Prague lit up this weekend for the 14th edition of Signal Festival, turning buildings into canvases painted with light and offering locals and tourists alike a different way to explore the city.
From Oct. 15-18, the festival brought light and color to Prague’s streets, featuring 21 digital art installations across 17 locations under the theme “Dream On! Dreams and Visions.” The installations came alive every evening from 19:00 to midnight and featured two routes: one through the city center and, for the first time, one through Dejvice.
In this edition, students were more involved than ever; much of the new route ran through spaces like Masaryk Hall, a student dormitory, and the Dejvice campus, which held a first-ever student section called Student Visions that ran along the route and held the first student-led projects in the festival’s history. Featuring projects from students at Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU) and the University of Chemistry and Technology (UCT), they combined technology, science and art.
Beyond the student zone, the Dejvice route had more spaces to be explored; in total, nine of the thirteen free installations of the festival were in Dejvice and Bubenec, where you could find installations by artists from all over the world, such as Taiwanese artist Aka Chang’s installation through the Vlatva River, or from the U.S. with Jim Campbell’s “Scattered Light,” made up of 1500 light bulbs.
“I am very new to Prague, so I was very excited to learn about the Festival. I went with my friends and did the full Dejvice free tour; it was so much fun, and the installations were breathtaking,” said Guadalupe Ramírez, a first-year International Relations student from Argentina.
The Centrum route is one that most people are familiar with, turning historic buildings into spaces made for digital art. The one that seemed to draw the biggest crowds was a video mapping on the Old Town Hall tower, made by Svitlana Reinish, “Living in Truth”, inspired by Václav Havel’s essay “The Power of the Powerless”, created to mark what would have been the former Czech president’s 90th birthday.
The festival has become a tradition amongst locals, many of whom return every year to see the new exhibits and spend time with their friends.
“It has definitely become something my friends and I look forward to every year; it never disappoints, and it is such a cool thing to do for free,” said Haleigh Letendre, a freelancer from the U.S. residing in Prague. “It is my fourth time coming back, and it is always such a wonderful experience.”
Signal Festival achieves an important feat every year: it makes art accessible to everyone in the city, bringing students, families, tourists and locals together to look at the same lights. It makes art a shared experience, and it is a reminder that the best experiences in Prague are often free.
