Immerse yourself in the ocean of lights!

Pécs is going to become the capital of light of the world for four days once again, as the 6th Zsolnay Light Festival is coming soon to shine between July 7–10! The country’s first and only light festival is expected to attract 100,000 visitors and the organizers are expected to present some 120 peculiarities. World-renowned light artists will bring their most exciting pieces of work to visitors, who can also try such curiosities as playing tennis with light, making light graffities and diving into the ocean of light – all for free! You won't believe your eyes this year again!

The city center of Pécs will turn into fantasyland, with dazzling sights in a total of 20 locations, forming the Route of Light:

After touring the world's largest light festivals in recent years, the huge, immersive work of the English Squidsoup team, Submergence, is arriving at the Árkád Pécs Shopping Center. The audience can walk into the work while being completely surrounded by the dynamic light installation. With more than 5,000 light spots, the work evokes an illusion of immersing in the ocean.

On the 25th anniversary of his death, two works will pay tribute to the oeuvre of Victor Vasarely, the world-famous artist born in Pécs. Contemplating Vasarely's visual world, students of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Pécs "weave a carpet of light" in Janus Pannonius Street. The other work will be a Vasarely-inspired interactive mapping creation opposite the Csontváry Museum.

The reputable Zsolnay family built a tennis court in the Barbican Trench at the beginning of the 20th century, and this year it will come to life again, where visitors can play tennis matches by means of light.

Waterlight Graffiti, an interactive work by Antonin Fourneau from France, is arriving in Kossuth Square. Here, on an eight-meter-wide LED wall, visitors will be able to create light graffitis using water.

Mapping works are going to shine on the iconic squares and buildings of Pécs, such as the big Mosque on the main square, Jókai Square or the National Theatre of Pécs, but new venues such as the new Pécs Market Hall or the playground of Árkád Park are also going to get clad in a light robe shining in UV colours.

If you want even more experience at the free festival, the Route of Light Extra is awaiting you, whose special venues and exclusive programs can be visited by purchasing a HUF 1,500 wristband. They will include, for example, one of the most special light installations, the work of the international light artist collective Tundra entitled Row at the Pécs Gallery. During the holographic, audio-visual experience, objects of light zigzag around you as if some magic would have come to life in a Harry Potter movie.

The Mosque of Hassan Jakovali reopened just a couple of weeks ago, and now visitors having an extra wristband can admire the mappings on the inner dome and walls of the building, as is the House of NGO Communities, where the audience can see the works by two Hungarian light artists, Gáspár Battha and Erik Mátrai.

The prestige of the festival is enhanced by an international, cash-prize light painting competition. During the Zsolnay Light Art Mapping Competition, the monumental façade of the Cathedral will be brought to life by the best light artists in the world by means of three-dimensional, moving mapping works. The theme of this year's competition is balance. The selection is over; the shortlisting jury has selected the 5 finalists to be seen at the festival. Entries came from all over the world, including works by a Hungarian, a French, a Spanish, a German and a Thai artist.   

A special feature of Zsolnay Light Festival is that it offers experiences not only after dark, but also during the day, when visitors are entertained by charming international street-theatre shows. The program features an idiosyncratic street clown from Chile, incredibly skilled acrobats and a magician juggler from Argentina, a bubble circus from Italy and a contemporary-circus performance from France, but you can also admire a show by a Hungarain fire juggler troupe.

At Széchenyi Square, a Swiss ensemble, Panorama Kino Theatre, involving actors from Pécs and Budapest, will build a special cinema rotating 360 degrees, where the „technicolor” background scenery will be made up of the street and the film stars will be the visitors of the festival themselves. You can also see the show of mixed genre by artists from Pécs, and you are of adventurous spirit, you can test your skills in the circus school.

A peculiarity of the music programs is that at the festival, visitors can only encounter musical experiences which also include visual effects playing a dominant role. Spectacular concerts and DJ sets offer night entertainment, including Decolonize Your Mind Society, Freakin ’Disco Chamber Electronics, Zagar, Siblicity, Polish audiovisual artist Ari Dykier, Dj dork and Zsiga Bernathy.  

