The city of Feldkirch will once again become the stage for the light art festival “Lichtstadt Feldkirch” from October 9th to 12th, 2025, now taking place for the fourth time.
On an impressive tour through Feldkirch’s historic old town, visitors can experience projections, light art installations, and multimedia performances. The interplay of architecture, light and sound opens up exciting new perspectives on public space. Enjoy a varied light art experience for the whole family!
Other key projects in this year’s festival program reference the ‘Feldkirch einhundert’ anniversary and engage artistically with the city’s history, identity and development. You can look forward to a contemporary and emotional look at the past and present!
The city of Feldkirch will once again become the stage for the light art festival “Lichtstadt Feldkirch” from October 9th to 12th, 2025, now taking place for the fourth time.
On an impressive tour through Feldkirch’s historic old town, visitors can experience projections, light art installations, and multimedia performances. The interplay of architecture, light and sound opens up exciting new perspectives on public space. Enjoy a varied light art experience for the whole family!
Other key projects in this year’s festival program reference the ‘Feldkirch einhundert’ anniversary and engage artistically with the city’s history, identity and development. You can look forward to a contemporary and emotional look at the past and present!
Festival times:
Thursday, 9 October – 7:15 pm – 10:00 pm
Friday, 10 October – 7:15 pm – 11:00 pm
Saturday, 11 October – 7:15 pm – 11:00 pm
Sunday, 11 October – 7:15 pm – 10:00 pm
Free admission, barrier-free
Official opening:
Thursday, 9 October 2025, 7 pm
Alte Dogana (Neustadt 37, 6800 Feldkirch)
Brigitte Kowanz
The installation “Lichtwechsel” by Austrian artist Brigitte Kowanz consists of 15 square light surfaces in different colours. The LED tiles alternate between “on“ and “off“ at irregular intervals. They are programmed to display a Morse code. The displayed term is also the title of the work: “Light Change“. The installation thematises light as a signifier, as a carrier of information and as a medium of information systems.
Brigitte Kowanz was an important Austrian light artist who became known above all for her work with neon tubes, LED lamps, mirrors and text. Her art explores the complex relationship between space and light and between reality and virtuality. By combining light, space and words, she created new connections between interior and exterior spaces.
A work from the Zumtobel Collection.
Brigitte Kowanz
Gudrun Barenbrock
The german artist Gudrun Barenbrock creates multi-layered audiovisual spaces in which photography, video, digital animation and collage densify into dynamic image systems. Her installations create immersive visual spaces that oscillate between representation and abstraction. Cities, architecture and landscapes can be experienced anew through fragmentation and rhythmisation. The results are energetic compositions that interweave the visual with the acoustic to create powerful sensory experiences.
For “Lichtstadt Feldkirch“, Gudrun Barenbrock develops multi-layered image compositions from site-specific themes, urban structures and micro and macro perspectives, which are projected onto the facade of the Sparkasse Feldkirch and make it possible to experience the urban space as a pulsating resonating body.
Barenbrock studied painting at the Kunstakademie Münster and now works internationally as a media artist. Her works can be seen in museums, exhibition centres and at renowned festivals worldwide. Her artistic signature combines the precision of pictorial composition with the openness of processual systems – always at the interface of perception, movement and sound.
Katja Heitmann
The audiovisual installation “For iTernity” takes the iconic ballet solo The Dying Swan as its starting point and translates its motivation into a contemporary, interactive visual language. The projections on the venue are only visible in fragments and the motifs are only revealed with the help of special discs that visitors receive at the entrance. Alone, the view remains limited; the complete picture only emerges in the community.
The installation is accompanied by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Requiem“, interpreted by Californian YouTube vlogger Trisha Paytas which results into a deliberate clash between classical music tradition and digital pop culture.
“For iTernity“ is inspired by the emergence and impact of virtual worlds. The internet enables apparent omnipresence, but our visibility remains tied to screens.
The German-Dutch choreographer Katja Heitmann works at the interface of dance, visual art and installation performance. In her works, she examines existential questions: What moves people in the digital age, both in physical and virtual space?
Katja Heitmann was honoured with the Dutch Dance Days Award in 2016 for her innovative approach.
