Daan Krause

The Loss of the Night

"The night wasn't as dark as I knew it, but glowed brownish-yellow, which had created the shadows in my room. The moon was just a faint speck, and I saw no Ursa Minor or Ursa Major, no Sagittarius, no Cassiopeia, or any other constellation. Artificial light had eaten the stars."

"The Loss of the Night" addresses the topic of light pollution. Because of excessive usage of unnecessary lighting at night, we are slowly losing the splendour of the starry sky that has guided us since the beginning of human existence. Yes... 80 per cent of the entire world population now lives under a glare of light, which has enormous consequences not only for humans but also for nature. But how do you address the urgency of light pollution without demotivating people with a new major social problem?

Rather than confronting the viewer with facts and figures about the misery caused by light pollution, I'd rather take you to a pristine starry night, unlike anything most of us have ever seen. In "Het verlies van de nacht (The Loss of the Night")," an animated cyclist guides you through the Netherlands' nighttime problem areas. You'll see how the landscape, including the city, the Westland region with its greenhouses, and the harbour area, is slowly illuminated by light effects projected across the charcoal-drawn landscapes. Gradually, the pristine night transforms into a light-polluted night, causing the stars to disappear. Where you once stood under a beautiful starry sky, you now find yourself in a light-polluted landscape. Because only when you've experienced the beauty of the starry night will you understand what we're losing.