You founded the festival thirteen years ago. I’d love to know more about you. Are you originally from Weimar?
I’m from the South of Germany. My family has strong ties to engineering and design; some of them worked in marketing and related fields. I later went on to study at Bauhaus University in Weimar. I arrived about two or three years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It felt like a huge playground. There were many empty barracks left around, and we moved in, took over those spaces, and began creating. It was the ’90s, and electronic music was everywhere. The architecture department where I was studying was deeply interconnected with art, design, and music, so we started doing these interdisciplinary events: installations, crossovers, and long nights filled with experimentation.
From there, you moved into digital design?
I finished my studies around 2000, then went abroad briefly and worked for a design agency where we did a lot of 3D and UX work, and even won a Red Dot award for this. After two or three years, I came back to Bauhaus University to work as an assistant professor. Around that time, new hardware developments made real-time video processing possible, so we started research in that direction, collaborating with the informatics department.
Can you elaborate on the idea of VJing? I understand the general term, but how would you describe what it involved for your research?
We were early adopters. Back in the late ’90s, Weimar had all these empty spaces, the post-GDR atmosphere was full of possibilities, and electronic music was a big part of the culture. The university had video projectors and early computers, so we experimented with combining visuals and sound, making projections part of the music experience.
That was quite ahead of this time. Back then, you’d render a tiny video for a whole week, just to project it in postage-stamp quality. We created our environments and setups. Eventually, people began doing real-time mixing with VHS tapes or analog mixers, using feedback loops. This led us to ask, what if we could create a real-time, computer-based system?
Around the early 2000s, we prototyped a system that could process video in real time using new GPU tech. It wasn’t user-friendly, basically a command-line interface, but it was 50 times faster than anything commercially available. That led to a grant, and from there we developed early video mapping software.
Video mapping means projecting visuals onto complex surfaces, not just screens, right?
It’s about tailoring visuals to architectural shapes, essentially „mapping“ a surface with light. This approach freed the video from the frame of a screen and made it a spatial, public art form. That was a creative explosion. Our 2012 festival lit up Weimar’s buildings and campuses like never before.
Suddenly, we weren’t confined to studios; we could go anywhere with a good projector and tell stories in space. That’s why the festival was founded. The GENIUS LOCI WEIMAR Festival came from a desire to combine local heritage with global digital expression.
But how did you manage outreach internationally in those early years? This was before social media took off.
In 2012, we started by reaching out directly to people doing similar work. In 2013, we launched our first open call. We designed posters, printed them, and mailed them to universities worldwide. People pinned them to their department boards. Slowly, we transitioned to PDFs and email, but the early days were very analog.
That contradiction is interesting: technological innovation on one hand and physical outreach on the other.
It was a strange split. We had all this advanced hardware and software, but you still had to burn your files to DVDs and ship them by post. One artist from Turkey, for example, worked with collaborators across continents, and they had to coordinate how to compile and deliver the final files physically. Copying data took hours. Today, it’s all cloud-based and real-time collaboration. Back then, it was a logistical puzzle.
But I think that tension made us more inventive. Every artist who participated had to be not only creative but also resourceful. Over time, we saw a shift. What began as a technical challenge—just being able to do a projection mapping—became more about what you wanted to say with it. And I think that’s also why our festival has stood the test of time. It’s not just about spectacle, but reflection. Each project is rooted in site-specific research and artistic storytelling. That’s what makes it meaningful.
In the beginning, the people we worked with were those who already had the technical knowledge. They knew how to render in high resolutions—even back in 2012, when programs like Premiere didn’t even support 4K. They had to find workarounds just to output those formats. They had a pioneering approach. But what we’ve seen over the years is a shift—from people who could simply do the work technically to people who want to say something with it. We now have more artists who reflect deeply, and that’s a huge development. Not just in video, but also in audio. Some projects now involve up to 60 audio channels—it’s not just about image anymore.
We’re moving away from the kind of “fireworks show” aesthetics. You know, those works that are visually impressive but lack narrative depth. What we’re focused on now is storytelling, atmosphere, and emotion.
So, the audience is no longer just “impressed” but should also be moved and engaged?
We’re creating environments, not just effects. And part of that comes from the fact that we choose a new location each year. We don’t repeat ourselves. That brings a real sense of progress and depth; each place has a story to tell, and we want to help bring that story to light. This year’s edition feels like everything finally clicked. We’re projecting on the old City Castle in Weimar. There are two castles: one is from 1878, and the other is truly medieval, dating back to 1300, and was once a defensive structure surrounded by a trench and high walls. The rooms are tiny, dark, and creaky—you feel like you’re stepping into the Middle Ages. That’s what makes it so powerful for storytelling.
