Earlier this month we traveled to Signal Festival, the largest cultural event in the Czech Republic, and it’s not just light art enthusiasts that flock to Prague for this once-a-year event, now in its 6th edition. Signal Festival is to the Czech Republic what Carnival is to Brazil: it’s a way (albeit nascent for now) for a small nation to come together to observe, appreciate and play in the capital city’s streets and urban spaces.
Photo by Dusan Vondra
This year’s festival took place along three routes: Centrum (the historic city centre), Vinohrady and Karlin. For four evenings, historic sites, palaces and national libraries were transformed by light into modern design installations. For a first time visitor such as myself, it was a rather practical and ideal way to experience a new city and the secret places it holds. Without any notion of where to go and what to look out for, the festival guided me to important landmarks in the evening to see how young artists build upon the work of older architects. Some of these buildings I visited again the next day, to appreciate them in daylight and to observe their original use. At both the historic designs of Prague and the contemporary art projected onto this canvas, I stood to marvel. Here are some ways that light and art transformed cultural places in Prague over the course of four evenings.
Photo by Filip Obr
Photo by Alexander Dobrovodsky
Bar/ák is a cultural centre in Prague, known among local resid...