At the light and sound art festival in Darmstadt's twin city, the artist combines scent, light and sound into a work about home, memory and time.
Darmstadt-based artist Helga Griffiths will present her installation "Migratory Sense" at the KLANGLICHT Festival in Graz from October 23 to November 7, 2026. At the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Eggenberg Palace, she explores themes of memory, migration, and the experience of time. The exhibition in Darmstadt's Austrian twin city is part of the overarching theme "TIME – Cosmos, History, Present, Future.".
Helga Griffiths combines scent, light and sound
In her installation "Migratory Sense," Helga Griffiths brings together various sensory impressions. Together with perfumer Karl-Heinz Bork, she developed the scent of a lost homeland based on the memories and descriptions of a migrant.
The work is complemented by a specially composed sound piece by Johannes S. Sistermanns. At its center is a spherical sculpture symbolizing the planet. Boundary lines overlap on its surface. Light and scent enter the surrounding space through openings in the sculpture.
Scent plays a special role: it can evoke memories of past places and phases of life, making the past tangible in the present. In this way, the installation connects personal memories with collective history and the immediate perception of the moment.
Artistic connection between Darmstadt and Graz
For Helga Griffiths, participating in the KLANGLICHT Festival also represents a return to a place of earlier artistic recognition. She received first prize in Graz in 1998 for the "Art on Time" project.
The renewed presentation of their work in the Austrian city also underlines the cultural connections between Darmstadt and Graz, which are linked through a city partnership.
Eggenberg Palace becomes a stage for light art
The KLANGLICHT Festival returns to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Eggenberg Palace in 2026, following its successful run in 2021. The historic palace and its park provide the setting for artistic explorations of time, cosmos, history, the present, and the future.
In addition to Graz, the festival will also be represented in Vienna for the first time in 2026. There, the historic Schwarzenberg Garden at Belvedere Palace will become an exhibition venue for contemporary light and sound art.
(DARMSTADT – RED/PM/Helga Griffiths)
Featured image: Hannes Woidich
