Camp Fire – Amsterdam Light Festival
light art installation
Some consider campfires to be historical places
where people come together to share their stories.
The most beautiful fairytales were thought of in the
comfort of the fire’s warmth and the presence of
others. It’s hard to imagine that these days however,
a time when everyone is busy telling stories all the 
time. Look at them: tweeting around the Twitter fire
in an attempt to accumulate as many listeners as
possible and listening very little themselves. There’s
not much solitude these days. Perhaps it’s time for
campfire 2.0. Near the Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam-
based artist and designer Wilhelmusvlug presents
Camp-Fire: an oversized, archetypal scouts fire, like
the ones we know from comic books. Wilhelmusvlug
also sees the campfire as the first human meeting point,
one without the volatility of Twitter and the mass one-
way communication of today’s world. Camp-Fire is a
landmark, a safe haven for those who want to leave the
busyness of the everyday behind, or for those who just
want to stare into the fire or start up a good conversation.
The city, too, can be seen as a large campfire. It’s a source
of warmth and light that has attracted people for centuries.
Let’s give each other a hand, dance a bit, talk to each other.
It’s actually quite simple.
“This oversized, archetypal scouts fire functioned just like the artist intended it to:
it was a source of warmth and light that attracted passersby, both young and old.” – Amsterdam Light Festival
With my fire in the Metro news!
Camp-Fire has been commissioned by the student housing corporation Duwo and has gotten a beautiful a permanent location at the Student Campus Uilenstede in Amstelveen.