Additional events offer a lot of excitement as well. In the Workshop of Light (Fénybütykölde), everyone can create glowing jewellery and memorabilia themselves.

Every year “ambassadors of light” come to the festival; this year we are hosting Poland. In this context, Polish lighting and audio-visual concerts are going to enrich the program, while professional discussions are also going to be held with representatives of Polish light art.

This year, the festival goes beyond the city centre: the Zsolnay Cultural Quarter awaits visitors with light attractions at daytime.

Pécs is going to be the highlight of summer again this year!

The horrors of the coronavirus and the war take their toll on everyone both mentally and in spirits, while the contents pouring on us push our threshold of toleration to the limits. Yet in these difficult times, we need experiences that fill our hearts with warmth and faith! An event where different nations experience a special miracle that only shines once a year. This is the aim of the mapping-art competition of the Zsolnay Light Festival in Pécs.

Is it possible to see millions of butterflies fly out of the window of the Cathedral of Pécs, or that the windows of the building become piano keys, or that the church spins around its own axis? The realm of imagination is opened by the Zsolnay Light Art International Mapping Competition, whereby the best mapping artist in the world bring the facade of the Cathedral to life and get the hearts of tens of thousands of people throbbed.

The theme of this year’s competition is equilibrium, which has been given a sad topicality. Equilibrium is a state in which different influences and forces fully balance one another, resulting in a situation that suggests security and creates a positive feeling. This is a desired state in any area of life; yet today's reality is rather characterised by situations where the usual equilibrium states are overturned one after the other, generating unknown processes and often causing unpredictable changes. The organizers are waiting works reflecting on this theme.

This year, the organizers introduced several innovations. Only the best 5 works will be included in the screening program of the 2022 festival this year, instead of the previous 10. At the same time, the maximum length of the works, which had been up to 3 minutes before, has been increased to 4.5 minutes, providing an opportunity to create more profound works.

The competition is going to be held in one category, and the jury will once again be made up of a five-member international professional committee. In addition to the grand prize of € 5,000 awarded by the jury, there will be a fan favourite award this year as well. The professional collaborating partner and the host of the Zsolnay Light Art is Glowing Bulbs. 

For more details regarding the application, see: Zsolnay Light Art Open Call

The competition is the highlight of Zsolnay Light Festival taking place from July 7-10, which was attended each time by some 80,000 people in recent years. In addition to this, the most intense experience of the festival is offered by the works along the Route of Light, which consists of some 25 stations. This year’s novelty is that, light artists can also applied for their implementation.

More than a 120 entries have been submitted to the Route of Light open call of the 2022 Zsolnay Light Festival. The call has ended on the 10th of April, all submissions are being evaluated. In case there is a need for any technical or other information missing from a proposal, the applicants will be contacted in the following weeks, the final decision will be published on the 2nd of May.

For more details, see: Route of Light Open Call

Further details: www.fenyfesztival.hu/en  

The first and only light festival of Hungary, the Zsolnay Light Festival in Pécs, is going to return to its summer date next year!

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Zsolnay Heritage Manager held the event that attracting tens of thousands of people in autumn this year. In 2022, however, the seven-time award-winning event  is scheduled for July 7-10, thus awaits visitors in summer again.

Entry to the Zsolnay Light Art International Mapping Competition is going to begin in spring. As always, the best entries will bring the façade of the Cathedral to life with their spectacular 3D light-creations during the festival. The attractions of the Pathway of Light winding through the city center, as well as street-art productions, musical delicacies and light-professional programs are also going to return.

In the meantime, it's worth viewing back the 2021 festival by means of the after movie debuting now:

This 2022 event will be the highlight of the summer in Pécs again!

As if summer had returned for four days – the Zsolnay Light Festival in Pécs took place between 30 September and 3 October. The city was engulfed by a flood of light and saw an unexpectedly great atmosphere. The festival, which was postponed to the fall due to the coronavirus pandemic, was an overwhelming success despite all the adverse circumstances and provided an unforgettable experience for tens of thousands of visitors. A German competitor proved to be victorious  at the Zsolnay Light Art International Mapping Competition.