Miriam Prantl
Light, colour and movement enter into a multi-layered dialogue in “Spheres” by Miriam Prantl. Four intertwined, powder-coated steel rings form a floating sphere whose programmed LED light lines create an iridescent glow during the day and choreographed colour gradients at night. The points of light pulsate in opposite directions and create flowing rhythms in the room. The immersive sculpture reacts to the movement of the viewer and thus influences individual perception. This creates an energetic field in which space and time, body and light interpenetrate in a poetic way.
The Austrian artist Miriam Prantl understands light not only as a medium, but also as an immaterial force that structures space and makes it vibrate. Her work aims to interweave aesthetic and physical spaces of experience. “Spheres” invites us to immerse ourselves in the quiet dimensions of frequency, colour and movement – and to perceive our surroundings with a new sensitivity.
A work from the Zumtobel Collection.
Robert Sochacki
Robert Sochacki developed the video project “Feldkirch Stories” for the Alte Dogana and Schattenburg. Based on historical photographs, stories and impressions of the city as well as contemporary visual and audio material, the work reflects the history of Feldkirch in the context of current global developments. The video installation is accompanied by a specially composed soundscape, created by students of the Stella Vorarlberg Private University College for Music.
In his oeuvre, Sochacki combines drawing, painting, photography, video and animation to create complex visual worlds. His monumental murals integrate architectural features and transform the space into media collages. This results in dense narrative structures that convey images of the world and culture from the artist’s personal perspective. For his work in Feldkirch, he draws particular inspiration from the city’s characteristic architecture.
Dr Robert Sochacki teaches media art and stage design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław and is known for his participatory approach. He initiates projects in which students develop independent audiovisual installations in public spaces in real contexts – always in the field of tension between image, form and sound.
Ingo Wendt
With “Chronotop“, the German artist Ingo Wendt has developed a kinetic projection system that transforms individual perceptions of time into a form that can be experienced by the senses. The installation consists of circular projection surfaces on which live analogue images of the mechanical apparatus are transmitted. The coloured dial and the moving timepiece can be seen. Driven by planetary movements, four cylinders rotate and create a dynamic choreography of light in the room.
“Chronotop“ invites you to pause for a moment: Viewers decide for themselves how long they want to linger. In a contemplative atmosphere where the sense of time and perception of space become blurred the moment becomes one’s own experience.
Wendt’s works combine light, movement and analogue image techniques. He composes impressive visual scenarios from seemingly banal materials such as confetti, soap bubbles or found objects. His artistic focus is on the poetic quality of the analogue and on making visible what would otherwise be overlooked.
Jan Philip Scheibe
A man in a grey suit carries a street lamp on his shoulder and holds a solar battery in his hand, charged by daylight. At the moment of sunset, he connects the lantern and the energy source – the lamp starts to light up and the man sets off. As soon as the load becomes too heavy, he stops, straightens the lantern and pauses for a moment.
During the evenings of “Lichtstadt Feldkirch“ 2025, the man with the lantern roams the festival site and the surrounding streets, squares, bridges and green spaces. He moves silently through visible and hidden spaces, immersing himself in the semi-darkness and bringing light into the night. Without words, a silent dialogue is created between him, the city, the light installations and the surrounding darkness.
The light of his lantern reveals the familiar in new splendour, illuminates the overlooked and at the same time casts shadows on other areas. His nocturnal walk becomes a poetic exploration of a constantly changing urban landscape. Visitors who follow him experience familiar places with renewed attention; chance encounters with the silent wanderer create moments of wonder and enchantment.
The performance is part of Jan Philip Scheibe’s ongoing project “Shouldered Streetlight”, which has been realised in various European locations – from Iceland to Spain, from Scandinavia to the North Sea coast – since 2009. Wherever the man with the lantern appears, temporary artistic spaces are created: fleeting, silent images that reflect the interplay between people, light and landscape.
Sofia Hagen
A shimmering salt crystal rises into the sky in front of the Churer Tor, surrounded by several small crystals made from recycled material using a 3D printing process. The Churer Tor, once known as the Salt Gate, refers to its historical function as an access point for the salt trade into the city and forms the symbolic framework for the installation. Accompanied by specially composed sound collages by artist Loulou Raven, a multi-layered dialogue unfolds between material, sound and space. In the midst of the historical architecture, a floating dialogue between space, surface and radiance is created.
