A woman with long hair and pink-framed glasses, seen through a thermal camera
Live in heat

Centrale Noord · Rotterdam

23—25
July

2027 · three nights

Three nights of music, filmed through thermal cameras and projected back into a former power station.

Get passes See the lineup

Every set is filmed in heat. The room paints itself.

Six thermal cameras hang from the gantry of an old turbine hall. They see no faces and no clothes, only warmth: hands, breath, the crowd thickening at the front. Their images run live across a forty-metre wall, so the light show is made of you.

  • 3nights in July
  • 41acts on two floors
  • 6thermal cameras
  • 40metres of projection wall

Six in the frame, forty‑one in the hall

The cameras follow the people who make the room warm. This summer that means live electronics, a three-hour sunrise set, strings and one dance piece written for heat.

  • Close portrait of Ines Aalto with a streak of light across her face, in heat colours

    Ines AaltoFri · live electronics

  • Leo Marchetti, long curly hair, looking into the camera, in heat colours

    Leo MarchettiFri · modular live

  • Pia Sol in sunglasses and a ruffled dress, in heat colours

    Pia SolSat · three-hour set

  • Kofi Lumen in a puffer jacket and blue sunglasses, in heat colours

    Kofi LumenSat · DJ, b2b Pia Sol

  • Noor leaning on a wall in a white jacket and striped trousers, in heat colours

    NoorSun · voice and strings

  • Vera Novak turning her head in motion, blurred, in heat colours

    Vera NovakSun · dance, Afterimage

Also in the hall

Bruma, Field Hum, Hollow Coast, Tamsin Rhee, Kaito Mori, Night Swim, Saskia Veld, Port Siren, Elan Moss, Aya Kuroda, Oro Blanco, The Low Tones and twenty-nine more, announced in May.

Three nights, three wavelengths

Each night is tuned to a part of the spectrum the cameras can read, from a slow infrared opener to an ultraviolet cool-down on Sunday.

  1. Night one · Friday 23 July

    Infrared

    Slow heat. Live sets with long builds, the hall warming one degree at a time.

    A singer with a raised microphone under stage lights, in heat colours
    19:00
    Doors and camera room
    20:00
    Leo Marchetti
    21:30
    Ines Aalto
    23:30
    Hollow Coast
    02:00
    Close

  2. Night two · Saturday 24 July

    Visible

    The full spectrum. The long night, both floors open until four.

    A DJ in headphones and sunglasses behind the decks, in heat colours
    18:00
    Doors
    20:00
    Bruma
    22:00
    Pia Sol, three hours
    01:00
    Kofi Lumen b2b Pia Sol
    04:00
    Close

  3. Night three · Sunday 25 July

    Ultraviolet

    The cool-down. Voices, strings and a dance piece made for the cameras.

    A woman singing into a microphone in violet light, in heat colours
    16:00
    Doors
    17:00
    Vera Novak, Afterimage
    19:00
    Noor
    21:00
    Field Hum
    23:00
    Close

Last July, seen in heat

What the six cameras kept from 2026. Every frame on the wall was made by the people in it; nothing is recorded in visible light.

  • A crowd cheering with raised hands, in heat colours

    Saturday, 01:14 · the front rows

  • Silhouettes of hands raised towards a bright stage, in heat colours

    Friday, 23:50 · the first wave

  • Two hands making a heart shape against the stage lights, in heat colours

    Sunday, 22:45 · last song

  • Stage lights shining over a dark audience, in heat colours

    Saturday, 02:30 · lights up

  • A crowd facing a lit stage, in heat colours

    Friday, 21:10 · the hall fills

  • A band performing on stage in front of the audience, in heat colours

    Sunday, 19:20 · strings on the small floor

  • A packed crowd in front of the stage at night, in heat colours

    Saturday, 03:55 · still warm

“The first festival where the crowd is the light show. You watch a room warm up in real time.”

Northern WireReview of Kelvin 2026

“I saw my own hands glowing on a wall forty metres wide. I came back for all three nights.”

Lotte, Utrecht · weekend pass

“The Sunday cool-down was the best two hours of music I heard all year, and the quietest crowd.”

Sami, Antwerp · Sunday pass

Sami, a man with curly hair and tinted glasses, in heat colours

Pick your temperature

Passes are named after colour temperatures: the warmer the light, the shorter the stay.

Students pay half on Sunday. Companions of disabled guests go free on every night; write to hello@kelvin-festival.com and we will add them to your pass.

Before you come

Anything not answered here, ask the crew at the north gate or write to hello@kelvin-festival.com.

Am I filmed?

Only in heat. The six cameras record temperature, not light, so faces and clothes come out as colour fields. Nothing is filmed in visible light anywhere in the hall.

Can I stay out of the picture?

Yes. Take a blue wristband at the entrance and the camera crew masks you out of the live wall and the film. The quiet balcony is never filmed.

Is the hall accessible?

The ground floor, the viewing platform and all toilets are step-free. There is a quiet room off the main floor, and companions of disabled guests go free.

How hot does it get inside?

The hall is kept at 24 °C with fresh air from the river side. Water points are free and refilled all night.

Is there an age limit?

Friday and Saturday are 18+, with ID checked at the gate. Sunday is open to everyone from 12, with an adult.

Can I leave and come back?

Yes, with your wristband, until 01:00 on Friday and Saturday and all evening on Sunday.

The empty turbine hall with tall windows and brick columns, in heat colours

Turbine hall, built 1931Cold since 1998, warm for three nights

Centrale Noord

Kraanweg 14, 3089 KN Rotterdam. A former power station on the south bank, ten minutes from the centre by tram.

Tram
Line 8 to Kraanweg, then six minutes on foot along the water.
Night bus
B4 and B7 leave from the gate every twenty minutes after 01:00.
Bike
Nine hundred guarded spaces at the north gate, free.
Car
No parking on site. Use the Zuidplein garage and the shuttle.

Questions and press

hello@kelvin-festival.com +31 10 555 0193

One letter a month: lineup news, the film, and when the hall opens again.