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ortunately, those who leave often come back. For many, Utrecht Central is a place where you come back home. A place of recognition, where everything is familiar to you: the light, the buildings, the colors, the people, the streets, your bike. Maybe everything seems smaller after a holiday, maybe you suddenly experience the area bigger or ‘different’.

Coming home can feel like a warm bath, but also as a place that you can curiously look at again after being away. In any case, coming home is a special feeling. Sometimes double, because it was so nice to be away. Hopefully a nice feeling more often, because you yearn for being home again with your own bed, your own couch, your own place. For others, Utrecht Central is like coming home somewhere, which is not (yet) or feels like a home, but has yet to become one. Everyone has a personal feeling when they come home. Everything you know, you see again in your own way. This way everything can seem familiar and yet surprising. You look differently at the light, the familiar view, your own city and street. And after a day, that sense of wonder can just disappear and be replaced by familiarity.

With the Homecoming theme, I Light U has selected existing works of art that give meaning to this theme and a number of (inter)national artists have been asked to create a work of art in which a connection is made with what ‘home’ and ‘coming home’ mean exactly. means. Especially in a world in which so much is happening and a fragile concept at home, I light U provides atmospheric food for thought to enjoy even after the darkest month. The light artists have captured their feeling of coming home in various ways in this year’s art. Jurjen Alkema’s projection that shows you the ever-changing and growing (home) city. On My Way Vendel & de Wolf who depict the daily flows of travelers home in their artwork on the Jaarbeursplein stairs. With the setting sun by Jon M. Armstrong next to it, or is it a moon, which you can see wherever you are and where you can reflect on what are now the fixed values in your life. The giant hashtag under the bulb roof that expresses the feeling of feeling at home there in short Twitter-like texts. On the Smakkelarsveld there are light projections of how refugee children see their window at home or their dream window at home. Furthermore, the giant table lamps of TILT make van de Croeselaan almost a living room, you make music together in Hoog Catharijne for the Mediamarkt, as you could do at home and there is a (home) party to be seen somewhere….. but is that a party?

 Be surprised this year by the works of art that all very directly or more subtly depict the feeling of coming home. Welcome home, welcome to Utrecht.

Artistic Director: Bastiaan Schoof