Spotlight – the International Festival of Light, one of Bucharest's most anticipated open-air visual arts events, will return to Calea Victoriei avenue next month, from October 11 to 13. The organizers promise a unique show of light and technology, with impressive light art installations and video mapping sessions on the city's iconic buildings.

Thus, for three days, Spotlight will guide visitors along Calea Victoriei, where important buildings and public spaces will come to life through a new media show of lights and projections.

This year's route starts at the National Military Circle and continues with light art projections and installations at the Odeon Theatre, the Palace of Telephones, the Novotel Hotel, Muzica Store, Revoluției Square, the Central University Library, the National Art Museum of Romania, and the George Enescu Square. The InterContinental Athénée Palace Bucharest Hotel marks the end of the Spotlight route.

International artists will come to Bucharest for the first time to present large-scale multimedia installations on Calea Victoriei, the organizers said. 

The versatile artist of French-German origin Julien Menzel presents, for the first time in Romania, the Phénix and Echo projects - interactive works that challenge the viewers to become part of the artistic act. At the same time, the visual artist Émilien Guesnard exhibits the asklipion installation in Bucharest, an innovative artistic project that explores the connection between nature, light, and sound through 120 lamps that house frozen plants.

Romanian artists have also joined the lineup this year. From installations that address the connection between the human and the divine to the devastating impact of global warming, the light art works featured in this edition of Spotlight are redefining how we relate to the great challenges of the present.

This year's theme, Bucharest 565. Urban connections (marking over five centuries since the documentary attestation of the capital city), highlights Bucharest's distinctive architecture. Spotlight 2024 reconfigures the facades of the city's historic buildings through spectacular video mapping sessions, lights up symbolic areas through multisensory installations, and invites viewers to shows where light takes on "an unprecedented artistic and architectural dimension."

The Spotlight program starts at 19:00 and ends at 23:00 each day of the festival. Further details will be made available here.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: ARCUB)