Painting with Light designs and installs magical WinterGlow light trail in Bruges

Genk, Belgium, 8 January 2021 – ​ Painting with Light, the Belgian Specialist in visual design and light technology, designed and implemented this winter season a new and festive edition of the WinterGlow ​ trail with ten installations across the city of Bruges. Following last year’s successful format, the city of Bruges establishes this as a yearly tradition and comes with an adjusted version and extra safety measures to address the Corona crisis situation. The focus has been on the walking experience along a defined route throughout the entire city. The content and design for WinterGlow was developed by Painting with Light in close collaboration with local artists, schools, youth and cultural organisations. 

Luc Peumans, CEO of Painting with Light, comments: “This edition is smaller but surely as festive and inspiring as the previous one. By combining art light installations, mood lighting and projection, visitors are immersed during the cold winter months into a warm glow of light spread across the entire trail, extending the experience upon reaching the final destination. The project comprises a series of elegant, eye-catching, ephemeral and different lighting and projection- mapped installations, featuring thousands of LED-lights, spots and blacklights.”

“We opted this year for 10 installations and locations for a cozy evening walk through the city of Bruges”, explains Lieve Moeremans of Brugge Plus. “Last August we commissioned Painting with Light with this project as they had successfully implemented the previous edition. This year there was no skating area, Christmas market or winter bar, yet we succeeded in creating a safe and magical evening activity. More than ever, people need light, hope and connection in these times.”

Magical experiences
​The historic infrastructure of Bruges with its many bridges, gates and parks forms the natural décor for WinterGlow, immersing the visitors in its magical environment. An app was created to guide visitors across the trail, allowing everyone to enter or exit at any time or place.

’t Zand features the largest canvas of Bruges with projections of a winter landscape portrayed by local artist Sammy Slabbinck, and is replaced by new year wishes after the holiday season. The Onze-Lieve-Vrouwe cathedral becomes a light beacon over the city, emphasizing the impressive tower and bringing it alive with creative light animation. Another installation refers to the lacemaking in Bruges with fascinating light patterns, and on the Dijver visitors can walk under a ceiling of floating lights.

The kinetic light installation on the Vismarkt with waving light bulbs expresses the link between Bruges and the sea. A real eye-catcher is the collection of trees with light lines running across the trunks to the roots, reflecting the network of underground connections in nature. Finally the Square at the Bruges Station immerses visitors into a mysterious forest full of surprises.

Luc Peumans concludes: "The Painting with Light team succeeded in presenting so many different works in a unified way, applying creative solutions to energise a wide variety of spaces. We needed to keep up with the pace of all historic spaces and adhere to safety measures, which represented an extra challenge for this edition. We are all very pleased to close a very difficult period in such nice way and share it with so many people, transitioning us into a hopeful and promising new year.”