The 5th Zsolnay Light Festival –the first and only festival of light in the country offered more than 150 events and attractions to visitors. In addition, the elite of the international lighting profession has participated in professional events and roundtable discussions, enhancing the festival’s international reputation even further.

The winners of the Zsolnay Light Art International Mapping Competition were announced on Sunday evening. The 10 finalists brought the façade of the Cathedral to life with 3-dimensional mapping works. The winner of the competition was selected by a five-member international jury, and they jusged the German work Ruestungsschmie.de: Colours of noise won to be the best and was awarded the first place. The light-art group received a cash prize of € 5,000 and was also invited to the “Winners League”, the iMapp Bucharest, a mapping competition taking place in Bucharest, Romania, involving the world’s best mapping artists.

The fan’s favourite award was won by the Hungarian team Fluid with the work Source, so they can present themselves at the next Zsolnay Light Festival with an independent light installation

- We had to make a decision about this year's Zsolnay Light Festival at the beginning of the year in an unpredictable situation. Then we decided to organize the festival this year by all means, and picked an autumn date for the event. Fortunately, the amazing success and lots of positive feedback proved that it was the best choice - reported Péter Bleszity, managing director of the festival organizer Zsolnay Heritage Management Non-profit Ltd..

In addition to the mapping competition, the 23 stations of the Pathway of Light, where the audience could see different light installations, saw a huge success. The children could slide on a playground of light, masses of visitors could take a stroll on the carpet of light, but one of the most special creations was presented in the Csontváry Museum, where a piece of art by Csontváry was “brought to life”. By means of the installation, visitors could make the painting Lonely Cedar move by the wind they generated. In addition to maintaining the high standards of previous years, this year the festival featured several works of light that provided an opportunity for greater meditation and deeper introspection than earlier.

In addition to light creations, visitors could take part in contemporary circus, street-theater, music and lighting-professional events.

The promise proved to be fulfilled: Pécs was the highlight of the autumn!

The first and only festival of light in the country, the Zsolnay Light Festival, will shine the city again in the autumn with dazzling light creations, From September 30 till October 3, the buildings will be clad in light; the streets will be carpeted with light, while the monumental façade of the Cathedral will be brought to life by the best 3D, animated light projections of the international competition. After New York, Hong Kong, Amsterdam and Toronto, the light creation "Talking Heads", will be on display for the first time in Hungary; two iconic works by Csontváry are going to come to life, while visitors might also encounter extra-terrestrial light beings!!

Walking along the Pathway of Light through the center of Pécs, you will be able to see grandiose, heart-warming and extravagant – but definitely amazing – spectacular, site-specific light installations at twenty-three sites.

After New York, Hong Kong, Amsterdam and Toronto, "Talking Heads", a work by Viktor Vicsek's and Limelight will be on display for the first time in Hungary. The installation consists of two six-and-a-half-metre heads made up of 4000 LED lights. In the dynamic sculpture composition, the heads communicate by flashing the lights, their facial expressions change according to the content of their talk, and they express emotions – nothing like this has ever been on display in Hungary before.

In Cella Septichora, featuring underground tombs inclued in the UNESCO’s Word Heritage list, Multiverse 5.1 , a work created by fuse*, an Italian light artist team, extending beyond physical walls of sacral space, giving the impression that you can enter a parallel universe is going to be on display

The Csontváry Museum will be enriched with two special, interactive audio-visual works during the Festival of Light. Through the works by Andrea Sztojánovits and Ivó Kovács, two iconic works by Csontváry The Lonely Cedar and The Valley of the Great Tarpatak in the Tatras are going to come to life.

One of the most special light experiences this year is going to take place in one of the main venues of the festival, Széchenyi Square. In addition to the 360-degree projection of the Mosque, the facades of the buildings in the square will be engulfed by light; the choreographed complex composition delivered by projectors, laser beams and robotic lamps offers a unique spectacle.

