Final report Luminale 2008

More than 100,000 visitors from all over the world came to see more than 220 illuminations and over 180 events, covering every aspect of lighting design, the art of light, and urbanism in Frankfurt and the Rhine-Main region. In the Rhine Valley it will be possible to see some of the illuminations.

Luminale accompanies Light+Building, the leading international trade fair at the Frankfurt Fair & Exhibition Centre.
Luminale

Highlights of Luminale included the architectural projection on the Great Market Hall in Frankfurt’s Ostend district - which, beginning next week, will be rebuilt to form the headquarters of the European Central Bank. More than 10,000 photographers were on hand to record the light installations in Frankfurt city centre. Some hundred kilometres away the Land Art Installation on the Lorelei Rock drew large numbers of spectators.

Luminale was also the signal for the City of Frankfurt to inaugurate several new permanent installations: the Deutschherrnbrücke, a railway bridge in the Ostend district, now illuminated; and, in the city centre, the Goethplatz, with its monument to Frankfurt’s most famous son. The lighting design for the Dreikönigskirche on the Main also has good prospects of continuation beyond Luminale.
In Mainz the Theodor Heuss Bridge was linked to the network.
 
Alongside Frankfurt, Offenbach, Darmstadt, Wiesbaden, Rüsselsheim, Mainz and Achaffenburg also took part in Luminale, as did the Upper Mid-Rhine Valley, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And each town and city developed its own nightly charm.

Energy efficiency and light pollution were two themes which played a major role in the festival. Thus the Römerhallen in Frankfurt featured an exhibition on this subject, which alone attracted some 10,000 visitors. The latest energy-saving LED technology was also shown in Frankfurt Cathedral.

The many lighting designers who came to Frankfurt were particularly pleased with the way Luminale went. This biannual festival demonstrated the great need for master lighting designs in both towns and regions. It has led, for instance, to publication of the first lighting guidelines for the Rhine Valley. Keen local interest has encouraged local authorities to commit capital investment to lighting, thus assuring themselves of support from a critical public. The replacement of old by new lighting technology alone provides potential savings of 60 percent and more. This helps the environment, improves the quality of life, and reduces the burden on the public purse.

Luminale has also succeeded in establishing itself among the experts as a biannual festival of lighting art. International lighting designers and media artists use this platform to present their work to the public. The concept of Luminale is unique. It links high-quality professional events with attractive illuminations for the general public. In conjunction with Light+Building, Luminale also demonstrates to industrial exhibitors the need for new lighting solutions for local authorities, for the real-estate sector and urban development - and for end consumers, too.

Visitors to Luminale were able to enjoy their evenings, while industry could plainly see that light is one of the building materials of the twenty-first century.

Luminale 10
Biennale Lighting Culture
FrankfurtRheinMain
April 11 till 16, 2010