Motto of the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Karlsruhe 2025

200 years of KIT: Media art meets science

To mark the 200th anniversary of the KIT Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, artists are focussing on the achievements and fields of research of this globally outstanding university. Using the sensual and technically advanced visual language of projection mapping, the works tell an impressive story of how scientific solutions and findings are constantly evolving into building blocks of our physical and digital world.

"Without deeply inquisitive people and their technical inventiveness, the stars would shine down on us silently in the sky. With this year's contributions, we want to celebrate the achievements of the generations of researchers at KIT and think together into the future," says Alistair Hudson, artistic and scientific director of the ZKM | Centre for Art and Media Karlsruhe.

Karlsruhe Palace is your canvas

dm painting competition ‘The Castle Painters’

Design the castle façade to reflect your vision of tomorrow's world. Show us your ideas for a beautiful future – and with a little luck, your picture will be displayed at the castle light show from 1 to 14 September.

The colouring template is available in all dm stores in the Karlsruhe district and in Durmersheim, or can be downloaded here (printout in DIN A3 format). The coloured template, signed by a parent or guardian, can be handed in at participating dm stores until 2 August.

The twelve winning pictures will be drawn in the age categories 3 to 6, 7 to 9 and 10 to 12 years. Each winning child will receive a dm surprise picnic basket and tickets for an age-appropriate leisure activity in Karlsruhe at the award ceremony on 5 September.

*Each first winner in each age category will receive tickets for his or her entire kindergarten group or school class. All other winners will receive tickets for themselves and their families (parents and siblings) for the same activities.

Download PDF ‘Colouring page’

BBBank Award 2025 enables three new productions

Excellent and international: media art in the name of science

For the first time this year, three equally ranked winners will be honoured with the BBBank Award in Projection Mapping: With their submitted concepts on the subject area of science, research and innovation, Ari Dykier (Warsaw) with ‘Reflection in Technology’, SKG+ (Shenzhen) with ‘The Tao. The Flow of the Universe’ and V.P.M. (Barcelona) with “λ (Waves of Matters)” were able to prevail against the high-quality international competition. All three concepts, which show the diversity of projection mapping with their different visual worlds, will each receive 15,000 euros in prize money to implement their ideas in shows for the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Karlsruhe 2025, which will be shown on the façade of Karlsruhe Palace every evening from 14 August to 14 September 2025. On the opening evening of the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Karlsruhe, the public will also vote for the BBBank Audience Award from the three winners. The prize money for the Audience Award is 5,000 euros.  The motto of the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Karlsruhe 2025 is ‘The Shining Lights of Science’. To mark the 200th anniversary of the KIT Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, artists will be focussing on the achievements and fields of research of this globally outstanding university. In the sensual and technically advanced visual language of projection mapping, the works tell an impressive story of how scientific solutions and findings are constantly developing into building blocks of our physical and digital world. 

The BBBank Award in Projection Mapping was announced this year for the fifth time by the ZKM | Centre for Art and Media in cooperation with the BBBank as part of the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Karlsruhe. A total of 108 concepts were submitted by media artists from 20 countries, including European countries, China, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates and Canada. A jury consisting of representatives from the ZKM, the HfG Karlsruhe, the BBBank as sponsor, Karlsruhe Marketing und Event GmbH as organiser of the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Karlsruhe as well as the Cultural Office of the City of Karlsruhe and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) selected the winners of the BBBank Award 2025 from these submissions in two meetings.

Support the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Karlsruhe

Together for a glowing anniversary!

Your support makes the difference! Your donation will help to ensure that the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE can remain a stage for international artists and create unforgettable experiences in the years to come. Any support, regardless of the amount, is a valuable contribution to maintaining this unique event.

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Digital Version

of the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Karlsruhe

After their big success with the digital edition 2020, this year you can watch six digital shows of the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE 24 hours around the clock.

The following shows are available:
- Resilience, Atelier v3 (2022)
- Karlskompensator, Crushed Eyes Media (2021)
- Synthetic Sonnets, Antonin Krizanic (2021)
- Attitude Indicator, TNL (2020)
- Changes3, Ruestungsschmie.de (2020)
- Matter Matters, Maxin10sity (2020)

To the digital version...

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