In addition to this, the Barbican's bastion and its moats are going to be covered with mapping installations, three gripping works of light are going to arrive at the House of Non-Governmental Communities; besides, there will be light sculptures, a carpet of light, and a light playground for children, too. Visitors are going to be able to play with an interactive 3D puzzle in Kossuth Square, they are going to be involved as live prisms in the light creation made in Pezsgőház (House of Champagne), they will be able to magnify microscopic worlds to become giant in the Apollo cinema; they can research the reflection of colours in the Evangelical Church and special, reflective light creatures are going to move to the mall ÁRKÁD Pécs during these early autumn days.

The highlight and most popular event of the festival, the Zsolnay Light Art International Mapping Competition, is going to feature animated 3D light creations bringing the façade of the Cathedral to life. The best ten productions made into the final include Japanese, French, Spanish, Ecuadorian, and of course Hungarian competitors.

As early as during the day, but also in the evenings, visitors can take part in numerous street-art programs, including breath-taking performances by acrobats, LED and fire jugglers as well as contemporary-circus ensembles from various countries, while they can also learn how to juggle from Hungarian, Peruvian and Brazilian artists. The festival features several concerts as well; performers this year are expected to include Zagar AV Experience, DJ Bootsie, Pozvakowski, and MINKA lead by Rozina Pátkai, among others.

The highlight of our Focus Country project of the festival is going to be Croatia this year; the light festivals of Croatia, Zagreb, Pula and Osijek are going to present their projects in Káptalan Street.

According to the regulations currently in force, the events of the Pathway of Light can be visited without any limitations, while the Zsolnay Light Art mapping competition, the Street-art programs and concerts can be visited only by presenting a vaccination card.

Most of the programs are still free, while the paying venues of the Pathway of Light Extra can be visited with a wristband bought before.

Zsolnay Light Festival of Pécs is unique by all means, as there is no other event in Hungary offering such diverse spectacles including mappings on buildings, light sculptures and interactive light games.

Instead of the summer festival season, which has become unpredictable due to the pandemic, Zsolnay Heritage Management Non-profit Ltd. is going to hold the Zsolnay Light Festival at a safer time. Thus, the first and only light festival in the country will shine in Pécs from 30th September to 3rd October.

The festival, boasting with an impressive line-up, including many foreign performers, impressed as many as 80,000 visitors last time. When making the decision to change the date, the organisers kept the safety of both the artists and the audience in mind.

’However, if the regulations allow, we will not give up the summer festival season itself entirely. Still we consider it safer to start with smaller events and festivals, so there will be a gradual rise in the series of events, and we hope that the Zsolnay Light Festival, which attracts the largest crowd, will be held amidst calmer and safer conditions in the autumn’ said Péter Bleszity, CEO of Zsolnay Heritage Management Non-profit Ltd.

The Zsolnay Light Festival in Pécs offers a unique spectacle not seen anywhere else in Hungary. The best mapping artists in the world will enchant Pécs during the seven-time-awarded, impulsive festival adapting foreign trends. The buildings are going to be clad in a light robe and the streets carpeted with light installations – offering a magical experience as if you were entering a dream world. The four-day festival, which can be visited free of charge, the audience hungry for new experiences can enjoy  concerts, contemporary-circus and street-theatre performances as well.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Zsolnay Light Festival in Pécs was cancelled last year, but the organizer Zsolnay Heritage Management NKft. hopes the country’s first and only light festival can return this year. In the spirit of this, on March 1, it announced the international, Zsolnay Light Art Mapping Competition where prize money is awarded. The best mapping artists in the world are going to enchant the Cathedral of Pécs with their three-dimensional short films once again.

The competition is a completely unique attraction in the country, and is the undisputable highlight of the Zsolnay Light Festival held from July 1-4. The “canvas” of the mapping artists is the Cathedral of Pécs, whose facade, side nave, towers and roof are also covered by the creators with 3D mapping art creations.

