Lantern Festival Index, is a global platform dedicated to documenting and understanding contemporary lantern festivals around the world. We focus on the intersection of art, culture, and the night-time economy, building a long-term “digital archive” for this fast-growing international phenomenon.
Across cities, zoos, botanical gardens, and theme parks, teams of lantern craftsmen are bringing large-scale illuminated installations to audiences worldwide. Yet the information surrounding these events remains fragmented, short-lived, and difficult to trace once a festival closes. Lantern Installations themselves are a temporary and fragile art form: they shine for only a few months, then disappear, leaving behind scattered press releases, photos, and memories.
Lantern Festival Index exists to change this. At the heart of the project are two guiding aims:
- Preservation and record-keeping – to systematically collect, structure, and present data on lantern festivals worldwide, offering a unified reference point for the public, professionals, and researchers interested in this emerging global night-time culture.
- Promotion and empowerment – to introduce lantern art craftsmanship, to a wider audience; to support the growth and international visibility of the lantern industry; and to help create opportunities along the entire value chain.
By treating lantern festivals as both cultural heritage and a living, evolving industry, we hope to leave a lasting, meaningful trace of their light on the internet—and to make it easier for people everywhere to discover, understand, and appreciate this unique art form.