ZSOLNAY LIGHT ART MAPPING COMPETITION 2025
3-6. July 2025.
The Cathedral as a Living Work of Art: International Competition
The Zsolnay Light Art Mapping Competition is the biggest attraction of the four-day festival, which conjures up stunning light creations on the monumental façade of the Cathedral of Pécs every night. This year, Hungarian, Czech, Polish and Bulgarian artists will compete for the favor of the audience. The theme of the competition is in line with the central theme of the festival.
Our international mapping competition can be visited free of charge by everyone, on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings, a total of 13 times. The mapping pieces are going to be projected on the southern facade of the Cathedral building, as follows
THURSDAY & FRIDAY & SATURDAY
21.30 Projection of the competition pieces 1.
22.00 Projection of the competition pieces 2.
22.30 Projection of the competition pieces 3.
23.00 Projection of the competition pieces 4.
23.30 Best of – award-winning pieces for the previous years, and will close with the iconic mapping piece ‘The Book of Jonah’ by Glowing Bulbs.
SUNDAY
21.30 Projection of the competition pieces
22.00 Announcement of the results and award ceremony
22.30 Audience Award Winner of the 2025 competition + Best of – award-winning pieces for the previous years, and will close with the iconic mapping piece ‘The Book of Jonah’ by Glowing Bulbs.
Due to the strong light and sound effects, these events are not recommended to visitors who are sensitive to it!
NO//BODY
Light as a means of artistic expression is extremely closely related to the themes of disembodiment, immateriality and intangibility, capable of creating a figure and having an effect on us without being physically touchable. This year's artistic theme of the festival – NO//BODY – seeks 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.
Zsolnay Light Art 2025 artists:
Ari Dykier (Poland) - Creation
https://www.dykiers.com
We are facing the time when creating artificial humans is almost possible. The idea is as old as civilization but today we can build human shaped robots giving them artificial intelligence and it’s a matter of years we can witness them living next to us. Will we create a mere semblance of divine creation or a being superior to us physically? Will their bodies be indestructible, extending the average lifespan? Will we respect robots as equal beings, will we respect independence of their minds and body or will we perceive them as machines as Nobody? Will coexistence with androids teach us to respect the rights of different species? The project Creation is telling the story of building an artificial human body, a copy of human based on advanced technology, being developed in such a way that it helps humanity face its shortcomings and problems, creating a harmonious vision of the future. Animation is going to be created in vintage style, technique of collage that will help to make the story universal and timeless.
Music: Ari Dykier
Elektrick.me (Bulgaria) - Transcendence
https://elektrick.me
Elektrick.me team consideres the theme "No/Body" as an opportunity to show how the physical world created by the human hand "works" and contrasts with the non-physical. Their projections will both highlight and transform the specific physical features of the building, creating moments where solid form appears to dissolve, reshape, or transcend its material constraints.
They'll establish visual conversations between contrasting material properties: strength/softness: Concrete and steel elements will appear to yield and flow, while soft architectural features will manifest structural integrity.
matter/non-matter: Solid surfaces will become permeable or transparent, while empty spaces may fill with apparent substance.
Music: Clavexperience
Éva Magyarósi (Hungary) - The Garden of Dreams
https://valentina.hu
The video work is a four-unit, loopable projection that creates the experience of disembodied, immaterial presence with a collage-like dramaturgy and a continuous metamorphosis of colors and forms. There are no clear narrative boundaries in the moving image – the visual world flows organically, so the viewer can connect to what is seen through their own inner story. This openness and contemplative effect are particularly important to her: she wants to provide a visual spatial experience that offers a departure from the traditional perception of space and time.
Éva’s work moves on the border between painting and moving image: the color world of the scenes changes as if paintings were unfolding on the surface of light. This chromatic and spiritual dimension – inspired by the color world of Tivadar Csontváry Kosztka, among others – emphasizes the symbolic power of light, which is both sensual and transcendent.
The Zsolnay Porcelain Factory’s design world is of particular importance to her, especially its ornamental decoration and use of color. She grew up in Herend, where her parents worked in the porcelain factory – this visual medium is deeply embedded in her pictorial thinking. The work is thus not only formally but also emotionally connected to the Zsolnay heritage.
The aim of the work is to invite the viewer into a floating, immaterial space, where light is not only a tool, but also a content – a medium that can dissolve the boundaries of space and time and create the possibility of individual inner reflection.
Music: Mihály Víg
Metanoia Creatives (Czechia) - Spectralia
https://metanoiacreatives.art
Where the light blooms?
Spectralia a mythical landscape - a garden. Where flowers are not grown but rather imagined. A being made of color and form
Music: Noxjvn
HOST + PROFESSIONAL PARTNER:
The collaborating professional partner of Zsolnay Light Art and the host of the competition is the group of Hungarian visual artists, Glowing Bulbs, boasting a history of more than 25 years.
Sponsor: Pannon Hőerőmű
