Melting glaciers creates light festival in the alps

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In the Alps have been set up 36 lightworks to tell the world that glaciers are melting and the rapidly changing climate in the Alps will change the standard of life as we know it.

The glaciers will be melted away in 20-30 years.
The whole valley surrounding the old bishop and monastery city Brixen/Bressanone was lit up 7 hectares (70.000 m2) by small fireboxes set up by the vineyard farmers. It is also a method needed to keep the vines above -1C. 

The Water Light Festival in Brixen hopes the showcase of impressive light art works will make more people realize that the problems with climate change will affect all.

On the imposing facade of the Brixen Cathedral from the year 980 is the projection work “Climate” by Spanish artist group Onionlab set up. It is an artwork showing Utopia, the perfect society we dream about with a world without climate change.

The alarm bells are now on in Brixen, that is surrounded by the Alps mountains, that for centuries has been creating great food, and culture for the italians and the visitors. A life that also is threatened by climate change, opposed to dystopia, a catastrophic scenario if we do not intervene.

“My personal opinion about losing the glaciers is losing something which might never, ever come again in this world. So that makes me anxious sometimes” and Werner Zanotti, organizer and also head of tourism says: “What shall we do about it? First of all, think about. Secondly, reflect. And thirdly, act.“

Professor Georg Kaser, Professor in Glaciers from the University of Innsbruck confirms: “Glaciers are strongly melting and they continue to melt even stronger, until they will be gone here in the eastern Alps in 20-30 years” says Professor Georg Kaser.
Climate change is also going to affect the global economy very strongly and Professor Georg Kaser does not know if people will be able to travel.

Spain artist Jordi Pont from Onionlab explains the idea in the impressive work on the Cathedral is, that the world with climate change is a dystopian, dry and gray world marked by the consequences of the climate catastrophe and the utopia that is a bright and harmonious world.
“We think that it is a utopia but we can try to get there”, says Jordi Pont from Spain.

Visitor Markus Apfelbacher from Germany was also affected by the light art:
“It’s a totally different way of approaching these very important topics, and especially from my personal point of view, I think it’s easier, accessible if you just transform it, or if you communicate in the way of art. So it probably sticks longer, to the brains of the people and, and evokes something which is a little bit different from, from the things you’re hearing or confronted with in the new state.”
Bettina Walz, also curator of the inside exhibition in Neustift Abbey says: “It is very dramatic and here we can experience it. We not only read about it, we not only heard about it, We can have a sensation about how it feels”.
Visitor Annalena Hvala, receptionist says;
“It’s amazing. So it’s my first time here in Brixen and it’s so beautiful, and it’s also so it’s interesting. And you know, I think the climate change and also the water, it’s like it’s so important for us, also for the future”.

This year’s Brixen Water Light Festival got international artists from 17 countries, such as USA, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, France, Czech Republic, Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Slovenia, Tunisia, India-Great Britain, Argentina, Colombia and Chile.

Green Washing shows a machine and tubes in nature, made by German artists Tentakulum, and it deals with the tension between nature and society. The green water is enriched with uranine and is seen to circulate in the hoses. 

The work on the smaller church Erhardskirche – Chiesa Sant‘Erardo is also made by a German artist group RaumZeitPiraten. It collects data such as the weather conditions and the movements of people passing by. The light uses this data to adapt to the environment and is seen constantly changing.

Curator Nika Perne explains: “We do art in public space because in public space, the art is not closed in certain venues. I think this is how it can have a big impact. We chose artists that have clear messages, through really powerful storytelling”.

The idea in Lunar Oscillations with many moons hanging in an old courtyard Hofburg

are an interaction between human and nature, when the moons come close to you and is a reminder of the power of nature.

Another interactive installation is the Aquatics, where the artist makes the human replace nature as the creator. The German artist Philipp Artus explains:
“It’s a generative underwater world, where people or the audience can generate their own deep sea creatures and then send them into this kind of aquarium, light sculpture”.

The interacting visitors can determine the type of underwater creature, as well as number, size, shape, color and even behavior. It is not a film and the creator becomes part of the aquarium and everything is just happening one time.
For the artist, Aquatics can be understood as an unreal society.

Another interactive light installation in free, open public space is Human Tiles by the Portuguese group, OCUBO, that uses video mapping to make landscapes of Portuguese tiles “azulejos” on the big library building. The guest can interact with another culture and for everyone who encounters it will generate curiosity and enjoyment. The artwork emphasizes a playful approach to other cultures and their traditions.

Being underwater is also the theme in the work Source by French female light designer Julia Dantonnet. The projections float on the facades around the Brixen many mountain water fountains and create the feeling of being under the water.

Climate change is also the theme by Italian artist Piero Gilardi´s 12 pelicans, who are migrating due to climate change.

Another Italian Esther Stocker is transforming the train station into something not familiar in the work called the Square.

All in all Brixen Water Light Festival has this year invited some of the most important light artists in our time.

Brixen also has a light festival during the day, that is indoor in Neustift Abbey, that due to the location along one of the principal passes through the Alps, have hosted pilgrims since the Roman Empire. The works here are made by many of the pioneers within light art design, such as Francois Morellet, Brigitte Kowanz and Keith Sonnier.

The Brixen Water Light Festival 2024 is not only a display of art, but hope it will inspire people to take actions and visitors are encouraged to reflect on their role in shaping a sustainable future.

It is the 6th time the Brixen Water Light Festival is on.
The Brixen Water Light Festival 2024 will last until May 12.

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