Last year, the light became more important than ever. The world was different in 2020 – and so was Lights in Alingsås! The festival focused on light and the local community. Lights in Alingsås illuminated the town in the October gloom.
For the first time in 20 years, the one-week long lighting design workshop, which normally involves international lighting designers and students travelling to Alingsås, couldn´t go ahead as usual.
It was clear in May that the organizer Alingsås Energi couldn´t arrange this year’s edition of Lights in Alingsås as previously planned. To cancel the event was not an option, but to think in new ways and adapt to the current situation. This was crucial to tempt Alingsås residents and the public to come out in a safe way individually or in small groups to see the lights in October, as they have done for the last twenty years. The event was also in favor of the local businesses.
The scale of the experimental installations was slightly smaller, and the focus was on experiencing the light in the cityscape. Together with Swedish and local designers and lighting designers, this was possible. The collaboration with the students from the electricity and energy programme at Alströmer Senior High School continued.
The 2020 installations were spread around whole Alingsås city centre.
Through the theme Find the Lights, the light was put in focus to show how much it means in our everyday life. Visitors were invited to a journey of discovery among 24 spectacular, minimalist, childish, smart, new and temporary bright spots that all make everyday life brighter. All information about the installations was available digitally in the Lights in Alingsås app, where also a digital guided tour was available for purchase. The area of light was bigger from last year, so that visitors had the opportunity to spread out more.
The aim was also to display the permanent lighting installations which Alingsås already has, and which Alingsås Energi has given the town over the last twenty years.
This year it was also about people’s well-being! An otherwise very dark time of year (this year in a double sense), became very bright. Cafes and restaurants that otherwise have had a tough time in the spring and partly in the summer, got a real boost. For a few evenings, shops, cafés and restaurants had longer opening hours but followed the restrictions with the maximum number of gests and had outdoor seating. The local church could still arrange music events, the running competition Running Lights could also be organized as well.
In 2020 the whole world had to adapt to the pandemic and so did Lights in Alingsås.
Alingsås Energi is very proud to have been able to implement Lights in Alingsås in such an uncertain year.
