Light-painted historic buildings, creatures of light floating on a sea of tulles, interaction with artificial intelligence – the Zsolnay Light Festival will enchant all your senses in 2025 as well. This is not just a festival – it is one of the most spectacular urban events in Europe, which will illuminate Pécs for the ninth time between 3-6 July, attracting more than a hundred thousand visitors to the city.
The buildings are clad in garments of light, the streets are carpeted with light, while the monumental façade of the Cathedral is brought to life by the best 3D cinematic projections of the international mapping competition.
The 4-day festival is a memorably experience for families and groups of friends in the Mediterranean city center of Pécs, with mappings paintings and numerous accompanying programs!
Walking along the Route of Light crossing downtown Pécs, visitors can again see sometimes grandiose, sometimes heartwarming, sometimes extravagant – but in each case amazingly spectacular, space-specific light installations.
Every year, the event attracting the greatest interest is the Zsolnay Light Art Mapping Competition, when moving, three-dimensional artworks of light come to life on the façade of the Cathedral.
The festival organically combines the world of light festivals with street art productions, concerts, theatre and contemporary circus performances. Visitors can acquire insight into the nature of light in an interactive and entertaining manner, and this educational satellite events convey new, creative content to visitors. The domestic and foreign artists invited and creative workshops mostly include internationally recognized professionals of the field and play a leading role in this dynamically developing form of art.
The Zsolnay Light Festival attracts more than a hundred thousand visitors every year, and as the largest light art event in Hungary, it has deservedly earned its place among Europe's prestigious light festivals.
For the first time in its history, the Zsolnay Light Festival invited the creators of the Route of Light and the Light Art Camp to collective thinking on a given topic.
NO//BODY
We are looking for the connections between disembodiment, immateriality and intangibility, reflections on the changes taking place in our everyday lives in real and virtual space, through the possibilities inherent in light art and digital art.
Light as a means of artistic expression is extremely closely related to the themes of disembodiment, immateriality and intangibility.
We choose the symbolism of light as the central element of our study because, although it is intangible, it is still able to create a shape, modify our perception of space, and have an effect on us without being physically touchable.
In the virtual space, our body is capable of anything, we can have experiences that are unimaginable in real life. We are interested in whether these experiences can be experienced in real space, by creating new types of light environments.
Where is the line between physical and virtual experiences? Can these boundaries be dissolved with the help of light? Are we able to create the same effects in a physical environment as we experience in virtual space?
The programs of the festival and the attractions of the Route of Light presented in public spaces can be visited free of charge, while those in closed spaces can be viewed by purchasing a wristband, these are the Route of Light Extra locations. Discounted, early bird tickets are available from 20 May to 30 June.
There is no other event in Hungary that offers as many diverse attractions, building mappings, light sculptures and interactive light shows as the city of Pécs and the Zsolnay Light Festival!
