The Umbra Light Festival Vitoria-Gasteiz lighting art festival opens its third edition, under the motto “EMPATÍA”, with families from Ukraine currently residing in Álava. They will be in charge of officially turning on the festival at 7:00 p.m.
Previously, a message of empathy and solidarity will be projected on the façade of the town hall, and the choir of the Los Arlotes de Llodio cultural association will perform.
From that moment on, the capital of Álava will display the light power of its festival in projections and installations on facades and interiors of buildings, gardens and public spaces until Saturday, February 11. The third edition of Umbra Light Festival Vitoria-Gasteiz grows and expands with a greater number of artists and interventions.
Promoted by the Basque Government, the Provincial Council of Álava and the Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council, and organized by the ARGIA 3 Cultural Association, the festival has become, after two successful editions, a national and international benchmark in the experimental, technological and social fields. from the world of light art and lighting festivals.
The motto of the 2023 edition is “EMPATHY”, an emotion closely related to altruism, love, concern and the ability to help, an intention that is much needed today than to achieve a sustainable future. In this sense, the team of curators has asked the selected artists to express and promote with their light installations different ways of approaching this concept to invite visitors to reflect on the importance of personal involvement when it comes to achieving a society more balanced.
Umbra Light Festival will take place in the historic center of the city and in other relevant areas, structuring itself through different routes. This year, starting from the Plaza de la Virgen Blanca, the festival extends southwest to the Parque del Prado; to the west to the Palacio de Congresos Europa and to the east to the Plaza de Santa Bárbara.
Interior spaces such as the Fundación Vital Exhibition Center or the Europa Conference Center are also incorporated, and other interiors such as the crypt of the Cathedral of Santa María and the Water Reservoir of the Montehermoso Cultural Center are taken up again.
Open spaces such as Parque del Prado or Plaza de Sta. Bárbara have been sought to facilitate a greater influx of public, prioritizing comfort.
more artists
The third edition of the Umbra Light Festival Vitoria-Gasteiz will feature 23 installations and performances, the largest number of artists and light interventions to date. The presence of local, national and international creators (Canadian, Australian, European…) reinforces the attractive offer of the festival in plurality, approaches and emotional impact.
Umbra Light Festival Vitoria-Gasteiz will premiere 12 installations for the first time, more than half of the selected works, in a bid to set future trends in the world of artistic lighting.
Among the facilities that can be seen is Kymatic, located in the portico of the church of San Miguel. Created by Gheada, an audiovisual studio from Bilbao. In its construction it will use salt from the Valle Salado de Añana. The installation will allow attendees to experience kinetic science (seeing sound waves from geometric patterns generated by certain fine-grained materials) through interactive “gadgets.”
Another outstanding work is Cloud, located on Paseo de Fray Francisco de Vitoria. A “cloud” of bulbs interacts with the public, generating “lightning” on its surface. Within the very high technology present in most facilities, this is completely analog and interactive, which makes it a technological rarity. Developed by Canadians Caitlind Brown and Wayne Garrett, it was commissioned by the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art for Art Experiment 2013.
In the Plaza de Santa Bárbara, the piece Exponential, by the British collective Lucid Creates, stands out for its evocative capacity. Exponential expresses the feeling of confusion and chaos that many people felt during the COVID-19 lockdown. Structured like a cube of mirrors, the use of light, sound and reflection creates an overwhelming sensation, inviting us to reconsider the need to face the challenges of climate change and act collectively to avoid further ecological disasters.
Extension of hours
Umbra Light Festival Vitoria-Gasteiz can be visited on Thursday 9, Friday 10 and Saturday 11 February from 7 to 10 p.m.
The facilities located in the water tank of the Montehermoso Cultural Center and the Crypt of the Cathedral of Santa María extend the visiting hours on Friday the 10th and Saturday the 11th from 5:00 p.m.
On the other hand, the Fundación Vital Exhibition Center will remain open in the morning on Friday the 10th and Saturday the 11th from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and in the afternoons from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. In addition, as a novelty for this edition, the three facilities located in the Fundación Vital Exhibition Center can be enjoyed until February 26 at their usual hours.
The Europa Conference Center will extend its exhibition hours until 11:00 p.m.
previous editions
Umbra Light Festival Vitoria-Gasteiz has become a pole of attraction for citizens and visitors who enjoy three days of an open-air museum of ideas and creativity. If in 2919 it received 84,000 visitors, in 2021 the number grew to 107,000. The same happened with hotel occupancy, which reached 78% in 2019, and 95% in 2021.
The motto of the first edition was “Urbanisms of light, New urban landscapes”, showing the public different and surprising views of the daily landscape of the city.
The programming of the second edition emphasized the impact of man on the environment and how to develop a sustainable future through the dissemination of the “Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)” set by the UN in the 2030 Agenda. 2023 edition, the search and promotion of sustainability continues to be a constant marked by the direction of the festival.
Umbra Light Festival Vitoria-Gasteiz signed in 2022, together with more than 20 lighting festivals in Europe, the ILO Sustainability Manifesto, a manifesto drawn up by the International Association of Lighting Festivals (ILO) to promote the sustainability of lighting festivals.
