Brussels light festival 'Bright Festival' will take place again this year, with a total of 20 light installations across three routes lighting up the city from Thursday 16 to Sunday 19 February.
This year's edition is part of the "Art Nouveau Brussels 2023" programme — on the occasion of the art movement's 130th anniversary, the Brussels Regional Government is dedicating this year to Art Nouveau by organising various national and international events — and will literally shine a light on the region's "rich architectural heritage."
The public can follow three different routes, running through the Quartier Royal, the European district, and for the first time since the festival's launch, the commune of Schaerbeek. For four days, the festival will light up the streets every evening from 19:00 to 23:00.
The pattern in Nature. Credit: Bright Festival
A total of 20 poetic, hypnotic or kinetic installations have been created for the festival by artists from both home and abroad, this year focussing on offsetting its carbon footprint. "The Brussels light festival only selects artists who are ecologically responsible and work with energy-efficient lighting."
The organisation also finances low-carbon projects, such as a hydropower project and a forest protection project, to neutralise its emissions that could not be reduced.
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With the date of the festival fast approaching, the first selection of works is already under construction.
The first is Belgian light artist Romain Tardy's self-portrait of today's Belgian society, where the artists took inspiration from the most popular search terms on Google for the Place Jean Rey in the European district. The second work is a collaboration between four light artists – Tyrell, Matthieu Beghin, Ofer Smilansky, and MagicStreet – who have created a monumental laser display to be projected on the Brusilia tower in Schaerbeek that fuses digital art, Art Nouveau and modernist architecture.
Alongside these artistic installations, the festival will feature an equally luminous fringe programme, consisting of evening events in the museums, guided tours and ephemeral installations by the event's partners. every evening from 19:00 to 23:00.
More information will be added to the website ahead of the festival.
