Eindhoven’s GLOW festival marks 20 years with iconic light art

Eindhoven’s Glow light festival is celebrating its 20th edition this year, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors to a city-wide route of light installations. The festival, running through next Saturday, features a mix of returning favorites and new creations.

Glow is known for large-scale, colorful projections on iconic buildings, including the Catharinakerk and the futuristic Blob. Visitors follow a route through artworks by local and international light artists, as well as installations created by city residents and elementary school students.

This year’s centerpiece is the Renaissance Tunnel, created by the Italian De Cagna family. Its arches are covered in thousands of colored lights inspired by cathedral architecture. The installation has appeared in various forms in previous editions, including a street display in 2010 and a dome in front of Eindhoven Central Station in 2011.

Other highlights include a scaled-down version of Connecting the Dots from 2020, when the festival illuminated the city in blue during the COVID-19 lockdown, with a thousand red balloons symbolizing hearts.

Just before the official opening, a VIP preview on Friday evening was held for children from Dream4Kids, an organization supporting children unable to attend regular festival hours due to trauma. The children were reportedly treated as VIPs, exploring the festival route while arriving in fire trucks and police cars with flashing lights and sirens.

Alderman Robert Strijk welcomed the children at City Hall, where they were the first to see the anniversary project “The First GLOW” and received a Lego set of the City Hall along with festive treats.

Glow has expanded to nearby towns such as Oirschot, Best, Helmond, Veldhoven, and Lieshout. Ramakers said the festival’s joy comes from seeing “happy people,” while Louwers plans to volunteer all eight days, ending with a “houdoe” farewell at midnight on Saturday.