Amnesty International’s abstract effort to bring ‘light into the darkness’ was supposed to be adapted to an art installation with the aim of addressing in particular an international and art-loving audience, and to raise their awareness of the human rights issue.

Amnesty International’s figurative mark is a candle – the international symbol for hope. An LED was fixed to the bottom of the candle, which lit up a template fixed to the wall from below to project a seemingly lifelike human rights violation scene as a shadow onto the wall. Thanks to a change in the lighting conditions, neutral visitors were turned into shocked eyewitnesses within seconds. The installation’s message: human rights violations take place unobserved, “in the dark” – until Amnesty International makes them visible and brings them to the world’s attention.

More publicity for human rights! The event was extremely well received by the international visitors to the Martin Gropius Bau: on average, they spent between 2 and 3 minutes engaging with the installation. As a result from the overwhelmingly positive reception, Amnesty International is planning to expand the exhibition to various locations in Berlin museums and numerous human-rights themed light installations in the course of this year. During the event, the click rate on Amnesty International’s homepage increased significantly, as did donations.