Prague Light Festival SIGNAL

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The Prague light festival SIGNAL will light up on four October nights the streets and buildings of nighty Prague! From 15th to 18th October the third edition of SIGNAL festival will offer more than twenty installations including videomappings, a thrilling spherical projection, a one-way route that will enhance the visitors experience and a festival Sunday evening dedicated to families with children. For the first time the festival will hold a special program for experts in the field of art and technology - SIGNAL Future Forum conference and educational platform TRANSMIT.

Don’t miss this year....

The second edition of the SIGNAL festival gained favour of nearly half a million visitors last year. The British daily The Guardian ranked the festival among Europe’s top 10 light art festivals. SIGNAL intends to defend its position this year again and offers the best of the world’s light art! One of the most fascinating installations of the third edition of the SIGNAL festival is a monumental installation called Sphere - a unique inflatable dome of the size of a five-storied house that will be specially built for the festival on Klarov. The inner wall over its entire surface will reflect the breathtaking 360-degree audio-visual show by French artist Joanie Lemercier.

Another installation that is definitely worth seeing, is a fascinating work of the American artist Janet Echelman who is famous for the ability to transform and enrich the urban air space with their brightly colored nets responsive to the environment, wind, water and the sun. This spectacular seven-meter installation creates an expansive net that floats in an ethereal manner over the heads of the viewer.

Czech artists will also have the opportunity to show their best art this year. The matador of the Czech sculpture Cestmir Suska joins forces with a young lighting designer Peter Pufler. Suška’s monumental metal cylinder called Ocelot was exhibited as part of the Pilsen - European Capital of Culture 2015. At  Prague’s SIGNAL festival Ocelot will be shown in a completely new context. Movable light created by Petr Pufler will start a shadow play with Ocelot projected onto the pavement and facades of Ovocny trh. "By combining the work of a major Czech sculptor with young contemporary art, the work of both artists moves into a different dimension and visitors can be satisfied with indisputable qualities of both," says program director Pavel Sedlak.

Attractive festival location and a pleasant route

SIGNAL festival, the biggest festival of audiovisual art in the Czech Republic, acts in a very original way with a unique architecture and the atmosphere of the city. The visitors of the first edition of the festival will be probably happy about the news that SIGNAL will once again light up the Petrin Tower, which was one of the most popular locations in 2013. For the third time the festival will also illuminate the church of Saint Ludmila at Namesti Miru. The festival map will further continue through the Kampa park, Strelecky ostrov, the Piazzeta of the National Theatre, Letna Park and Stalin, as well as the riverside and many other places. For a more festival-friendly experience the organisers decided to choose one-way festival route. "It's obviously a question of choice of each and everyone, it is about a recommended tour in order to make streets more passable," says festival director Martin Posta.

SIGNAL expands and offers a program for professionals

For the first time SIGNAL expands its program and offers a conference for industry professionals called SIGNAL Future Forum (SIFF) and an educational platform Transmit (www.transmit.org). SIFF will mainly focus on the issue of creative industries and will link the public service with large corporations. The major aim of SIFF is to find connections between creativity, innovation, industry and politics and to define the relationship of politics in connection with emerging fields of study. Transmit educational platform is designed for visual artists, lighting designers, curators and other experts. It offers a unique opportunity to exchange  experiences and share knowledge in the field focusing on digital culture, art and technology. SIGNAL is expanding also with regard to its other activities. It is not only a festival of lights which takes place in Prague annually. "Over the past year we have not only managed to cross the boundaries of the capital city but also the country. We organised a festival of lights in Pilsen but also helped to prepare the first edition of the Romanian Spotlight Festival. We are very happy that we could push the festival a few steps further", says Posta.

Support the festival and send your signal ...

The city created several Light Points during the festival - sales booths where it is possible to get refreshment, buy souvenirs and bilingual festival brochures, in other words festival guides with a map and description of the installations. The festival visitors can support SIGNAL via SMS donations or a  purchase of the 3D glasses at the Kinsky Summer House videomapping. On 20th September the festival organiser will also launch its fund-raising webseite startovac.cz. "We try every year to bring  even more interesting and more spectacular light works, which is logically more financially demanding. Thus we would be glad if our festival fans send ‘their signal’ and support us this way as it is important to know that those for whom we organise the festival are happy and want us to improve it", says festival director Martin Posta.