It was another edition without corona restrictions, but in the middle of the energy crisis. Nevertheless, the organisation of the light festival glows with pride. It has also announced the theme for the 2023 edition of GLOW: “The Beat”.
Vistor Counts
In recent years, the festival has attracted many hundreds of thousands of visitors. This year, the organisation decided not to count visitor numbers, partly because many people deviated from the routes. A spokesperson mentioned that he has had ‘about the same number of visitors as before corona’.
Energy Crisis
The eight-day light spectacle has 33 works of art. In eight days plus a dress rehearsal, they consume a total of 5,000 kWh of electricity. In addition, the organisation itself consumes another 2000 kWh.
GLOW therefore stopped an hour earlier from Monday to Thursday. As a result, the total energy consumption is not 7000, but 6500 kWh. This is comparable to the average consumption of approximately 100 Dutch households in the same nine days.
Fewer Icons
Iconic buildings often shine in GLOW. This time the number of illuminated icons was not very large. This was mainly due to roadworks and construction projects in Eindhoven. “But even on a rainy Tuesday, the city was quite full,” said Ramakers. According to the organisation, crowd pullers were the station building and the DAF trucks.
The light festival was canceled in 2020 and in 2021 there were plenty of corona measures, such as access controls. The last day could unexpectedly not take place due to a lockdown. This made this edition the first normal GLOW in three years.
GLOW 2023
The theme for 2023, The Beat, refers to such concepts as the rhythm of the city and the frequency of light and sound. “With this theme we are already sending the artists on the path towards the next GLOW”, adds the director.
Source: Omroep Brabant
Translated by: Seetha