dal 14 al 25 ottobre 2009

«From October 14 to October 25, 2009, the FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS™ will transform Berlin into a glittering sea of light with 55 eye-catching illuminations. The Brandenburg Gate and Berlin Cathedral, the CityQuartier DomAquarée and Gendarmenmarkt, the Europa Center and Neues Kranzler Eck, the Radio Tower and the Television Tower at Alexanderplatz, the Central Station and Charlottenburg Palace – these are just some of the major buildings and landmarks in Germany’s capital that will be decorated with lights.

The Festival will kick off on October 14, 2009, with a fireworks display on the roof of Galeria Kaufhof at Alexanderplatz. “Last year more than a million local and foreign visitors came to enjoy the spectacle over the 12-day period. We’re proud that the FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS™ has become a major tourist attraction as well as an important economic factor for Berlin in recent years,” says Siegfried Helias, Chairman of City Stiftung Berlin, the foundation responsible for organizing the Festival.

One key highlight at the FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS™ is the light art exhibition at the DomAquarée festival center, a show coordinated by light designer Andreas Boehlke and curator Dieter Barz. Together they have chosen 20 objects – vibrant lighting exhibits created not just by international names like Israel’s Itzik Iluz and Korea’s Eun Sook Lee but also by local German artists, who this year are the main focus of the exhibition – people like Horst Ehlert, Christiane Kling, Johannes Kritzler, Martin Kurpiers, Jörg Puttnins, Nils R. Schultze, Wess Wahrbach and Dag Wesen. They are joined by a ninth-grade art class from the Lina Morgenstern School in Kreuzberg with its Magic Eggs exhibit.

“We’re thrilled to be hosting this colorful exhibition of artists’ work in the DomAquarée’s Heiliggeistgasse as well as the photo exhibition in the atrium. This will bring Berliners together with visitors from all over the world,” says Dr. Bernd Andrich, the CityQuartier DomAquarée’s manager. “With attractions like the AquaDom and the Sea Life Center, plus the extensive hospitality and retail offerings, the festival center is a unique and rewarding experience for visitors. Also, the Radisson Blu Hotel with its view of the river Spree and Berlin Cathedral is a great place to stay,” Andrich adds.

More than 60 additional events are being held parallel to the Festival. They include a number of new highlights, beginning at the start of the Festival, on October 14, with the Velo Tour de Lights, a bike tour and demonstration to promote the use of better lights in road traffic. The tour will be led on a route through the capital’s illuminations by stars from the world of cycling. On October 17, more than 20 illuminated buildings will hold an open house night to offer visitors a look behind the scenes. Among them this year are ARD’s capital studio, the BBI information tower for Berlin’s airports, the Curried Sausage Museum, the Berlin Chamber of Horrors, the Dali Exhibition, Rummelsburg power plant, the last of the GDR-era prefab apartment blocks in Hellersdorf, Lightball NightPlay, the Preussische Spirituosen Manufaktur distillery, the State Mint, and many more.

Likewise spectacular are the Midnight Weddings being held in the five-star Ritz Carlton Hotel at Potsdamer Platz and 130 meters above ground level in the Skylounge at the Hotel Park Inn at Alexanderplatz. On October 24, the Light Run – held in association with Nike this year under the name Human Race Light Run – will take a ten-kilometer route that passes through the illuminated Brandenburg gate. A wide choice of “lightseeing” tours – by bus, boat, velotaxi, limousine and, for the first time, light balloon – offer guests exciting ways to take in Berlin’s special atmosphere and illuminations.

Besides the main sponsor, Union Investment Real Estate GmbH, numerous other partner organizations and sponsors are helping to make the event possible. The FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS™ is organized by City Stiftung Berlin e.V. The co-initiators also include the Festival’s director of lighting, designer Andreas Boehlke, and executive organizer Birgit Zander and her agency Zander & Partner Event-Marketing.

Detailed, daily updated information on the FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS™ is available on the Web at www.festival-of-lights.de and www.domaquaree.de».
(CS di Union Investment).