City Gazing's Tenth Edition Lights Up Aarhus for Festival's 60th Anniversary
Photo by Malte Bülow of Aarhus Festuge
A decade of urban storytelling reaches its milestone as VOUW's tenth City Gazing installation celebrates Aarhus Festuge's 60th year
From August 29th to September 7th, 2025, Bishop's Square (Bispetorv) in Aarhus became the stage for a remarkable double milestone: the tenth edition of VOUW's acclaimed City Gazing installation coinciding with Aarhus Festuge's 60th anniversary celebrations. This site-specific light artwork invited visitors to witness the dramatic transformation of Denmark's second-largest city from a bird's-eye perspective.
A Constellation Above Bishop's Square
Suspended 20 by 12 meters above the historic Bispetorv, City Gazing Aarhus appeared like a constellation mapping the city's evolution over the past century. As darkness fell each evening, visitors could look up to see a network of lights reveal the city's footprint and ever-changing infrastructure, accompanied by a specially composed audio narrative that gave voice to the urban transformation below.
This tenth edition introduced a groundbreaking approach to animation, focusing intensively on the development of individual streets and transportation networks that shaped the city's character. The installation paid special attention to two defining elements of Aarhus's growth: the early railway development that connected this Jutland city to the broader Danish network, and the later emergence of its famous container port that transformed Aarhus into a major European logistics hub.
Soundscape of Resistance and Heritage
For this deeply historical edition, VOUW collaborated with renowned composer Darius Timmer—who previously crafted the celebrated soundscape for City Gazing Singapore—to create an audio experience that honored both Aarhus's cultural heritage and its wartime courage. In a moving tribute to the city's WWII resistance movement, the composition incorporated an old Danish resistance song, weaving this powerful musical memory into the broader narrative of urban development.
The collaboration with Den Gamle By, Aarhus's renowned open-air museum, proved invaluable in achieving this historical authenticity. The museum contributed invaluable knowledge about Aarhus's urban planning and history, providing access to their extensive collection of historical maps that allowed VOUW to trace the city's evolution with archival precision. This research was transformed into the site-specific light animation, creating a sensory and thought-provoking presentation of the city's development.
Photo by Malte Bülow of Aarhus Festuge
A Poetic Celebration of Time
City Gazing Aarhus served as a poetic marker of the city's transformation and a perfect embodiment of the festival's 60th anniversary theme "Aarhus Festuge – Ingen alder" (No Age). The installation's focus on time as both history and development, and the time we share across generations in Aarhus, created a powerful reflection on continuity and change in urban life.
Photo by Malte Bülow of Aarhus Festuge
Ten Editions, One Vision
City Gazing Aarhus marked a significant milestone for VOUW, representing the tenth city to be reimagined through this format since the work's debut in Kuala Lumpur in 2017. Having previously illuminated metropolises like Singapore, Amsterdam, Dubai, and Sydney, the Danish edition showcased the evolution of VOUW's artistic approach while honoring the unique character of this historic Jutland city.
Floating against the Danish sky above Bishop's Square, City Gazing Aarhus continued VOUW's mission to create slowtech experiences that foster reflection and human connection—reminding us that every city is a living organism, shaped by railways and resistance songs, by container ports and cultural courage, by the collective dreams and decisions of its inhabitants across generations.
City Gazing Aarhus was made possible through the generous support of Dronning Margrethes og Prins Henriks Fond, Augustinus Fonden, Knud Højgaards Fond, and Købmand Herman Sallings Fond, in collaboration with Aarhus Festuge, Den Gamle By, composer Darius Timmer, and local partners.