FAQ
The 19th FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS will take place from 06 to 15 October 2023. The exact locations will be published on our program website soon.
The FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS is a format and a brand for staging cities, city quarters and squares. We turn the city into a stage and the monuments, buildings and squares into the stars.
The FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS can be seen as an open air light art gallery that invites you to stroll. Connected to the festival is a communication platform for partners, companies, institutions and organizations for their storytelling. The Berlin Festival of Lights was not and is not initiated or financed by the State of Berlin.
Birgit Zander is the initiator, producer and also artistic director of the FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS. Born in Berlin, she has been making her hometown shine in artistic lighting since 2005.
The FFESTIVAL OF LIGHTS is not an event of the State of Berlin. It is a cultural initiative based on social entrepreneurship – free of charge for visitors, which is financed and made possible by many supporters, partners and sponsors. The agency Zander & Partner GmbH has been one of the main sponsors and producer at the same time since 2005. The FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS is organized in Berlin and in other cities by the FOL Festival of Lights International Productions GmbH. The Festival of Lights in Berlin is also supported by the Friends of Berlin International eV association.
The patron of the FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS 2023 is the governing mayor of Berlin, Kai Wegner. To the greeting message.
The lighting times of the venues in the festival period are daily from 7 pm to 11 pm. The times may vary for individual illuminations, we point this out separately on our website and in the FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS app.
You can find an overview map on our program page and on Google Maps.
Sustainability is the guiding principle in the entire performance chain of the FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS. The concept is based on the three pillars “ecological, economic and social”.
Aspect Economy: The charisma of the FESTIVALS OF LIGHTS extends far beyond the borders of the capital. Therefore, it is an important factor for the Berlin tourism industry and the economy as a whole.
Social aspect: The FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS has been free of charge every year since its founding. It is part of the basic idea that it is a gift to Berlin, the Berliners and guests from all over the world. It is very important to the organizers that many people enjoy it, regardless of their financial means.
Aspect ecology: In addition to the very low power consumption from 100% renewable energy, the festival implements other new measures. The complete production will be as sustainable as possible. For example, bundled transports, reusable material and minimized travel distances through timers and remote controls contribute to this. In addition, the event is increasingly doing without printed materials and is relying more on its own app a new program website and an e-magazine. More than ever, the festival routes are designed to be easily explored on foot or by bike, or to be easily accessible by public transport.
No, the FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS is free of charge for you as a visitor!
Since the illuminations are viewed from the outside, the FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS is also suitable for wheelchair users. In addition, some LightSeeing partners offer barrier-free tours.
Artwork/Program
“COLORS OF LIFE”. We put an artistic spotlight on the topics of sustainability, mindfulness, diversity and the vision of an intact, diverse and colorful nature.
We want to use light art to show how multifaceted and beautiful life is in a diverse society. And how a creative diversity arises from very different ways of living, which always brings forth something new and exciting. To achieve this, we also cooperate with organizations that support and value this diversity.
We stage diversity artistically with light throughout Berlin. Our artists come from all over the world and show us their unique light art to take us into colorful worlds. But also beyond the art, we want to show the fantastic diversity of Berlin and focus on values such as uniqueness, dignity, respect and acceptance. Because only in this way can we live together in a diverse society. Differences make all our lives more colorful – and better.
We want to use light art to show how multifaceted and beautiful life is in a diverse society. And how a creative diversity arises from very different ways of shaping life, which always brings forth something new and exciting. To this end, we also cooperate with organizations that support and value this diversity.
We want to create visibility and explicitly support PoC, people with a history of flight and migration, the LGBTQIA+ community and people with disabilities.
Last year, the Brandenburg Gate was dedicated to solidarity with Ukraine, among other things. Three renowned Ukrainian video studios each developed a show especially for the FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS in which the Ukrainian artists express their visions for the future on Berlin’s most famous landmark. It is particularly important to us to give these artists in particular a large stage that will receive worldwide attention. Another highlight was on the TV tower. There, visitors could see luminous inspirations on the theme of sustainability. Artist Leon Löwentraut presented his interpretation of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
You can watch the video from last year here.
We offered also last year essentially everything that visitors appreciate so much at the FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS. Only more compact and with a daily end at 11 p.m. instead of midnight. At the 35 or so venues, we were showing a wide variety of different and particularly expressive light art. From fascinating video shows to colorful projections and moving light art sculptures, it was all here.
Information about this year’s program can be found soon.
In order to let all fans participate in the shining moments, the videos and photos of this year’s productions will be published on our homepage and our YouTube channel www.youtube.com/festivaloflightsberlin.
In addition, this year there is something new to discover on our YouTube channel for all lighting enthusiasts who could not come to Berlin: Virtual Reality Mappings. These videos show how certain monuments and sights in Berlin (e.g. Teufelsberg or Tempelhof Airport) would look like if you were part of the Festival of Lights.
Visitor Information
Under the heading LightSeeing you get an overview of the different tour variants.
All our LightSeeing tours are offered by license partners, you can book them directly at our partners on the telephone numbers as mentioned or online.
