LichtAN

The project "LichtAN" was realized as part of the Eisenhüttenstadt Summer School 2024, organized by the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg and the University of Applied Sciences Erfurt in collaboration with Martin Maleschka.

Our "Studio on the Move" found its place in the former dance café of Hotel Lunik. From there, we engaged intensively with the architectural heritage of the GDR as well as the spatial qualities and potentials of vacant buildings.

"LichtAN" is a performative intervention that symbolically awakens the abandoned Hotel Lunik and breathes new life into it. The only room in the hotel where the lights can still be turned on is the foyer. We dined there in the evenings, and as we turned on the lights, we drew the attention of local residents. Curious people entered, asked about our activities, and were delighted to see the hotel, which had stood empty for 20 years, come alive again. With our performance, we aimed to bring even more life to this place.

For three minutes, we asked the other participants of the Summer School to go to rooms that had been prepared with light and simply do what they would normally do at home. After these three minutes, they froze in a pose at the window. We traced these poses onto cardboard and crafted stands from materials found on-site, on which we attached the silhouettes, placing them in the corresponding rooms.

The entire process was documented photographically, and the performance was captured in a video, making this fleeting yet impactful intervention permanently visible. This moment from our week will now remain in the hotel indefinitely, bringing new life to the building and the city night after night.

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