The following is an adapted version of an article originally published in Hungarian in Magyar Krónika.
Light installations on city façades, street theatre, contemporary circus, and music: Pécs will once again host one of Europe’s most prestigious light festivals this year.
The Zsolnay Light Festival will be held in Pécs between 3 and 6 July this year. Attracting more than 100,000 visitors every year, it has earned its place among Europe’s most prestigious light festivals as the largest light-themed event in Hungary.
Pécs City Centre Bathed in Light
The Zsolnay Light Art Video Mapping Competition will be the biggest attraction of the four-day festival, conjuring up light creations on the monumental façade of Pécs Cathedral every evening. This year, Hungarian, Czech, Polish, and Bulgarian artists will be the ones competing for public favour.
The theme of the competition echoes the central topic of the festival, ‘no//body’. The competition entries can be viewed on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings, a total of 13 times, on the southern façade of the cathedral, starting at 9:30pm.
This year, visitors can once again experience the spectacular displays composed for the city centre of Pécs by walking along ‘The Route of Light’. The works can be viewed on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday between 9:30pm and 1:00am, with the projections ending at midnight on Sunday.
‘Visitors can once again experience the spectacular displays composed for the city centre of Pécs by walking along “The Route of Light”’
On the façade of the city’s oldest residential building, a love story will come to life in an animation by Italian video mapping artist Francesca Maccio. On Theatre Square, an installation by Swiss studio Encor Studio will transform a shipping container into an extravagant light box. A grandiose circular panorama projection will be on display at Széchenyi Square, while this year’s Light Carpet will be created by Budapest-based graphic and design studio Anuri. Spanish artist Javier Riera will invite visitors to immerse themselves in geometric shapes projected onto the Cella Septichora, promising a hypnotic light experience.
At the Nádor Gallery, we will be able to step into what rather feels like a sci-fi movie: Koros Design’s huge head installation will explore the question of how robots will be able to imitate human facial expressions with the help of artificial intelligence.
At the ÁRKÁD Pécs Shopping Centre, Filip Roca and Zarko Komar’s installation Stardust will focus on the fundamental questions of human existence—where we came from, how we connect—as an endless story made of stardust, which we can become part of by walking into the projection itself.
This year, the Kodály Centre will be hosting two monumental installations. In Vince Varga and his team’s work entitled Lighted Are the Torches, the mythical story of boys turned into deer comes to life in a grandiose installation. During the virtual journey set in a tulle forest growing on the stage of the Concert Hall, we will find ourselves sometimes in the dense forest of Mecsek, sometimes in familiar places in Pécs: the installation places the plot of the centuries-old myth and its questions, which are still relevant today, in a contemporary context.
Another sensation at the Kodály Centre will be the site-specific installation Analemma by Japanese artist Yasuhiro Chida, which creates a calm, meditative space out of delicate threads and light.
A new feature is that the Zsolnay Cultural Quarter will become a wholly independent attraction offering a full evening experience at the festival. Visitors can walk along the secret paths of an enchanted light garden, where a new light experience will await them at every turn.
‘The Zsolnay Cultural Quarter will become a wholly independent attraction offering a full evening experience at the festival’
In the E78 concert hall, Balázs Varga will use laser beams and robot lamps to create his audiovisual installation Center Point, where a precisely choreographed interplay of light, sound, and smoke draws the viewer in.
Light installations by young talents from PTE and MOME, a spectacular light carpet, a video mapping site, dome projection, and sculptures brought to life with light will all make the quarter one of the most magical venues of the festival.
Street Theatre and Contemporary Circus
The Zsolnay Light Festival will offer visitors interesting experiences during the day as well: colourful street theatre and contemporary circus performances will await audiences in the city centre squares.
The festival will open with performances by the Spanish percussion group Brincadeira on Thursday, 3 July, and Friday, 4 July, at Széchenyi Square. Their performance will not only be a musical but also a visual experience: they set the mood with accurate choreography, energetic movements, pulsating drum rhythms, and dynamic lighting effects.
On Saturday, 5 July, the Solar Eclipse team will dazzle the audience with a special LED show: a combination of lights, dance, and dynamics in a fast-paced, modern performance. On Sunday, 6 July, the Mexican production Alkimia will uniquely combine fire and LED visuals, while also drawing on ritual movement culture and symbol systems. The performance will be both a fiery ritual and contemporary circus art: a mixture of body, light, and fire.
The performance by Duo Laos from Argentina will be a passionate blend of partner acrobatics, tango, humour, and ballet. Muraya Polip’s production Mama is about supermoms who would need more than eight hands to meet every challenge. This entertaining yet profound performance depicts the chaos, joys, and pains of becoming a mother.
Spain’s Nacho Rey will present a sensitive, acrobatic performance about empathy, forgotten dignity, and people living on the margins of society.
Meanwhile, in the Barbican Moat, fire jugglers and acrobats will dazzle the audience.
Participating in Light Tinkering, visitors can experiment with different artistic approaches to light and its creative uses, whether it be henna, cyanotype, silk painting, or making their own illuminated origami. From lightning bugs to ornate stained glass windows, visitors will be able to create a myriad of wonders with the help of professional instructors at a total of four locations.
Music Will Not Be Left Out Either
The festival’s music programme will also be characterized by variety and dynamism. Pécs’ famous pop music traditions will be revived by numerous local bands, but special experiences will await electronic music lovers as well. The clubs in the city centre will offer exciting treats every day, and the musical highlight of the festival will be the Flipside Tettye Open Air event with performances by Óperentzia and Balázs Zságer on Saturday night, 5 July, at Tettye Katlan.
For more information, visit the Zsolnay Light Festival’s website.
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Author: Magyar Krónika
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