And how does Goethe’s story of Faust come into this?
The story of Faust is central this year. One part of the castle once served as a jail, and there’s a historical figure: a young woman who was imprisoned there. She worked at a watermill, became pregnant but out of wedlock, and then, in desperation, killed her newborn. Goethe himself was part of the jury that sentenced her to death.
Later, Goethe reflected on that story in Faust; he shifted perspectives multiple times. Faust explores morality, hedonism, guilt, and redemption. It’s about how we wrestle with right and wrong, and that’s what we’re exploring in this year’s work.
We don’t choose buildings just because they’re famous or look cool; we choose them because they carry stories. We develop the narrative, build an atmosphere, and create a stage for the artists to engage with all of that.
Let’s talk about the artists this year. I know you’re featuring three major projects.
We are showing the works of Fox of the Folks, from Bandung, Indonesia; HYZ Studio, from New York City; and Studio Zweisiedlerkrebs, from Cologne, Germany, and I’m especially proud to say that two of these teams are female-led.
At the beginning, this was a nerdy world, mostly guys with laptops doing programming and projection mapping. If a woman was involved, she was usually doing concept sketches or sound design. But now, we’re seeing women-led and women’s teams who understand the software, manage production, and bring visionary narratives. That shift is so important, especially when we’re dealing with stories like Faust, which center around women’s experiences.
The festival is also committed to changing the perspectives on women artists, not just showing women’s stories, but giving them the stage to tell those stories themselves.
But at the same time, the themes you’ve touched on, particularly through the Faust projection, bring up urgent realities. The conditions women went through in those older narratives still echo in today’s world. It’s crucial to celebrate that these women artists have finally gotten a platform and recognition, but at the same time, we cannot ignore the systemic issues that remain unresolved. It’s a dual reality: we are moving forward, but not equally, and not for everyone. Can you tell us more about the final works that were being shown from the 5th to the 7th of September?
The videos are also available on our website. Work “Silent Carnival” from HYZ Studio is especially interesting because it will be an interactive piece. The audience will get to vote on how the story ends, whether it has a good or bad outcome. It’s incredibly moving. The creators have developed their unique visual language, adapting beautifully to the architecture.
The collective Fox & Folks’s work—I know them from way back. Their visual style seems to have changed dramatically for this piece. They’re from Indonesia and are usually known for vibrant, life-celebrating visuals. For this work, „SILENT PACT,“ they took a radically different turn in style. It shows a real evolution.
And the third project—“Manufactura” from Studio Zweisiedlerkrebs—that one had a kind of medieval aesthetic, very orchestral. They are bringing distinct visual and emotional approaches. That’s what I love about this year’s selection. It showcases the range of what this medium can do.
Festival: GENIUS LOCI WEIMAR, 12th Edition
International Video Mapping and Media Architecture Festival in Weimar, Germany
Location: Weimar City Castle and Ensemble Bastille
Duration: September 5th – September 7th, 2025
www.genius-loci-weimar.org
www.instagram.com/genius_loci_weimar
Hendrik Wendler studied architecture at the Bauhaus University in Weimar and founded device+context, a software company that develops the MXWendler video mapping software package. Since 2004, these media servers have been illuminating clubs, theaters, and façades all over the world. In 2012, he founded the artistic festival platform Genius Loci Weimar for the young art direction of video mapping, and is responsible for curation and art direction.
The international GENIUS LOCI WEIMAR Festival for audiovisual projections was launched in 2012 as part of the ‘Weimar Summer’ initiative. In the meantime, more than 50,000 visitors come to Weimar every year to experience the festival weekend. Optimally located in this city of poets, musicians, and thinkers, as well as the birthplace of the Bauhaus movement, the festival has become an important cultural event for Thuringia. Throughout, the festival is distinguished by the interplay of a broad range of artistic genres. The overall event of GENIUS LOCI WEIMAR encompasses the following program items: the widely appreciated facade projections, the GENIUS LOCI LAB stage featuring up-and-coming artists, as well as music events, and the light installations in public spaces. The GENIUS LOCI WEIMAR Festival is the realization of a concept that is unique worldwide, combining digital technology with artistic expression and historical heritage. Still today, the festival is the only international platform with an emphasis on free artistic work in the field of videomapping and is a vanguard for the associated technological developments. The festival is based on an international competition: every year, three facades are specially selected, and an invitation to tender for production concepts is announced. Prizes totaling 35,000 (2025) euros are offered for the winning submissions.
