Chemnitz light art festival targets urban vacancy with projections on vacant 100-meter hotel

Light art addresses urban vacancy

The light art festival Light Our Vision will return to Chemnitz from 17 to 19 September 2026, using outdoor projections to address the issue of building vacancy across the city centre. Organized by the civic association Baukultur für Chemnitz and supported by the municipal event agency C3, the three-day festival transforms public spaces into open-air stages each evening at dusk. Linda Hüttner from Baukultur für Chemnitz explained that vacant commercial and residential real estate affects inner cities across eastern Germany and throughout the wider country. Rather than treating empty buildings as neglected spaces, the festival uses creative artistic interventions to draw attention to wounds in the cityscape. The initiative aims to stimulate practical exchange on best-practice revitalization models, appeal directly to the responsibility of property owners, and open public discourse on alternative uses for abandoned buildings.

Repurposing a modernist tower

The central focus of the 2026 festival program is the vacant former Congress Hotel, a high-rise standing nearly 100 meters tall in downtown Chemnitz. The building opened in 1974 as an upscale Interhotel in the German Democratic Republic, situated directly adjacent to the city's Karl-Marx-Monument. For decades, the property stood as the highest inhabited building in Chemnitz before its previous operating company closed the hotel at the beginning of 2026. To temporarily revitalize the empty high-rise during the September event, organizers will project interactive light art directly onto its exterior facade. Visitors attending the festival will be able to control the illuminated digital displays themselves, interacting with visual projections derived from classic computer games.

Installations across the city centre

In addition to the high-rise facade installation, light artworks will occupy several other central squares across downtown Chemnitz during the festival weekend. On Jakobikirchplatz, the festival team is collaborating with the Mozart-Gesellschaft to construct an illuminated light labyrinth for the public. At the same time, technical teams will stage a dedicated laser show across Düsseldorfer Platz to illuminate the square. These installations follow the model established in earlier festival editions, which utilized light art to showcase prominent civic sites across the city, including the Chemnitz Opera House, the central railway station, and the Karl-Marx-Monument.

Cultural succession and long-term planning

Light Our Vision was established in 2023 as an independent private initiative and has since become a recurring annual fixture in the regional cultural calendar. The event has expanded its reach over successive years, drawing approximately 86,000 visitors in 2025 when Chemnitz served as the European Capital of Culture. Chemnitz Lord Mayor Sven Schulze stated that the festival has developed appeal reaching far beyond municipal boundaries because it deliberately integrates urban development themes, including contentious and uncomfortable topics, into its artistic programming.

Schulze emphasized the local administration's intention to preserve and institutionalize the cultural progress achieved during the European Capital of Culture year.

We want to make this permanent.

Municipal authorities intend to integrate the festival model into the Unseen Biennale, a successor initiative scheduled for 2027 to continue the urban development and cultural initiatives initiated during the 2025 program.