1. subject of the conditions of participation and organizer
(1) These conditions of participation regulate the conditions for participation in the sweepstakes as well as any necessary transfer of rights. The description and the procedure of the respective sweepstakes will take place within the framework of the respective sweepstakes campaign on the Facebook page of Festival of Lights, the Instagram page of berlinfestivaloflights and the Instagram page of festivaloflights_international.
(2) The organizer of the competition is FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS ®, Zander & Partner Event-Marketing GmbH, Savignyplatz 6, 10623 Berlin.
(3) By participating in the respective competition, these conditions of participation are accepted.
(4) The competition is not connected to Facebook and Instagram, it is neither sponsored, supported nor organized by Facebook and Instagram.
2. Participation
(1) Anyone who has reached the age of 18 and is a resident of Germany is eligible to participate in the sweepstakes. Participation with fake identities or with identities of third parties is not permitted.
(2) Eligible participants can take part in the sweepstakes by fulfilling the conditions of the sweepstakes posting and leaving this posting in any case until the selection of the winners.
(4) Participation is possible until three days after the publication of the Post.
3. winnings and notification of winnings
(1) The prize will be drawn among all eligible participants.
(2) The winners will be randomly selected from all eligible participants within one week after the closing date. The winners will be announced via Facebook comment function. Instagram message function or in a separate posting and requested to send an e-mail to an e-mail address specified there, in which the personal data is transmitted properly and truthfully in full. This information is used to send the prize.
(3) If we do not receive an e-mail from a winner within the specified period, the claim to the prize shall expire. In this case, we are entitled to conduct a substitute draw.
(3) Only one prize is possible per participant.
(4) The prize is not transferable, nor can the prize be exchanged or paid out in cash.
(5) If circumstances arise for which we are not responsible, the respective winner will accept an appropriate substitute prize. Such circumstances beyond our control are in particular those that lie with the sponsors of the prizes.
(6) The prizes will be sent to the winner by mail to the address provided. The risk is transferred to the winner when the prize is handed over to a transport person. We are not responsible for delivery damages.
4. granting of rights of use
(1) The participant guarantees to be the owner of the necessary rights to the uploaded or linked photos, if this is part of the conditions of the competition. If the participant is not the sole author or rights holder, he/she expressly declares that he/she has the rights required for participation in the competition.
(2) The participant grants us the following simple, temporally and spatially unlimited but non-exclusive rights of use to the photo used by him/her:
– the right to store the photo on a server;
– the right to make the photo accessible to the public in whole or in part via Facebook and our websites (in particular www.festival-of-lights.de);
– the right to use the photo to promote our products;
– the right to edit the photo, whereby the image may not be alienated.
(3) When using the photo, we will identify the author in a suitable manner, insofar as this is feasible taking into account the specific form of use.
(4) By accepting the prize, the winner agrees that we may use his/her name for advertising purposes.
5. Liability and indemnification
(1) If the participant uploads photos, the participant guarantees that he/she will not send any content whose provision, publication or use violates applicable law or the rights of third parties.
(2) The participant indemnifies us against claims of third parties of any kind whatsoever resulting from the illegality of photos used by the participant. The indemnification obligation also includes the obligation to fully indemnify the organizer from legal defense costs (e.g. court and attorney fees).
(3) By participating in the competition, the participant releases Facebook from any liability.
6. exclusion
(1) A violation of these conditions of participation entitles us to exclude the respective participant from participation. This applies in particular if the participant provides false information or if photos or other content used (e.g. comments) violate applicable law or the rights of third parties. The same applies to comments that glorify violence, are offensive, harassing or derogatory or otherwise violate social decency.
(2) If the excluded participant is a winner who has already been drawn, the prize may be subsequently revoked.
7. premature termination and changes
We reserve the right to prematurely terminate the competition in whole or in part at any time, even without observing deadlines, or to change its course if it is not possible to guarantee the proper execution of the competition for technical reasons (e.g. computer virus, manipulation of or errors in software/hardware) or legal reasons (e.g. prohibition by Facebook).
8. data protection
We are responsible for the collection, processing and use of personal data of the participants, if we process them ourselves. We will only use the participant’s personal information and other personal data within the framework of the statutory provisions of data protection law. We will only store, process and use the information to the extent that this is necessary for the implementation of the competition or if the participant has given his/her consent. This also includes use for exercising the rights of use granted. The data will only be used to carry out the competition and will be deleted afterwards.
The participant may at any time request information about the data stored about him or her. In all other respects, our data protection declaration applies accordingly, which can be accessed at https://archive2023.festival-of-lights.de/de/datenschutz/.
9. final provisions
(1) Should the conditions of participation contain invalid provisions, the validity of the remaining conditions shall remain unaffected.
(2) German law shall apply. Legal recourse to review the draw is excluded.
Information for Artists, Partners and Photographers
The FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS is a temporary art event to which the rules of copyright apply. Hobby photographers are permitted to use photos of motifs from the FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS on social media platforms for non-commercial use without the need for a license from the organizer. For all other licensing questions, please contact us.