A direction controllable lighting unit (10) and use thereof in a lighting system (40) are described. A lighting unit (10) has means (16) for directing the light emission (22) into different directions. A plurality of light sources (20a, 20b) are mounted on a common body (14). The light sources (20a, 20b) are disposed to emit directed light into different directions. The light is modulated to contain identification codes ‘A’, ‘B’, which are unique. Within the lighting system (40), an optical sensor (46) is arranged in a region illuminated by the lighting unit (10). The optical sensor (46) demodulates the received light according to the identification code. A control unit (44) is connected to the optical sensor (46) and to the lighting unit (10) to control the direction of the lighting unit (10) based on information from the optical sensor (46).