Festival
Research

[ Wiener
Lichtblicke ]

from light art to augmented reality

Date

29. September 2022 & 31 August 2023
Partner

Victoria Coeln
Location

Vienna, AT

The participatory art project Wiener Lichtblicke transforms everyday places into light sculptures, so-called chromotopes, based on an annual theme. There have been numerous collaborations with artists at individual locations in Vienna's urban space and, in terms of augmented reality, the collaboration with the SystemKollektiv.

At [ Wiener Lichtblicke ], light-based art is transforming public urban spaces into so-called chromotopes. Everyone is invited to immerse themselves in the analog and digital light installations scattered throughout the city. While the analog light artworks only shine in the dark, the AR works can also be experienced during the daylight.

I find my working approach in the knowledge that visibility and thus reality only emerge in the interaction of light and matter. For my artistic practice, this means that when I intervene in the form of light, I change what appears and how it appears. I decide on visibility and reality - and change a piece of the world.

Victoria Coeln

The overall artistic concept for 2022 and 2023 was a close collaboration between Litto, the artistic director of the Artificial Museum, and Victoria Coeln, the founder of Vienna's Lichtblicke: the digital world meets light art, virtual light objects merge with real light images. Litto designed a special scanning method that we are able to use for light projections. The results are three-dimensional light figures that incorporate the different motifs of Victoria Coeln's chromotopes.
Since its foundation, themes such as “Human Rights” (2020), “Civil Courage” (2021), “Constitution” (2022), “Democracy” (2023) and “Water/Movement” (2024) have been artistically negotiated at the Vienna Lichtblicke.

Wiener Lichtblicke
- Curation:
- Victoria Coeln
- Development:
- SystemKollektiv
- Photos:
- © Helmut Prochart & SystemKollektiv