REFLEKTOR Light Festival is a festival for the senses and the mind exploring our experience
of light.

About Reflektor
Light Festival

REFLEKTOR is a new type of festival aiming to nurture curiosity and empower human discoveries of light. The festival is a culmination of light artists and other light explorers coming together with the public to explore and celebrate the boundaries of light.

When darkness falls and the melancholy of the fall quietly sneaks up on the city of Copenhagen, REFLEKTOR is opening up Søndermarken gardens to showcase evocative light art installations exhibited among high treetops and wild growing nature.

Infused with inspirational and explorative light talks, guided walks and key notes, the festival will provide the audience with a space for a spiritual break, reflection, quiet contemplation. Collectively, it offers new perspectives and understandings of how modern day life and it’s daily routines are intertwined with the light that surrounds us.

Behind the festival is a group of dedicated light geeks who are bringing their professional backgrounds in design, art, architecture and anthropology to the table — all in pursuit of bringing you evocative and carefully curated experiences with light.

REFLEKTOR 2017: Light & Dark

This year’s theme “Light & Dark” brings the inherent relationship between light and darkness to the table. Darkness is as important to our lives as light is – a factor often neglected in modern society, which can be pre-occupied with speed and efficiency. This year we treat darkness as a point of departure for dealing with light.

Through the arts and events program we address the two phenomena, Light and Dark, as complementary rather than contradictory. We are set on a quest to explore the balance between light and darkness, to communicate the emotive qualities of light and darkness and to give a voice to why darkness matters as much as light does.

Events

Through a colourful mix of talks, walks and maker events we investigate the qualities of light and darkness. We put the human experience at the center of our event program and invite everyone to join us for co-creation sessions, knowledge building debates and other playful examinations of light & dark.

Talk!

Pick the brains of experts in light at REFLEKTOR SPACE, as urban planners, architects, ethnologists and many more discuss the influence of light and darkness in our everyday life.

Walk!

Explore the dark corners of Søndermarken and listen to the stories behind the light installations when light enthusiasts, darkness activists and many more take you on explorative walks through the park.

Make!

Play around with light effects and explore what light does in your hands at REFLEKTOR LAB, where innovation makers host workshops and create new meanings of light.

Program

Download map & full program here

Thursday, Oct 5

SPACE
18.30—19.00 OFFICIAL OPENING Light and Dark →
Keynote speech by Tor Nørretranders co-author of the book “Lys!/Light!” with Olafur Eliasson
— In Danish

20.00—20.45 TALK Light and light art in the city – pollution or enhancement? →
Light debate with The Danish Lighting Innovation Network
Moderator: Catja Thystrup, Innovation Manager, Lighting Metropolis — In Danish

LAB
19.00—21.00 MAKE Photo walk with light effects →
Open workshop with photographer Astrid Maria B. Rasmussen — In Danish/English

21.00—23.00 MAKE Open LAB
Explore pop-up art and light experiments at first hand

THE CISTERNS
18.00—23.00
Visit The Cisterns during REFLEKTOR, to get the possibility to experience Hiroshi Sambuichi’s installation ‘The Water’ in a different setting →

Friday, Oct 6

SPACE
19.00—19.30 TALK The Nordic DNA of Light & Darkness →
Keynote talk by Head of Lighting Design, Tivoli, Jesper Kongshaug
+ 19.30-19.45 Pop-up talk by artist and director Sidse Carstens — In Danish

21.00—22.00 WALK Darkness walk with soundscapes →
Walk by art collective MYRKR — In Danish

LAB
18.30—20.30 MAKE Make your own glowing badge →
Light workshop for kids by Copenhagen FabLab — In Danish/English

21.00—23.00 MAKE Open LAB
Explore pop-up art and light experiments at first hand

THE CISTERNS
18.00—23.00 Visit The Cisterns during REFLEKTOR, to get the possibility to experience Hiroshi Sambuichi’s installation ‘The Water’ in a different setting →

Saturday, Oct 7

SPACE
19.00—19.45 TALK Life before electricity – the history of light & darkness →
Keynote by Swedish ethnologist and historian Jan Garnert — In Swedish/Scandinavian
+ 19.45—20.00 Pop-up talk by light humanitarian Mathilde Byskov — In Danish

20.00—21.00 WALK Meet the curator and the artists behind REFLEKTOR →
Art walk by festival curator Ann-Kathrine Skjødt and artists — In English

20.30—21.30 + 21.30—22.30 MAKE Light Hack: Lighting designer for the night →
Light workshop by REFLEKTOR — In Danish/English

LAB
19.00—20.00 + 20.00—21.00 MAKE From idea to light installation →
Light workshop by REFLEKTOR artist Obscura Vertigo — In Danish

21.00—23.00 MAKE Open LAB
Explore pop-up art and light experiments at first hand

THE CISTERNS
18.00—23.00 Visit The Cisterns during REFLEKTOR, to get the possibility to experience Hiroshi Sambuichi’s installation ‘The Water’ in a different setting →