The central crystal was produced in a continuous 68-hour 3D printing process – a technical maximum for monolithic objects using this method. The material used was rPETG, a modified, translucent filament made from recycled polyethylene terephthalate, which originally comes from disposable medical containers. Its special translucency is influenced by environmental factors such as temperature and humidity during the printing process – comparable to the natural conditions under which real crystals grow.
The installation combines technological precision with organic aesthetics and draws attention to new forms of sustainable design. It symbolises the connection between nature, the material cycle and the digital future.
Sofia Hagen is an artist, architect and designer based in London. In her work, she combines digital technologies, recycled materials and craftsmanship to create sculptural installations that mediate between art, design and sustainability.
mutual loop
‘Porsche Headlights’
‘VORTEX IV’ is an expansive light installation by the artist cooperative mutual loop from Vienna, which is characterised by precisely choreographed lines of light made from thousands of metres of rubber bands. Two floating metal frames connect these bands, which are only illuminated at certain points from below in almost complete darkness. This creates the illusion that the lines of light move through the room in changing speeds and patterns. Only sections are visible to the viewer – the overall picture remains fragmentary and is only revealed through movement and suggestion.
‘VORTEX IV’ combines dynamic sequences with complex structure. The installation developed by Martina Tritthart and Holger Lang combines technical precision with conceptual clarity and focuses on the interaction of space, light and perception.
www.mutualloop.at
Miriam Hamann
The light art installation ‘Swiftly and silently doing its work’ by Vienna-based artist Miriam Hamann visualises the technological infrastructures that control our mobility today – satellites, radio waves and navigation systems. What happens unnoticed in the background becomes the luminous cipher of a world in permanent synchronisation.
At the centre is a reduced, powerful neon work, inspired by a visionary forecast from 1898: the control of time by radio. A reality today – and yet barely recognised. Millions of processes run in parallel, wirelessly and precisely – mobility as a state of permanent networking.
Miriam Hamann transforms this highly complex state into a poetic light image. Her work is more than an installation – it is a silent reflection on control, structure and the fragile order of digital systems. An artistic intervention that opens up the space for the invisibility of what determines our everyday lives.
Hamann, whose works oscillate between sculpture and installation, combines scientific abstraction with visual clarity.
www.miriamhamann.com
RatAess
‘Porsche Headlights’
In the ‘9 von 11’ installation, media and light art merge to create an electrifying homage to mobility, speed and the iconic imagery of the Porsche 911.
Feldkirch-based artist duo RatAess, alias Thomas A. Rauch and Alexander Ess, transform a locker into a pulsating art object. Nine doors are fitted with tube monitors, two further doors are slightly open and contain red and white flashing lights, which stage the light dynamics of the typical headlights.
The central visual element is a drone video of a driving Porsche 911 (built in 1991), taken at dusk. The perspective from above, the interplay of light cones, speed and movement merge on the screens into a vertical movement that jumps from one monitor to the next. There is a moment of darkness between each monitor – a brief silence before the next moment of acceleration. Flashes of light, accompanied by the original sound of the engine, reinforce the illusion of the journey. The result is an expansive, dynamic experience. Powerful, direct and deeply interwoven with the visual memory of an entire generation.
Robert Sochacki
Robert Sochacki developed the video project “Feldkirch Stories – Der Besuch” for the Alte Dogana and Schattenburg. Based on historical photographs, stories and impressions of the city as well as contemporary visual and audio material, the work reflects the history of Feldkirch in the context of current global developments. The video installation is accompanied by a specially composed soundscape, created by students of the Stella Vorarlberg Private University College for Music.
In his oeuvre, Sochacki combines drawing, painting, photography, video and animation to create complex visual worlds. His monumental murals integrate architectural features and transform the space into media collages. This results in dense narrative structures that convey images of the world and culture from the artist’s personal perspective. For his work in Feldkirch, he draws particular inspiration from the city’s characteristic architecture.
