Digital castle light shows in livestream
“The demolition in reality becomes a departure into virtuality” – this is the slogan of the Schlosslichtspiele 2020. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the castle forecourt cannot be used this year, which is why the organizing team from Karlsruhe Marketing and Event GmbH and the ZKM I Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe designed a digital light show concept.
The shows will be streamed live online from August 5 to September 13, 2020. Two world premieres and five of the most popular shows from 2015 to 2019 will be shown.
The castle was digitally recreated from over 70,000 individual images
New to the program are the shows “Attitude Indicator” by TNL and “Changes” by Ruestungsschmie.de. In addition, “Defilee zum 100. Geburtstag der Avantgarde” by DSG animation + vfx from 2016 and “300 Fragments” by the Hungarian artist collective Maxin10sity from 2015 will also be shown on the premiere evening from 8.15 pm. For the first digital light shows, the palace and palace forecourt were virtually recreated from over 70,000 individual images. Thanks to the detailed animation, viewers can now take up different positions on the castle grounds and view the light shows from different perspectives. In the three-dimensional modelling of the palace square, the digitization experts have made every effort to achieve maximum authenticity and have even included park benches and litter garbage cans.
Audience can adopt different perspectives
According to ZKM Director Peter Weibel, designing a digital backdrop was the biggest challenge in organizing the sixth Schlosslichtspiele. “Previously, only the artists had worked on their projections for months. This time, other team members also had to do additional programming work,” says Weibel. But the effort was worth it, as the audience can now view the light shows from a position of their choice – even a bird’s eye view is possible.
Community experience cannot be replaced
However, the community experience of the previous editions cannot be achieved with the digital edition. “Unfortunately, it is not possible to be part of a collective,” emphasizes Weibel. What is certainly missing the most is the overwhelming scale of the castle façade. “Just as a postcard only gives an idea of the size of a mountain, the digital edition on the screen cannot replace the large-scale event,” says Weibel.
ZKM Director Peter Weibel hopes for an audience of millions
Nevertheless, the new format also offers opportunities. Until now, the Schlosslichtspiele have only been designed for a local audience. During the six-week season, an average of over 300,000 spectators from all over the region flocked to the castle every year. “If we’re lucky, we’ll reach a non-local mass audience all over the world through the internet broadcast, who will watch the Schlosslichtspiele on their screens. Then we can get millions of people excited about this project,” says Weibel. The virtual Schlosslichtspiele will therefore not remain a one-off experiment. If the development of the coronavirus pandemic allows, the Schlosslichtspiele 2021 will be conceived as a hybrid – with projections on the castle façade for the local audience and live streams to the worldwide web.
Light shows were a gift for the city’s 300th birthday
The Schlosslichtspiele were launched in 2015 on the occasion of Karlsruhe’s 300th birthday. The “300 Fragments” projection by Hungarian artist collective Maxin10citty was shown at the opening ceremony on June 17, 2015. The multimedia artwork, which is peppered with numerous visual references to Karlsruhe’s city history, has been an integral part of the Schlosslichtspiele ever since.
Cover picture Schlosslichtspiele I Photo: Uli Deck