a spectacular sight, with its magical reflections in the Weerwater and its post-apocalyptic presentation of the clash of light and environment.

4 - HIVE

On the small beach on Utopia Island, an ode to the honeycomb rises. A technological feat of nature, developed by bees and for centuries an inspiration for scientists and architects, who embraced the complexity of the honeycomb because it so beautifully shows the complexity of natural structures. That nature can create these complex structures is well known. But humans are Increasingly realising that we can learn from nature, and that many of the innovations of our time might work best if the principles of the natural sciences are applied as the basis on which to look towards for our future.

5 - HOLY PLANKTON

On top of an Almere toilet hut at Atlantis beach, a new nature icon is on display. A glistening, hula-hooping, whale's tail honours Weerwater lake - a unique nature reserve in the middle of Almere. Is it an advertising stunt? A stray mascot from Sea World? Or perhaps a pop art ode to the magic of an urban lake? The Weerwater is no Loch Ness. But it certainly is a strange and enchanting place. With this over-the-top, Las Vegas-style intervention that seems to be shouting, from the roof of a toilet hut, that the Weerwater should embrace its own mythical power. Visitors taking a closer look at the sculpture soon realise that there is more going on. That the mythical Weerwater can be heard and tasted. And that a strange character is inviting you to take part in a real Weerwater 'experience'. At your own risk...

6 - ABSORBED BY LIGHT

It’s an absolutely unique bench, in a city, with a view over the Weerwater lake. Yet it appears that the other three humans on the bench are completely absorbed in their digital lives. Glued to their smartphones. If you sit down next to them, you have to make a choice. Will you absorb the surroundings, or surrender to the digital lure of our times? We can all identify with this, only too well, as we are all, often, smartphone addicts. Like the other three. With our heads somewhere very far away from where our bodies are we are, technologically, absent.

7 - FLOWERING PHANTASM

This work of art is everything and nothing. In one and the same time. It is a representation of nature as a technological superorganism. After all, why would nature want to be just one thing in the future? If nature and technology have to work together in the near future, to survive, it’s logical that new, fluid intermediate, nature-technology forms will emerge. A carnivorous plant is just doing its best to survive, so why can’t it become a rootless flower, free to seek out a new spot in nature? Why shouldn't jellyfish crawl up the city beach to become trees, generating some much-needed oxygen for the Almere resident jogging along the Weerwater shore?

8 - ROTIFERS

You wouldn't say so, but these colourful, wondrous beasts are enlarged specimens of perhaps the smallest creatures in the animal kingdom – rotifers. Here they take over the city beach at the Esplanade, all colour and energy, while these single-celled creatures are actually minuscule. Found mostly in water and wet soil, as many as two million could fit into a single square metre!