Dr Robert Sochacki teaches media art and stage design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław and is known for his participatory approach. He initiates projects in which students develop independent audiovisual installations in public spaces in real contexts – always in the field of tension between image, form and sound.
Gudrun Barenbrock
The german artist Gudrun Barenbrock creates multi-layered audiovisual spaces in which photography, video, digital animation and collage densify into dynamic image systems. Her installations create immersive visual spaces that oscillate between representation and abstraction. Cities, architecture and landscapes can be experienced anew through fragmentation and rhythmisation. The results are energetic compositions that interweave the visual with the acoustic to create powerful sensory experiences.
For “Lichtstadt Feldkirch“, Gudrun Barenbrock develops multi-layered image compositions from site-specific themes, urban structures and micro and macro perspectives, which are projected onto the facade of the Sparkasse Feldkirch and make it possible to experience the urban space as a pulsating resonating body.
Barenbrock studied painting at the Kunstakademie Münster and now works internationally as a media artist. Her works can be seen in museums, exhibition centres and at renowned festivals worldwide. Her artistic signature combines the precision of pictorial composition with the openness of processual systems – always at the interface of perception, movement and sound.
Collectif Scale
Collectif Scale presents with “Flux” a kinetic light sculpture that is controlled in real time by motorised movements. Dynamic lines of light spread out at subtly varying speeds and amplitudes, forming a pulsating, organic-looking object. Sometimes the work unfolds in still, poetic waves, sometimes in fast, almost frenzied movements, constantly in direct connection with the specially composed soundscape by Grégory Sémah.
“Flux” is a visual-acoustic experience that sets light in motion and transforms movement into space – a synthesis of technology, rhythm and atmosphere.
The Paris-based Collectif Scale brings together artists and creatives from various disciplines – from design and architecture to visual art, music and coding. In their work, they explore the interfaces between sound and image, light and space, nature and technology as well as man and machine. Their projects are immersive experiments that interweave entertainment, contemporary art and media border crossings.
Squidsoup
„Submergence“ is an immersive light installation that transforms Marktgasse into a walkable landscape of thousands of luminous dots and creates a sense of presence and movement in physical space. This creates a hybrid environment in which virtual and physical worlds come together. As soon as visitors enter the installation, they become part of the work: their movements change the light image and turn them into active players in a constantly changing audiovisual environment.
Behind „Submergence“ is the British artist collective Squidsoup, which has been working at the interface of light, sound, space and technology for years. The group is regarded as one of the pioneering formations in the field of immersive art forms. Their installations create fleeting and sensual spaces of experience and open up intuitive approaches to digital art beyond the logic of the screen. With „Submergence“, they have achieved a poetic fusion of light architecture, interaction and perception.
Sofia Hagen
A shimmering salt crystal rises into the sky in front of the Churer Tor, surrounded by several small crystals made from recycled material using a 3D printing process. The Churer Tor, once known as the Salt Gate, refers to its historical function as an access point for the salt trade into the city and forms the symbolic framework for the installation. Accompanied by specially composed sound collages by artist Loulou Raven, a multi-layered dialogue unfolds between material, sound and space. In the midst of the historical architecture, a floating dialogue between space, surface and radiance is created.
The central crystal was produced in a continuous 68-hour 3D printing process – a technical maximum for monolithic objects using this method. The material used was rPETG, a modified, translucent filament made from recycled polyethylene terephthalate, which originally comes from disposable medical containers. Its special translucency is influenced by environmental factors such as temperature and humidity during the printing process – comparable to the natural conditions under which real crystals grow.
The installation combines technological precision with organic aesthetics and draws attention to new forms of sustainable design. It symbolises the connection between nature, the material cycle and the digital future.
Sofia Hagen is an artist, architect and designer based in London. In her work, she combines digital technologies, recycled materials and craftsmanship to create sculptural installations that mediate between art, design and sustainability.
Katja Heitmann
The audiovisual installation “For iTernity” takes the iconic ballet solo The Dying Swan as its starting point and translates its motivation into a contemporary, interactive visual language. The projections on the venue are only visible in fragments and the motifs are only revealed with the help of special discs that visitors receive at the entrance. Alone, the view remains limited; the complete picture only emerges in the community.
