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There are more and more light festivals in Switzerland. How they relate to each other and why copying is not possible.
When dancing figures scurry over old town walls, colorful stars decorate churches or a Matterhorn hologram appears over the lake, then it’s back: the time of the light festivals.
Legend:
This year the light projection “Mountains Moved” by Timo Martens floats above Lake Lucerne.
Keystone/Urs Flüeler
There are now almost two dozen such spectacles in Switzerland. One of the “oldest” is the light festival in Murten (FR), which is currently running.
Legend:
Ballerinas do pirouettes in Murten’s main street.
Murten Light Festival/Carim Jost
In 2016, the medieval town artistically staged buildings, streets and old town towers for the first time. Since then, various smaller and larger light festivals have been added in Switzerland.
Lyon is a great role model
However, Murten did not invent the light festival. Rather, the town was inspired by the Fête des Lumières inspire in Lyon, the oldest and most famous light festival in the world. “Lyon was our role model,” says Simon Neuhaus from the festival management, “but we didn’t want to copy the concept one-to-one.”
Legend:
The Fête des Lumières in Lyon attracts an audience of millions every year.
Keystone/Laurent Cipriani
Murten itself is now a role model – for other Swiss cities. “Every year, new delegations visit us and check whether such an event would also be interesting for them,” says Neuhaus.
These conversations often involve very practical questions, such as: What does a light festival need for a culinary offering? Or: How do you prevent long queues?
“An exchange can ultimately lead to a co-production,” says Simon Neuhaus. And those who work together can, in the best case scenario, also save costs.
Lucerne has the largest audience
It is this exchange that ensures that the individual light festivals do not perceive each other as competition.
Each additional light festival creates added value for the others.
This is confirmed by Simon Neuhaus from Murten as well as Thomas Fritschi from the Lucerne Light Festival, which takes place at the same time as the one in Murten: “Every additional light festival creates added value for the others.” The Lucerne version took place for the first time in 2019 and is now the largest light festival in Switzerland with over 100,000 visitors.
Legend:
The light projection “Reuss” by the artist Kasia Pawlosky is emblazoned on the water tower of the Kapellbrücke.
Keystone/Urs Flüeler
It’s not possible to copy one another’s things one-to-one, says Fritschi: “Every city has its own requirements.” But he also emphasizes that collaboration makes sense whenever possible. For example, Lucerne has already passed on an installation to Murten.
The tenor of the Swiss light festivals is: inspiration instead of competition. Or to put it bluntly: the more, the better. In any case, Simon Neuhaus from Murten dreams of a dynamic like the summer music festivals: “There are countless of them all over Switzerland and they fit together well.”