Chromotopia: Projecting The Value Of Water, Light, Energy & Democracy

Wiener Lichtblicke (Viennese Rays of Hope) is an annual light art festival founded and directed by Artist Victoria Coeln. Each year the festival focuses on a different theme that examines constitutional values and coexistence. This year’s Wiener Lichtblicke illuminated some of the most iconic buildings in Baden and Vienna, Austria, on the theme of "Water, Light, Energy, and Democracy in Motion." Using etched pieces of Rosco Permacolor Dichroic Glass Filters, light artists from around Europe gathered together to create lines of light and fragments of color that transformed these public spaces into chromatic light interventions known as Chromotopia to convey this theme throughout the festival.

Chromotopia Politeía
Constitutional Court, Vienna, AT
Light intervention: Victoria Coeln

Victoria Coeln explained the motivation behind the project: "Wiener Lichtblicke and its partners from democratic institutions, art and culture, business, science, and civil society want to appeal to the general population in public spaces and to gain cooperation on a good climate for the environment, society and the future of democracy."

Under Victoria Coeln’s artistic direction, international artists created numerous artworks that transformed emblematic landmarks, parks, and public spaces in Vienna and Baden into light art. Rainbow colors, white lines, and images associated with the year's theme, with water and marine species shed a new light on architecture and urban scapes throughout both cities every evening in October and November 2024.

The Diachrome that Artists Francesca Centonze and Victoria Coeln etched (L) to create the interior Chromotope Saint Stephan in Baden (R).

To create these unique designs, drawings, patterns, and lines are etched into different colors of Rosco Permacolor Dichroic Glass Filters. Those artifacts are then layered together and inserted into projectors, upscaling the artworks 1:1000 into the nightscape. Victoria Coeln calls the etched glass combinations Diachrome and her site-specific signature projections Chromotopia.

To learn more about Wiener Lichtblicke festival and its upcoming events visit www.wienerlichtblicke.at or follow @wienerlichtblicke2.0 on Instagram. If you would like to see more of Victoria Coeln’s stunning work, you can visit her website: www.coeln.at, or you can follow @victoriacoeln on Instagram.

For more information about the dichroic glass filters that Victoria Coeln and the other Wiener Lichtblicke artists used to create their unique Diachrome and Chromotopia designs, please explore the Permacolor product page on the Rosco website.

Featured Image: Chromotope Schwechat
Kaiser-Franz-Josef Brücke, Baden, Vienna, AT
Light intervention: Victoria Coeln

Photo Credits: NIPAS / Helmut Prochart / Bildrecht / 2024