Bottom-Up shot of central chandelier of Philippuskirche.

For the duration of seven days, we collectively transform the interieur of the Philippuskirche into a place for personal expression, for togetherness and for resting all under the common symbol of the candle. 


Leuchte mal hier her! (Shine your light here!) is an experimental blend of performance art and community art project that is created together with fine artist Lucian Patermann and the musician Ronny Valdorf. It is inspired and develops out of the solo project Sharing the light. Central to the project is the creation of individual candle paintings. Over 350 paintings are made during the project. A video about the project is available in German. This post will continue with a more detailed description of the whole process while documenting it.

Site-specific to the architectural pecularities of the building, the whole performance is composed around a central sculpture made of 4 hexagonal wooden element, each wrapped in cord. Each element is about 1m in height and each of the segments about 60cm wide. The sculpture is positioned on a leveled stage exactly under a big central chandelier in the dome of the church. Furthermore, 6 speakers are positioned within the hall in a way, that each speaker is facing one of the six sides of the central sculpture.

The whole performance is divided into three segments: opening on the first day, work from the first to the sixth day and ceremonial dismantling on the last day. All phases are accompaigned by music performed by Ronny Valdorf and other musicians. 

Opening marks the beginning: The first painted candle is installed on the first segment. During the next phase Lucian Patermann, Ivo Zibulla and everyone else is invited to work on their own candle pictures. By the end of the work phase, about 350 unique candle artworks adorn the six sides of the now 4 meter high sculpture. About 80 humans of all age and background actively create their own candle paintings and thus take part in the performance during work phase.

During each day, another speaker is activated as part of the 6-channel-audio installation in C major. During work phase, three amateur choirs rehearse and perform as the candles are painted and put on the central column, a dozen professional musicians follow the invitation and each time create an unique musical atmosphere in the hall.

During the last day, the central sculpture towers for a few hours without being worked on anymore. The bells chime at 6pm and with musical accompaniment from a choir and several musicians, the candles are taken off the sculpture and being distributed to all the guests of the ceremonial dismantling. Around 7pm, the central sculpture is completely removed leaving an empty stage. For another hour, a final musical jam celebrates and marks the end of the performance.


The origin of this project can traced back to Sharing the Lights, Another collaboration project are Paradiesblumen.

Leave this site for more information about the participating artists: Lucian Patermann und Ronny Valdorf. See you!