The Klanglicht festival in Graz

Gallery 2019
Gallery 2018

The festival of lights and sound Klanglicht comes back in 2019 in Graz for its 5th edition. It is one of the most important events taking place during the year in the city. Taking place from 21st to 23rd of April, starting at 8:00 p.m. and going on until 11:00 p.m. every day. This year, the festival promises to be bigger than ever, with nearly 20 installations all over Graz and a brand-new fast-lane festival pass.

The whole city centre of Graz gets painted with lights. On most squares and streets, as well as inside buildings, light installations from artists all over the world get put up to create a one-of-a-kind art exhibition. It is a very popular event and it makes you see Graz in a completely different light. The Opera becomes a canvas for a 3d video, for which you need 3d-glasses. In the Landhaus hundreds of led lights are placed and you can walk through them and interact with the installation to your own accord.

This year, the most impressive installation and all-round favourite according to Instagram are the huge bunnies towering above the Schloßberg and the main square installed by Amanda Parer. But the return of the “Lumineoles” by the french artist Porté par le Vent are also something to look forward to.

Klanglicht is a festival founded by Bernhard Rinne, head of Bühnen Holding, in collaboration with XAL, a leading company for the manufacturing of light and lighting sytems.

The festival Klanglicht in Graz used to take place over only one evening, but last year it was three days for the first time. This year, it takes place over Easter, making the most out of the long weekend.

Important information about Klanglicht 2019

The festival pass is not needed to visit the installations themselves, but it gives access to the play “Transfiguration” at the Graz Opera, plus fast-lane access to the most popular indoor installations in the Next Liberty, in the Schauspielhaus and in Dom in Berg. (These can be accessed anyway if you do not have a pass, but you might have to queue for them). You can buy the pass and other types of packages here.

Here are all the locations of the light installations around Graz:

Kaiser-Josef-Platz: Diplopia by Onionlab (ES)
Next Liberty: //MOVINGSHAPES by HTBLVA Ortweinschule Graz (AT)
Oper Graz: TRANSFIGURATION – DIE VERWANDLUNG by Onionlab & Xavi Bové (ES)
Opernring: Les Luminéoles by Porté par le Vent (FR)
Künstlerhaus: WHAT IF by Tina Frank (AT)
Grazer Burg: ARKESTRA OF LIGHT – POLARIZED by OchoReSotto (AT)
Schauspielhaus Graz: NOTES TOWARDS A MODEL OPERA by William Kentridge (ES)
Freiheitsplatz: SUNKEN CATHEDRALS by Kresimir Rogina (HR)
Karmeliterplatz: For iTernity by Katja Heitmann (DE/NL)
Dom im Berg: IN THE RAIN by Yuki Anai (JPN)
Kastner & Öhler: Luxe by Jordan Soderberg-Mills (CN)
Murinsel: Holographisches Windspiel 3.2 by ArtificialOwl (CH)
Orpheum Graz: Truck by Erwin Wurm (AT)
Kunsthaus: Klanglicht Connected. by Peter Kogler (AT)
Hauptbrücke: OHNE TITEL by Anna-Maria Bogner (AT)
Hauptplatz: Intruders XL by Amanda Parer (AUS)
Landhaushof: H-U-M-A-N-? & BACH! by Sophie Guyot (CH) & Friedrich Kleinhapl (AT)
Herrengasse: Wunderland by Jordan Soderberg Mills (CN)
Stadtpfarrkirche: Stages by Gor Chahal (RUS)

To find your way around, you can use the map provided on the festival website:
https://www.klanglicht.at/map/

Street food trucks will be planted all over the city, for those of you unpartial to a late-night walking dinner.

Klanglicht 2019 impressions

I went to Klanglicht on Easter Sunday evening and I must say that probably going on another evening would have made me avoid all the crowds! However, I had a lot of fun watching all the different art installations.

Mine and my parent’s favourite one was the 3-d video on the Opera building. It was very impressive and scary to watch all those weird things happening to the building. I was expecting more bunnies around Hauptplatz, to be honest, but it was fun to see the big chubby one just chilling on the square. We did not go to all of the installations, unfortunately, but below is a gallery of the ones we did visit.