Bright Brussels Festival will light up venues in the center of the capital

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From the quay district to the Place du Nouveau Marché aux Grains, by way of the Béguinage, installations, some more unusual than others, will illuminate the capital.

From 22 to 25 February 2018, at nightfall, Bright Brussels, Festival of Lights will light up a number of districts in the center of Brussels. From the quay district to the Place du Nouveau Marché aux Grains, by way of the Béguinage, installations, some more unusual than others, will light up the capital.

The Quay and Sainte-Catherine districts will flaunt their most beautiful features with 11 illuminated installations and animations. International artists and groups will invade the most emblematic places to beautify them. Among them are TETRO, from France, in association with Whitevoid, from Berlin, who will provide creative lighting for the future Kanal (the former Citroën garage and future museum of contemporary art) by installing the imposing work “Stalactite”.

Bright Brussels, Festival of Light will offer visitors and residents a unique opportunity to see the authentic districts of the capital in a very different light. In particular, they will be able to explore hidden treasures like the Béguinage district and the Institut Pacheco [Pacheco Institute].

On the initiative of Rudi Vervoort, the Minister and President of the Brussels region, and Pascal Smet, Brussels Minister for Mobility and Public Works, visit.brussels is coordinating the installation of these monumental artworks in the heart of the capital of Europe.

“On top of the creation of Kanal, the new cultural pole and future contemporary art museum, the Brussels-Capital Region continues to work to develop the historical Quays and Béguinage neighborhoods. These venues that are bursting with history and not well-enough known by the public, deserve to be showcased. Bright Brussels, Festival of Light will let visitors and Brussels inhabitants to explore all the facets of these authentic and convivial neighborhoods, that bear witness to Brussels’ rich heritage as a shipping port”, exclaimed a delighted Rudi Vervoort, Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region.

“Light and the city’s public lighting are fundamental elements for the image and value of our region. Thanks to the Bright Brussels light festival, the city shines and neighborhoods are decorated with lights and magical installations that will enchant young and old. Light helps to frame the urban landscape, give the city an identity and amaze its inhabitants and passing tourists. This festival is the perfect chance for Brussels inhabitants to come together, meet and rediscover their city from a new angle as the sun goes down.” declared Pascal Smet, Brussels Minister responsible for Public Works.

Bright Brussels, Festival of Light is collaborating with the Citizen Lights festival in Schaerbeek (23-24 February).

Following a call for artistic projects, over 100 entries were received. A Brussels jury selected the following works:

TETRO (FR) + Whitevoid (DE) – Stalactite

At the heart of the majestic structure of the Citroën building, with its clean lines, is an enormous suspended structure, floating above the visitors. It generates light motifs and complex shapes to the rhythm of the electronic music of Boris Divider. This artistic light display by Christopher Bauder is called Stalactite. It offers an immersive experience of the madness of the 21st century.

Venue: Former Citroën garage

OCUBO & Telmo Ribeiro (PT) – Underlight

“Underlight” is a simulation of the aurora borealis. It combines colored lasers, smoke machines and the wind to create lighting effects. These form a colored curtain with the accompaniment of haunting music to plunge the audience into a splendid sound and light show.

Venue: Quai du Commerce and Parc du Quai à la Houille

Aerosculpture (FR) – Lumière d’eau (Light in water)

What becomes of the basins of our fountains when winter robs them of their water? Are they filled to the brim with other, highly illuminated wavelengths, in the hope that a school of flying fishes will be attracted by the light and come to take possession of their banks? This is the story told by the installation “Lumiere d’eau” with its moving, glittering lights spread over the surface of the basin and about a hundred lighter-than-air fish, caught by invisible hooks, that are lit by the colors of this imaginary water to offer us a thousand reflections moving and swirling in the wind.

Venue: Vismet, Fontaine Anspach

Estudio Sergio Ramos (ES) – Triple jet

This installation reminds us of the need to recover the identity of our cities by valuing their diversity and plurality. “Triple jet” uses a strong symbol with an internationally recognized graphic identity, the Mannekenn Pis, who has landed in a public place as the main protagonist of a new urban landscape.

Venue: Institut Pacheco

OCUBO (PT) – Flower Power

“Flower Power” is an experimental immersive video mapping show. It is based on experimentation with the physical forces of water and gravity. It explores the aesthetic of one of the most beautiful and colorful phenomena in nature, flowers. Inspired by the color, movement and fusion of these phenomena, the project transforms the everyday image of a flower into something magical and poetical.

Venue: Place du Béguinage

Tetro & Trafik (FR) – 160

“160” is an interactive sound and light installation that offers an intuitive instrument for exploring representation, projection and the relationship in space of shapes, colours and sound. It consists of 20 square arches, each containing eight lit segments. 160 light strips are deployed over the 60 m of the structure.

Venue: Vismet

Mathilde Lemesle (FR) – Aux fenêtres de Bruxelles – Appel d’air (At the windows of Brussels – Drawing in air)
“At the windows of Brussels – Drawing in air” is a light installation created for the 2018 Bright Brussels Festival. This exterior video mapping show is located on the façade of a house and plays with the features of that setting. Lighting effects are a way for visitors to rediscover the many sides of places.

Venue: Rue du Nom de Jésus

Dolus & Dolus (FR): Stratum

“Stratum” is an interactive installation that uses gesture to influence a “lit area”. Running one’s hand over a capture interface reproduces it in space using layers of light. This reaction generates a visible and tangible reflection of the gesture, like an ephemeral geology of movement.

Venue: Rue du Marché aux Porcs

Collectif Coin (FR) – Child Hood

“Child Hood” is a cloud. Comprising a multitude of luminous balloons, it hovers between numerical minimalism and a monumental kinetic installation. It invades space. The wind rushes in between the balloons. Like the ultimate interpreter, it injects a note of chaos into a finely measured sound and light composition.

Venue: Place du Nouveau Marché aux Grains

THEORIZ (FR) – Crystallized

“CRYSTALLIZED” is an immersive sculpture composed of steel, sounds and holographic images. Inspired by Bismuth crystal and built according to the laws of light propagation, CRYSTALLIZED is a mysterious, ever-changing sculpture that goes from atoms to liquid-crystal. The audience is drawn to appreciate the infinite, hypnotising lighting effects of the work from its different perspectives.

Venue: Former Atelier Coppens

Practical Information

Access: Metro 2-6, Tram 51, Bus 58: Yser stop
Times: From 22 to 25 February 2018, from 6:30 to 11:00 p.m.

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Chief Assignment Editor

Chief Assignment editor is Oleg Siziakov

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