Visiting the festival of lights 2020
Despite the corona virus Berlin held the 16th edition of the Festival of Lights. Throughout the city you can find light installations, some static and some with moving images and music. Since most of them are located around Mitte I decided to go for a walk there on a Sunday night. It was a warm September evening and many people were still out and about. Even though it was busy, there was plenty of space to move around.
Last year there were some light shows, meaning you had to stand in front of a building, waiting for it to start and could then enjoy the show for a couple of minutes. I don’t know if it had to do with Corona and not wanting people to stand in the same spot in masses, but this year was different. Most of the images I saw were actually static. It’s still beautiful, but I must admit that it’s so much more spectacular to see a little movie played on a building.
Brandenburger Tor was one of the locations with a “little movie” called the symphony of life. It was brilliantly done and I watched it a few times. To make sure it all went smoothly, people were walking around with stereos announcing to the crowd to keep a distance between each other and where a mask where it’s busy.
I knew there was also some light at the Oberbaum Brücke and I decided to have a look on my way home from my Samba class one day. I did not expect to see some amazing moving images on this this bridge. You can enjoy it on a walk along the Spree. Normally people come to the bridges for sunsets, but it’s worth staying until dark.
Unfortunately not all of the light displays were put on at the same time. The TV tower only got lit on the 17th, whereas the festival started on the 11th. Because I came out on the first weekend of the festival I missed out. I guess they want you to come back multiple times? In any case it’s pretty hard to see all of the artworks since you’ll have to cross the whole city from Charlottenburg to Marzahn. Even though I didn’t see it all, I had a lot of fun again, just like last year. The city is just so colorful and it creates a totally different atmosphere. Can’t wait to see what’s coming for 2021!