The installation is accompanied by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Requiem“, interpreted by Californian YouTube vlogger Trisha Paytas which results into a deliberate clash between classical music tradition and digital pop culture.
“For iTernity“ is inspired by the emergence and impact of virtual worlds. The internet enables apparent omnipresence, but our visibility remains tied to screens.
The German-Dutch choreographer Katja Heitmann works at the interface of dance, visual art and installation performance. In her works, she examines existential questions: What moves people in the digital age, both in physical and virtual space?
Katja Heitmann was honoured with the Dutch Dance Days Award in 2016 for her innovative approach.
Ingo Wendt
With “Chronotop“, the German artist Ingo Wendt has developed a kinetic projection system that transforms individual perceptions of time into a form that can be experienced by the senses. The installation consists of circular projection surfaces on which live analogue images of the mechanical apparatus are transmitted. The coloured dial and the moving timepiece can be seen. Driven by planetary movements, four cylinders rotate and create a dynamic choreography of light in the room.
“Chronotop“ invites you to pause for a moment: Viewers decide for themselves how long they want to linger. In a contemplative atmosphere where the sense of time and perception of space become blurred the moment becomes one’s own experience.
Wendt’s works combine light, movement and analogue image techniques. He composes impressive visual scenarios from seemingly banal materials such as confetti, soap bubbles or found objects. His artistic focus is on the poetic quality of the analogue and on making visible what would otherwise be overlooked.
Miriam Prantl
Light, colour and movement enter into a multi-layered dialogue in “Spheres” by Miriam Prantl. Four intertwined, powder-coated steel rings form a floating sphere whose programmed LED light lines create an iridescent glow during the day and choreographed colour gradients at night. The points of light pulsate in opposite directions and create flowing rhythms in the room. The immersive sculpture reacts to the movement of the viewer and thus influences individual perception. This creates an energetic field in which space and time, body and light interpenetrate in a poetic way.
The Austrian artist Miriam Prantl understands light not only as a medium, but also as an immaterial force that structures space and makes it vibrate. Her work aims to interweave aesthetic and physical spaces of experience. “Spheres” invites us to immerse ourselves in the quiet dimensions of frequency, colour and movement – and to perceive our surroundings with a new sensitivity.
A work from the Zumtobel Collection.
Jan Philip Scheibe
A man in a grey suit carries a street lamp on his shoulder and holds a solar battery in his hand, charged by daylight. At the moment of sunset, he connects the lantern and the energy source – the lamp starts to light up and the man sets off. As soon as the load becomes too heavy, he stops, straightens the lantern and pauses for a moment.
During the evenings of “Lichtstadt Feldkirch“ 2025, the man with the lantern roams the festival site and the surrounding streets, squares, bridges and green spaces. He moves silently through visible and hidden spaces, immersing himself in the semi-darkness and bringing light into the night. Without words, a silent dialogue is created between him, the city, the light installations and the surrounding darkness.
The light of his lantern reveals the familiar in new splendour, illuminates the overlooked and at the same time casts shadows on other areas. His nocturnal walk becomes a poetic exploration of a constantly changing urban landscape. Visitors who follow him experience familiar places with renewed attention; chance encounters with the silent wanderer create moments of wonder and enchantment.
The performance is part of Jan Philip Scheibe’s ongoing project “shouldered streetlight”, which has been realised in various European locations – from Iceland to Spain, from Scandinavia to the North Sea coast – since 2009. Wherever the man with the lantern appears, temporary artistic spaces are created: fleeting, silent images that reflect the interplay between people, light and landscape.
Klaus Obermaier
With “Dancing House”, the interdisciplinary artist, director and composer Klaus Obermaier presents an interactive projection mapping accompanied by a specially composed sound design on the facade of the Blaue Rose.
“Dancing House” is not a passive visual event, but a participatory experience. The facade reacts directly to movement: Visitors are invited to move, jump and seemingly make the building dance. The architecture thus becomes a stage, the audience a co-creator, the artwork a dialogue process.
