Prague SIGNAL Light Festival

This past weekend people flooded the streets of Prague more than usual to catch the evening light show at the Prague Signal Light Festival. From October 17-20, 32 installations were scattered across Prague, each designed by various audiovisual artists from the Czech Republic and other places across the world. Each installation had the visual of light incorporated in a unique way. 

 

 

 

My friends and I started off at the information festival center, which was a large globe. The globe was covered with flashing designs on the ceiling and a live band inside. We watched the light show, grabbed a map and informational pamphlet, and headed out on our walk to the different installations.

The first place we stopped was near our everyday walk to school, right by the river. This location is one of my favorite spots in Prague because of the beautiful swans and gorgeous view of the city. The installation, "Cloud,”  was a tree-like structure covered with hundreds of light bulbs, with the on/off strings attached. It was an interactive installation that people could pull on the cords to turn the lights on and off.



Next we walked across the Charles Bridge to take a peek at the eerie eyes placed at each tower. “Charles’ Guard” were two eyes on each end of the bridge that moved, blinked, and looked quite realistic. Glancing at the river each of the tour boat’s rudders were decorated with lights that glowed as they propelled through the water. 


Looking up to Petřín Hill, the “Lighthouse” showed a light from the top of the Petřín Observation Tower.


As we parted through the crowds on the walk from the Charles Bridge to Old Town Square, the energy from the groups of people was quite noticeable. We reached the square and immediately saw a green laser shot across the sky, called the “Pipeline.”  Farther in a large cube stood in the center of the square, right next to the Jan Hus statue. The “HyperCube” played a light show on cue to music that felt like you were front row to a concert once you got inside. This installation was my favorite experience as the music pulsed and had your eye amazed by the creativeness. 

We lastly visited two chandeliers at Karfkovo Square. “Imaginative Dialouge” was suspended from a wire frame, shining brightly in the night sky. 

 

The night ended too soon as we were sadly unable to see all of the installations. Despite my initial disappointment of calling it a night, I was grateful to have been able to see the few spectacular installations.

If you would like to see more of the installations, click on this link to the SIGNAL Light Festival website.