Decemberlicht
16 December 2025 until 4 January 2026
With Decemberlicht, the duo Kroft&Smids brings light to the dark days around Christmas and New Year’s by projecting onto various locations in the center of Leeuwarden, transforming buildings into places where stories are told in words or images.
Kroft&Smids consists of Karina Kroft and Remko Smids. During the first corona lockdown in the spring of 2020, when everything came to a standstill, Karina Kroft and Remko Smids projected the towering text “Only in darkness can you see the stars” onto an apartment building in Leeuwarden. This was the first gesture in a series of seventy consecutive evenings of hopeful projections at various locations in and around Leeuwarden. A new love was born: light projections in public spaces to encourage, surprise, and move people.
Since that first spontaneous action on March 28, 2020, they have carried out various projects, including daily projections for the Groningen Jonge Harten Festival (’21 and ’22), Midzomernachtlicht, which consisted of ten projections within the framework of Bosklab (’22), two Praamverhalen, Peer Gynt (’21), and King Lear (’23). At the end of 2022, Kroft&Smids went international when they created the Nobel Light Walk …
Kroft&Smids consists of Karina Kroft and Remko Smids. During the first corona lockdown in the spring of 2020, when everything came to a standstill, Karina Kroft and Remko Smids projected the towering text “Only in darkness can you see the stars” onto an apartment building in Leeuwarden. This was the first gesture in a series of seventy consecutive evenings of hopeful projections at various locations in and around Leeuwarden. A new love was born: light projections in public spaces to encourage, surprise, and move people.
Since that first spontaneous action on March 28, 2020, they have carried out various projects, including daily projections for the Groningen Jonge Harten Festival (’21 and ’22), Midzomernachtlicht, which consisted of ten projections within the framework of Bosklab (’22), two Praamverhalen, Peer Gynt (’21), and King Lear (’23). At the end of 2022, Kroft&Smids went international when they created the Nobel Light Walk in Stockholm for Nobel Week Lights in the week leading up to the Nobel Prize ceremonies. In early 2024, Kroft&Smids created routes under the name “Winterljocht” in Harlingen, Sloten, and Dokkum, which will continue in 2025 in Heerenveen, Hindeloopen, and Franeker. Over the past two years, they have also served as the artistic directors for the Licht op Drachten festival, creating several spatial light works for the event.
TIP! Follow the blue lantern light…
