Amsterdam Light Festival: Architectural Transformations

This year, we loved the Amsterdam Light Festival so much that we visited it three times and saw it both by land and by water. Little did the organizers know when they chose the theme for the eighth edition that it would be a fitting theme for the entire year of 2020: DISRUPT! 

Disruptions are a part of everyday life. they usually come as an inconvenience, so we often associate them with conflict, chaos and even danger. The artists invite us to view disruption in different ways: some use their artworks to transform the existing architecture of the city, while others show the effects we humans have on nature and the global climate. 

Here’s some of the transformations of existing architecture. This is how the Skinny Bridge usually looks lit up for winter...

...and here is how it looked on the other side. For Night Drawing, the artist jumbled up the lines and erased others thus disrupting the shape of the bridge.

When the artist saw the cracks in the old Montelbaanstoren, she thought they were beautiful and was inspired to create The Cracks.

Hiding in the Wolf’s Lair was by far the most fascinating installation as it told the true story of the 250 people who hid in Amsterdam ARTIS Zoo from the Nazis; the four wolves represented the Nazis who regularly walked past the zoo. In addition to Jews, resistance fighters and young Dutch men who didn’t want to be sent into forced labor camps were hidden in various buildings, including above the monkey and wolf enclosures. Thankfully, no one was ever caught.