#EuropeIsForLovers – Europe’s Stars shine

Light staging for the election of the European Parliament

Seven federal ministries, two EU institutions, a lot of love for Europe and the magic of light at the FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS 2018. Long after the end of office hours, the participating federal and EU buildings suddenly came back to life. Under the title “Europe is for Lovers”, creative large-screen projections attracted the attention of passers-by, drew their attention to the election to the European Parliament in 2019 and its great significance for cohesion in Europe. The result was a declaration of love for the European idea with nine stations.

1st station: Federal Ministry of Defence

The Shell House on Berlin’s Landwehr Canal, a listed building, was built in 1929. Among architecture connoisseurs, it is regarded as one of Berlin’s most beautiful buildings and impresses with its dynamically graded wave form. The Shell-Haus has been the official headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Defence since 2012. The building was illuminated with a mosaic of polygons for the FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS 2018.
The motto on the front side “We protect what you don’t see” referred to the defence mandate and European security.

Federal Ministry of Defence at the FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS 2018

2nd station: Federal Ministry of Finance

The monumental and historic building complex in Wilhelmstraße is the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Finance. The neoclassical style building was originally built as a Prussian War Ministry and greatly enlarged during the National Socialist era.
Today the Federal Ministry of Finance resides here. In 2018, the Ministry celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Customs Union and the year of the EU citizen dialogues. In keeping with this, citizens could post their wishes for Europe on the Internet at #EUBürgerdialog. A selection of the wishes was projected onto the façade during the FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS in huge speech bubbles.

3rd station: Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection

The Mohrenkolonnade, the building of the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection at Mohrenstraße 36/37, has a special history, as it was once the seat of Jewish fashion and clothing makers, who made Berlin a world-famous fashion city in the 1920s. In GDR times, the International Press Centre resided here, where Günter Schabowski unintentionally initiated the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, when he declared the new travel regulations to be ” from now on, immediately” valid. The projections on the colonnades picked up on these two stories, placed them large in the picture and linked them with a commitment to Europe.

Federal Ministry of Justice and Cosumer Protection at the FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS 2018

4th station: Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy

In Berlin-Mitte there are two historic buildings which together form the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy: the former military medical Kaiser Wilhelm Academy and the restored remains of the Invalidenhaus, whose origins date back to the 18th century. The damaged external facades of the buildings were authentically reconstructed after the fall of communism and used as a screen for a declaration of love to Europe during the festival. Circular projections connected the themes of social market economy and people in Europe.

5th station: Federal Ministry of Health

The new building of the Federal Ministry of Health in Friedrichstraße is located directly next to the Friedrichstadtpalast. On a large open side wall, the ministry illuminated various health topics such as the digitalisation of the health care system and the important role of health in Europe.

6th station: Federal Ministry of Education and Research

Under the motto “House of Nature“, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research showed a nature film on the façade of the New Marstall directly on the banks of the Spree River, illustrating the breathtaking beauty of the Arctic and its threat from climate change. The images drew attention to the Second Arctic Science Ministerial Conference in Berlin in October 2018, at which the effects of climate change in the Arctic were debated – an existential issue for the whole of Europe.

7th station: Federal Foreign Office

The architecture of the Federal Foreign Office, which opens wide to the city, symbolizes what Europe stands for: transparency, openness and simplicity. During the FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS, five picture collages of people and landscapes, colours and forms were combined under the hash day #EuropeUnited to create a lively presentation of Europe’s diversity. The challenge for the lighting artist was to combine not only the front of the building, but also the columns and the atrium behind them in a single composition.

Federal Foreign Office FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS 2018

8th station: European House

The Representations of the European Commission and the European Parliament are at home in the European House on Pariser Platz. If you want to find out more about Europe, its institutions and its themes, you can visit the permanent multimedia exhibition “Europa Experience” on the ground floor.
As part of the FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS 2018, the European House drew attention to the 2019 European elections with large projections and striking statements such as “This time I vote” and “It’s your Europe”.

9th station: Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development

The Europahaus, opened in 1931, was one of the first skyscrapers in Berlin. It became an eye-catcher because of its spectacular neon signs on the facade. A few years ago, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development moved in. The ministry has the task of improving the living conditions of people in newly industrializing and developing countries. The united Europe plays a major role in solving this task. The illumination of the FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS 2018 on the Europahaus derived a clear message from this: Shaping globalisation fairly.