From November 10^th to November 17^th, the city of Eindhoven will host again the GLOW festival, one of the top five best visited light festivals in the world. Amongst this year’s 30 light artworks and installations, the GLOW Festival will feature two installations from TU/e students and alumni: LOOP from the student team IGNITE, which will investigate the interaction between visitors and light, and GIBSON from the TU/e alumni Philip Ross and Joep le Blanc, which will focus on light movement and perception.

Worldwide, Paris owes the title of City of Light. Yet, another European city has equal rights of claiming this title: Eindhoven. For many years the largest producer of matches, and undisputed leader in the production of incandescent light bulbs of the 20^th century, Eindhoven made the difference in light production and, as of 2006 with the first GLOW Festival, in light art.

Since its first edition in 2006, the GLOW Light Festival has grown exponentially, reaching a record number of more than 740,000 visitors during the 2017 edition. To date, the GLOW Festival is among the top five best visited light festivals in the world. This year's edition is all about duality, starting from the chosen theme: 'Shadows & Light'. Along the five kilometers route, games of lights and shadows will visually convey the contrast between black and white, big and small, inside and outside, scarcity and abundance, with imposing and spectacular projections as well as smaller, conceptual installations.

Besides major international light artists, GLOW 2018 will give privileged space to innovative and unique local projects made in Eindhoven, like the two projects developed by students and alumni of TU/e: LOOP and GIBSON.

Developed by 22 students of the TU/e student team IGNITE, LOOP is the quintessence of interactive research. This 4 meters high installation is composed of 2400 LED’s and 150 meters of aluminum profiles divided over 20 cubes, which will be controlled by the visitors’ movements. For example, by moving up and down their arms, visitors can change the speed and color of the cubes’ lights. Visitors’ experience will be collected via anonymous questionnaires, and their feedbacks will be used for the realization of “HYPAR”, an ambitious 200 cubes installation that the IGNITE team will showcase during GLOW 2019.

Light helps us perceive our environment. But what if light itself could perceive too? GIBSON explores this question, giving a “sense of touch” to light beams, so that they can feel the surfaces they light up. By moving around, the light beams scan their environment and respond to what they encounter, including visitors. This installation is inspired by the work of psychologist J.J. Gibson on the link between perception and movement. Behind the GIBSON project are the creative genius of Philip Ross, PhD cum laude at TU/e, and Joep le Blanc, graduate cum laude in Industrial Design at TU/e. The GIBSON project is supported by the Intelligent Lighting Institute of TU/e.

You can experience LOOP at Karel Vermeerenplantsoen and GIBSON at the Oude Stadsgracht, every day, from November 10^th to November 17^th. More info on the GLOW Festival at this link.