Klaus Obermaier has been one of the pioneers of projection mapping since 1998. His work extends far beyond projections on static surfaces: with projects such as “Apparition“, “Vivisector“ and “D.A.V.E.“, he has transferred the interaction of light, space and movement to the human body, setting new standards for the interplay of technology and performance art.
Obermaier’s works merge digital systems with physical presence to create immersive spaces that can be experienced by the senses. His interactive installations playfully challenge the viewer to question familiar viewing habits and transform technology into a poetic, vivid experience.
Brigitte Kowanz
The installation “Lichtwechsel” by Austrian artist Brigitte Kowanz consists of 15 square light surfaces in different colours. The LED tiles alternate between “on“ and “off“ at irregular intervals. They are programmed to display a Morse code. The displayed term is also the title of the work: “Light Change“. The installation thematises light as a signifier, as a carrier of information and as a medium of information systems.
Brigitte Kowanz was an important Austrian light artist who became known above all for her work with neon tubes, LED lamps, mirrors and text. Her art explores the complex relationship between space and light and between reality and virtuality. By combining light, space and words, she created new connections between interior and exterior spaces.
A work from the Zumtobel Collection.
Brigitte Kowanz
The installation “Lichtwechsel” by Austrian artist Brigitte Kowanz consists of 15 square light surfaces in different colours. The LED tiles alternate between “on“ and “off“ at irregular intervals. They are programmed to display a Morse code. The displayed term is also the title of the work: “Light Change“. The installation thematises light as a signifier, as a carrier of information and as a medium of information systems.
Brigitte Kowanz was an important Austrian light artist who became known above all for her work with neon tubes, LED lamps, mirrors and text. Her art explores the complex relationship between space and light and between reality and virtuality. By combining light, space and words, she created new connections between interior and exterior spaces.
A work from the Zumtobel Collection.
Miriam Hamann
The light art installation ‘Swiftly and silently doing its work’ by Vienna-based artist Miriam Hamann visualises the technological infrastructures that control our mobility today – satellites, radio waves and navigation systems. What happens unnoticed in the background becomes the luminous cipher of a world in permanent synchronisation.
At the centre is a reduced, powerful neon work, inspired by a visionary forecast from 1898: the control of time by radio. A reality today – and yet barely recognised. Millions of processes run in parallel, wirelessly and precisely – mobility as a state of permanent networking.
Miriam Hamann transforms this highly complex state into a poetic light image. Her work is more than an installation – it is a silent reflection on control, structure and the fragile order of digital systems. An artistic intervention that opens up the space for the invisibility of what determines our everyday lives.
Hamann, whose works oscillate between sculpture and installation, combines scientific abstraction with visual clarity.
www.miriamhamann.com
mutual loop
‘VORTEX IV’ is an expansive light installation by the artist cooperative mutual loop from Vienna, which is characterised by precisely choreographed lines of light made from thousands of metres of rubber bands. Two floating metal frames connect these bands, which are only illuminated at certain points from below in almost complete darkness. This creates the illusion that the lines of light move through the room in changing speeds and patterns. Only sections are visible to the viewer – the overall picture remains fragmentary and is only revealed through movement and suggestion.
‘VORTEX IV’ combines dynamic sequences with complex structure. The installation developed by Martina Tritthart and Holger Lang combines technical precision with conceptual clarity and focuses on the interaction of space, light and perception.
www.mutualloop.at
RatAess
In the ‘9 von 11’ installation, media and light art merge to create an electrifying homage to mobility, speed and the iconic imagery of the Porsche 911.
Feldkirch-based artist duo RatAess, alias Thomas A. Rauch and Alexander Ess, transform a locker into a pulsating art object. Nine doors are fitted with tube monitors, two further doors are slightly open and contain red and white flashing lights, which stage the light dynamics of the typical headlights.
The central visual element is a drone video of a driving Porsche 911 (built in 1991), taken at dusk. The perspective from above, the interplay of light cones, speed and movement merge on the screens into a vertical movement that jumps from one monitor to the next. There is a moment of darkness between each monitor – a brief silence before the next moment of acceleration. Flashes of light, accompanied by the original sound of the engine, reinforce the illusion of the journey. The result is an expansive, dynamic experience. Powerful, direct and deeply interwoven with the visual memory of an entire generation.