- We are preparing to hold the Zsolnay Light Festival between 1 and 4 July this year; but, of course, only if the current regulations allow it. To avoid large crowds, we will be continuously screening the competition creations. If it is not possible to implement our original plan, we will try to find alternative solutions, be it by putting off the date of the festival or holding the competition online, said Péter Bleszity, Managing Director of Zsolnay Heritage Management.

The subject matter of the 2021 competition in Pécs is Lightmatter. The deadline for the first application round is April 5, 2021, and then during the pre-judging the best 10 works are going to be selected in two rounds. The selected works then are going to be presented at the Zsolnay Light Festival.

The final jury for the competition is going to be a five-member, international professional committee. This will be the first year when each shortlist creator will automatically receive € 1,000 prize money for their work, and it is also an innovation that the official jury will award only one prize. Besides, the work considered best by viewers will be rewarded with an People's Choice Award.

The professional partner of Zsolnay Light Art and the host of the competition - as in previous years - is the Hungarian visual artist group, Glowing Bulbs, boasting more than 20 years of history.

Aftermovie from 2019:

If it's up to us, Pécs will be the highlight of the summer again!

Unfortunately, due to the situation caused by COVID-19, the Zsolnay Light Festival in Pécs, planned for the summer of 2020, cannot take place in its usual form. The organizers, i.e. the staff of Zsolnay Heritage Management Ltd. have been working hard in recent weeks not to let the light go out and make the most of the situation.

As a result of this organizing work, the country's first light festival will make up for it next year: the usual, world-class series of programs, spectacular 3D mappings, street art productions and light attractions that enchant the entire city centre will return. The date of the festival is already available: it will take place July 1-4, 2021. The biggest light festival in the country is awaiting its visitors again!

At the same time, the audience will still have stunning light programs, as for the rest of the year, ZsÖK will enchant the nights in Pécs with smaller-scale but just as spectacular lighting events.

Zsolnay Light Festival is preparing for the future with a new type of series of programs

Due to the coronavirus situation causing radical changes worldwide and the unpredictability of the coming months, Zsolnay Light Festival, planned for the summer of 2020, is going to take place in a different form this year: Zsolnay Heritage Management Non-profit Ltd of Pécs, in collaboration with domestic and foreign artists, strives to organize several smaller-scale light events for the rest of the year.

Zsolnay Light Festival in Pécs, celebrating its 5th anniversary in 2020, is a four-day light festival of national and European significance that organically combines the dazzling world of light festivals with street-art productions, contemporary circus performances and music programs. After carefully assessing the possibilities the present situations can hold and taking them in consideration in a responsible manner, it became certain that in the current global crisis situation, ZsHM cannot organize the event at the same scale and with such complex programs as in previous years.

Therefore, the organizers decided that the Zsolnay Light Festival will be transformed this year. The decision is not resignation but adaptation; the creative work will not stop. The goal is now to create a series of programs that carry on the tradition, but on a smaller scale, that will continue to inspire thinking, convey values, entertain, delight, and be followed virtually as well. And all the events that cannot take place this year will be presented to the visitors in Pécs in July 2021.

We are constantly updating this year's events and preparations for next year. Please, keep track of them in the press and at the following sites:

www.fenyfesztival.hu

www.facebook.com/zsolnayfenyfesztival

1st place:
Team name: Michele Pusceddu - Italy
Title: Complementary Lights

2nd place:
Team name: TOOPFIRE - China
Title: The Heart of the Forest

3rd place:
Team name: ruestungsschmie.de - Germany
Title: TECHTONIC³

Winner of the audience award:
Team name: Michele Pusceddu - Italy
Title: Complementary Lights

Congratulations to this year's winners!

Other than the Zsolnay Light Art Mapping contestants works, there will be one more unique lightart on the walls of the Székesegyház: the world-famous 3D mapping artist, László Zsolt Bordos, brings us his beautiful work, Inertia.

The surfacemapping is made full by added robotlamps, this magnitude of lightart has not been at our festival so far.

You can watch it three times from June 28-30th, friday to sunday, every night at 23.50.