Stationsplein

dwaallicht – ignis fatuus
happy tunnel

wandering light in incandescent bulbs

As a traveller, it is not easy to lose your way at a station these days. In the past, things were different. In forests, heathlands and marshes, people could get led astray by mysterious wandering lights: lights that appeared briefly, vanished again, and suddenly popped up somewhere else. As if they wanted to help you and trick you at the same time.

These phenomena are known by many names, including dwaaslichtje, droglichtje (in Groningen), false lanterns, fool’s fire, will-o’-the-wisp, and the German Irrlicht. For centuries, stories have described them as elves, spirits, little devils, restless souls, or translucent figures carrying a burning lantern.

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Audiotour

I Light U · DWAALLICHT – 2026 ILU ENG

This light artwork brings that ghostly phenomenon back to life.

The lights were often seen in places shaped by water and moisture: marshes, peatlands, or near old cemeteries. Sometimes the bluish glow was caused by gases produced through fermentation that ignited spontaneously. But wandering lights can also be caused by bioluminescence: living organisms that create their own light, such as glow-worms, fireflies, certain fungi and bacteria.

This installation revives the phenomenon in four different forms of old-fashioned incandescent bulbs. In a way, the bulbs are wandering lights themselves. They were originally made for the very first edition of Amsterdam Light Festival in 2012 by the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. After that, they travelled around the Netherlands with their creator, until now returning to Utrecht for I Light U, restored and reimagined by Happy Tunnel.

Mirrors, mirages, miracles

The light in the installation glows, flares, dances and leaps from one place to another, just like the wandering lights of old. In the end, all the bulbs come together in one warm glow, reddish and radiant like a classic incandescent lamp.

Through these incandescent forms, the artwork also becomes an ode to the bulbs that guided us through the 19th and 20th centuries and brought light into the dark. And unlike their mysterious predecessors, these wandering lights mean no harm. They only want to entertain you, spark wonder, and perhaps let you get just a little lost in the light.