Zsolnay Light Festival to Welcome Visitors with More Programs than Ever Before

This year, the Zsolnay Cultural Quarter will also be included in the program of the Zsolnay Light Festival, to be held between July 3 and 6 in Pécs. The event will offer activities in more venues than ever before, the organizers revealed.

Márk Hummel, managing director of Zsolnay Örökségkezelő Non-profit company, the organizer of the festival, said at a press conference in Pécs that the Zsolnay Light Art light painting competition will be held again this year, with animations projected onto the façade of the Pécs Cathedral. This year, Hungarian, Czech, Polish, and Bulgarian artists will compete, with their works reflecting the slogan “no//body.”

This year’s festival will again feature a walk along the “Way of Light” to discover the sights of downtown Pécs, including a love story on the façade of the city’s oldest residential building, animated by Italian video mapping artist Francesca Maccio.

On Színház Square, Swiss Encor Studio will transform a shipping container into a lightbox, while on Széchenyi Square, the team of Spotlights will create a panoramic projection. This year’s “Street Carpet of Light” on Janus Pannonius Square will be created by Anuri, a graphic design studio from Budapest. Spanish artist Javier Riera will project geometric shapes in Cella Septichora, said Hummel.

At the Nádor Gallery, Koros Design’s installation will explore how robots will be able to imitate human facial expressions through artificial intelligence. At a giant LED display in the Árkád shopping center, Filip Roca and Zarko Komar’s installation “Stardust” will be on view day and night.

This year, the Zsolnay Light Festival will turn the Zsolnay Cultural Quarter into a self-contained, all-night attraction, where visitors will be able to walk through the secret paths of an enchanted garden of light.

In the E78 concert hall, Balázs Varga will create his audiovisual installation “Center Point,” using laser beams and robot lamps.

Light installations by young talents from PTE and MOME, a spectacular light carpet, a video mapping location, a dome projection, and sculptures brought to life with light will make the Quarter one of the most magical venues of the festival.

This year, the Kodály Center will host two monumental installations. During the virtual journey through a forest on the stage of the concert hall, the forests of the Mecsek Mountains and the familiar squares of Pécs come to life. The installation “Analemma” by the Japanese artist Yasuhiro Chida, which builds a calm, meditative space out of delicate fabrics and light, will also be located in the facility.

During the day, colorful street theater and circus performances will take place in the city center squares.

For instance, Mama Octopus will be on stage, a show about ‘super mothers’ who would need more than eight hands to meet every challenge. Muruya’s performance is an entertaining yet profound production about the chaos, joys, and pains of becoming a mother. The Spanish group Brincadeira will perform on both nights of the festival, adding rhythmic lights and choreographed movement to their percussion performances.

The atmosphere is always fiery at the fire jugglers’ venue where acrobats will perform thrilling stunts in the Barbakán moat.

The festival’s programs and attractions on the public spaces of the “Way of Light” are free of charge, while those in the closed spaces of the “Way of Light Extra” venues can be visited by purchasing a wristband.

Via MTI, Featured image: MTI/Ruprech Judit