The Zsolnay Light Festival is a cultural treat that is unique in the country and attracts tens of thousands of people to Pécs every year.

For four days, Pécs will once again become the light capital of the world, because July 7–10. between comes the VI. Zsolnay Light Festival! The organizers are expecting 100,000 visitors to the country's first and only light festival and are preparing around 120 programs. World-renowned light artists present the most exciting pieces of their work to visitors, who can also try such curiosities as tennis with light, making light graffiti and diving into the ocean of light - all for free! We won't believe our eyes this year either!

It has visited the world's biggest light festivals over the past years, and now the huge, captivating work of the English Squidsoup team called Submergence is coming to the Árkád Pécs Shopping Center. The audience can walk into the work while being completely surrounded by the dynamic light installation. The work consisting of more than 5,000 points of light creates the feeling of being submerged in the ocean.

On the 25th anniversary of his death, two works will pay tribute to the work of the world-famous native of Pécs, Victor Vasarely. Reflecting on Vasarely's pictorial world, the students of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Pécs are "weaving a carpet of light" in Janus Pannonius Street. The other work will be an interactive wooden projection inspired by Vasarely in front of the Csontváry Museum.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Zsolnay family had a tennis court built in the Barbican moat, this year it will come to life again, where visitors can play tennis matches with the help of light.

The interactive work of the French Antonin Fourneau, Waterlight Graffiti, is coming to Kossuth Square. Here, we can create light graffiti on an eight-meter-wide LED wall using water.

Light painting illuminates the iconic spaces and buildings of Pécs

In addition to Dzámi, Jókai tér or the Pécs National Theatre, new venues such as the new Pécs Vásárcsarnok or the playground of the Árkád park will be lit up in UV colors.

The Way of Light Extra

If you want even more experiences at the free festival, Fény Útja Extra awaits you, whose featured locations and exclusive programs can be visited by purchasing a HUF 1,500 wristband. This will be the case, for example, with one of the most unique light installations, the work Row by the international light artist collective called Tundra in the Pécs Gallery. During the holographic, audiovisual experience, the light objects zigzag next to us, as if magic from Harry Potter were flying around us.

Jakováli Hassán Jami reopened a few weeks ago

The light painting of the interior dome and walls of the building can also be seen with the extra armband, just like the House of Civil Communities, where the public can see one work each of two Hungarian light artists, Gáspár Battha and Erik Mátrai.

International light painting competition with prize money

During the Zsolnay Light Art light painting competition, the world's best light artists bring the monumental facade of the Cathedral to life with three-dimensional, moving light works. The theme of this year's competition is balance. The selection has been completed, the pre-jury has selected the 5 works that have reached the final, which will be shown at the festival. Entries came from all over the world, and in the end a Hungarian, a French, a Spanish, a German and a Thai artist were among the best.

The special feature of the Zsolnay Light Festival is that it offers experiences not only after dark, but also during the day

Enchanting international street theater programs entertain visitors.
An inimitable street clown comes from Chile, aerial gymnasts-acrobats and a magician-juggle from Argentina, a bubble circus from Italy, and a new circus performance from France, but we can also see fire juggling performances by Hungarian artists. On Széchenyi Square, the Swiss Panorama Kino Theater company, supplemented by actors from Pécs and Budapest, will build a special, 360-degree rotating cinema, where the widescreen image will be the street, and movie stars will be visitors to the festival alongside the actors. We can also see a variety show by artists from Pécs, and if after all this we feel like trying our hand at it, we will have the opportunity to do so at the circus school.

Music programs

The interesting thing about the music programs is that the visitors can only encounter musical experiences in which visuality is prominently present. Spectacular concerts and DJ sets offer entertainment lasting into the night, Decolonize Your Mind Society, Freakin' Disco Kamaraelektronika, Zagar, Siblicity, Polish audiovisual artist Ari Dykier, Dj dork and Bernathy Zsiga will also perform.

Source: Programturizmus.hu