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Doel, East Flanders, Belgium.

This village is threatened with complete demolition due to future enlargement plans of the harbour of Antwerp.

Meanwhile, the debate if the current harbour spaces can not be used more efficiently should be more outspoken..

Gent - Light Festival

"Luminarie De Cagna is an Italian family business founded in 1930. Back then on festive occasions the company illuminated buildings and squares with oil and carbide lamps. This was quickly switched to electric lights, and since 2006 only LEDs are used for new projects. The lights are joined to make large curtains of light, which are placed onto buildings or spread out on other objects in the area. In this way, whole streets and even squares are full of light.

During the 2012,Ghent Light Festival Ghent, Belfortstraat (Belfort Street) were the domain of the Luminarie Cagna. A giant colonnade made of wood and hundreds of thousands of colored lights, with arches reminds one of Romanesque and Renaissance architecture. The entrance area was an imposing 28 meters high. The audience walks into a fairy tale gallery, surrounded by light and color."

This year the light festival’s theme is ‘Happiness’, which is not a coincidence since 2012 is the Maeterlinck Year in Ghent. On 9 November 1911 the Swedish Academy announced it was awarding the Nobel Prize for Literature that year to the author of Ghent origin, Maurice Maeterlinck. In 2011 it is exactly one hundred years ago, that Maurice Maeterlinck earned the highest literary prize and he still is the only Belgian writer to have received this honour. For a long time it remained unnoticed that his hometown Ghent played a distinct part in the evolution of his literary talent. In 1948 Maeterlinck publishing the charming Bulles Bleues, with memories of his childhood in his hometown Ghent.

However, it is the magical fairy tale "L’Oiseau bleu", the Blue Bird, that broaches the subject of happiness. It is a story about the little girl Mytyl and her brother Tyltyl. They are looking for the Blue Bird, because a fairy has told them that the Blue Bird can cure the girl living next door. On their search they go through exciting adventures, however without success. When they arrive back home, they decide to give the girl their own white dove. And then something extraordinary happens: the white pigeon turns blue and the girl gets better. The moral of the story? By giving something of your own, you bring happiness to people’s lives. Artist participating in the Festival of Lights 2012 can use ”happiness” as source of inspiration for their creations.
Music, of course, also makes one happy. Recently, Ghent was honoured with the title of Creative City of Music , by UNESCO. So, in 2012 light and music go hand in hand. Musicians and light artists join efforts to create various and different light projects.

LGF 2012

The body of this man reflects a different way of life, we don't know of anymore.

Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias - Valencia, Spain.