In the heart of Ghent (Belgium), facing the Handelsdok waterfront, a digital glow emerges—a structure of eight luminous digits, reminiscent of those used in everyday time displays. But NEIGHBOUR is not a clock. It is a canvas, a platform, a space for artists and writers to reshape the language of light.
Developed by art collective 019 for the 2024 Lichtfestival Gent, NEIGHBOUR is an evolving light-based intervention that reimagines the familiar, taking what we recognize as a functional display and turning it into a site for visual poetry, digital art, and conceptual exploration. By manipulating this format, the work blurs the lines between practical urban signage and artistic subversion, asking: What if time didn’t just tell, but spoke? What if light wasn’t just information, but interpretation?
019 has long been known for challenging the ways art interacts with public space, occupying both artistic and non-artistic environments with installations that question, disrupt, and invite reflection. NEIGHBOUR follows this same ethos:
* Familiar yet unfamiliar – The structure mirrors digital time displays often found in urban landscapes, yet it does not tell time. Instead, it serves as a platform for language and abstraction, continuously shifting between readable and unreadable states.
* A stage for many voices – Artists, poets, and writers are invited to contribute, using the limitations of the eight-digit structure to create unexpected, thought-provoking interventions.
* A living installation – Unlike a static artwork, NEIGHBOUR exists as an ongoing dialogue, changing at regular intervals to display new textual or visual compositions.
In its purest form, light is communication. Whether in signage, advertising, or timekeeping, illuminated displays play a defining role in urban environments. NEIGHBOR turns this logic on its head—it functions as a non-utilitarian light source, breaking away from strict purpose and instead becoming an invitation to interpret, to pause, to think differently about how we read the city around us.
To bring this project to life, the engineering and lighting design had to align with 019’s conceptual ambition. Vivalyte provided a **customized LED system**, ensuring:
* Precision-controlled light to create crisp, dynamic digit displays.
* Durability and visibility to withstand the outdoor urban environment while maintaining sharp legibility from across the waterfront.
* Flexibility for artistic input, allowing each invited contributor to manipulate the light structure with their own unique interventions.
More than a work of art, NEIGHBOUR is an open-ended experiment—a space where light does not just illuminate but communicates in shifting, unpredictable ways. It is a testament to the power of artistic intervention in public space, demonstrating that even the simplest digital displays can be repurposed for curiosity, disruption, and poetic reflection.
019 has always sought to redefine how we engage with art and architecture, and NEIGHBOUR stands as a shining example of this mission. It is an artwork that speaks not only in light but in possibilities—inviting the city to read, misread, and rethink the meaning of the illuminated urban landscape.
