Workshops
VIA Publishing have been organising practical lighting workshops in the traditional PLDA format since 2001:
Six internationally renowned professional lighting designers work with a team of workshop participants to create and realise a 1:1 scale temporary architectural lighting design project. The concepts behind the final results are presented to a professional audience during a one-day conference at the end of the workshop week. All participants are awarded a certificate which is recognised by lighting design practices around the globe.
After the workshop week, the installations are handed over to the host town and remain in place for three to four weeks as examples of creative lighting schemes. During this exhibition phase the host town can organise further educational or marketing activities. Most of our clients provide guided tours of the workshop sites, which in the past have attracted thousands of visitors.
"Lights in Alingsås" (Sweden) celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2009. Over the years Alingsås has adopted light as part of their culture and have become widely recognised as a true "city of light".
Conventions
VIA Publishing organizes the global lighting design convention - PLDC.
First introduced in 2007, PLDC in London/ UK attracted more than 1000 visitors from around the world looking to gain knowledge from the more than 60 papers, to meet and network with friends, potential clients or business partners, and to see some of the industry's latest products and developments.
The second PLDC in 2009 in Berlin was even more successful and reconfirmed the impact this convention has on the lighting design world.
PLDC 2011 will be in the Spanish capital - Madrid. The Venue will be the CBA building in Central Madrid. Please visit the official website www.pld-c.com.
Seminars
One possibility for manufacturers to exhibit their latest products is a trade fair. Another one is an exclusive seminar for a chosen professional audience. VIA Publishing organizes seminars in their head office in Gütersloh, Germany, in their facility in Alingsås, Sweden or in other suitable venues elsewhere, and use their network and media to find the appropriate audience and location for your products.
Social Events
The lighting community is a very open, positive-minded group of international professionals. They are proud of their profession and enjoy celebrating what they do. VIA Publishing organises the bi-annual "PLDA Celebration of Light" event during Light+Building and the Gala Dinner and PLD Recognition Awards show that concludes the Professional Lighting Design Convention.
These events are not to be missed!
Exhibitions
VIA Publishing is not only a publishing company and event divison but also organizer of exhibitions with photographs from light and art..
Installations
VIA Publishing organizes installation as in the old Bartelsgelände in 2005:
Journey into the past
This huge complex in the middle of Gütersloh/D has a quite lonely and abandoned feeling to it. It's not a feeling that is intimidating or creepy, rather one that pulls you in... Broken glass crackles under your feet, the roof of the old factory has partly caved in, nature has made its home there everywhere, creating new life in a dead area.
The old boiler room reminds us the most that people worked here more than 30 years ago. The calendar reads Monday 14th, and this is 1971...
More than 2000 inhabitants had the opportunity on the 2nd and 3rd of September to say their farewells to the old factory in the city centre, which will be ripped down early next year to make way for a new residential district.
Precisely placed accent lighting bring the former workspaces and machines to life for one last time. Spaces had to be defined and put into context. Former work areas were thus bathed in cold white light to them a cold and dead appearance, while areas where nature had created new light were highlighted with a warm white or subtly coloured light. The decay that has occurred over the years was portrayed in a way that gave visitors the feeling of a site that had reached the end of its life, as if the building was making its retreat to make way for new constructions.
Visitors were led through the area by the by the path lighting accompanying them during their journey into the past.
The visitors were not only able to experience the area for a last time, but also had the opportunity to experience the meaning of light as a medium of design and architecture.
