LIGHT FESTIVAL CHANGE ART TO ANTI-WAR COLORS AND STATEMENTS

LIGHT FESTIVAL CHANGE ART TO ANTI-WAR COLORS AND STATEMENTS

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STORY

Light-arts on the Copenhagen Light Festival were changed into Ukrainian colors or war symbols lasting a few extra days.

The Tivoli Garden facade, that never states politics, changed to blue and yellow. The most biked water-bridge in the world, Knippelsbro, changed to blue and yellow. The bird “Phenix”, that originally profiled the threats against nature, were seen in blue and yellow colors and many more.
“The artists, they maybe don’t have the answers, but they have really interesting and important questions.”, says Arno Dejaco. Artist from South Türol, Italy that made “Unterwasser” about life and death.
Trampolines with kids jumping in blue colors became a contrast between play and war made by Copenhagen School of Design and Technology.

The French Embassy had Ukraine colors in the windows facing a main square in Copenhagen “We are in our time for good and for bad”, says Jesper Kongshaug. Head of curator board. Copenhagen Light Festival.

French artist Julien Menzel, who made the bird Phenix: “I think art can help people to solve problems. It can help people to think about some topics and how to solve them”.

Light installations also symbolized war, such as the sky projectors, reminding about the fight against air-strikes. Arno Dejaco´s The “Unterwassertage” is about two people “dangling on a string” between heaven and earth. “Comm” changed from green to blue symbolizing the digital age and military surveillance installation. The laser “The Green Beam” that blaze across the sky through the darkness, almost like a weapon. 

The war was of course not among the original topics at Copenhagen Light Festival, which was nature, diversity and corona.
The best of the festival was actually the post-corona events, that suddenly was possible because Denmark lifted all covid-restriction in the middle of January.

Light-weddings took place at one of the earths called “A Dozen Sun”.
Among the 20 couples was actually married. Among IT specialists Martin Skytte Kristensen, DK and Anuhi Ruiz Rivera from Mexico. The couple dated for the first time during the Copenhagen Light Festival 2 years ago: “We thought it was also significant, like it could be something we’ve done before together. And now we get married during the festival.” explained the bride Anuhi Ruiz Rivera from Mexico.

Covid free restrictions also made Silent Disco possible as a pop-up event in between the light sculptures. 500 people danced to LIVE DJ.  The dancing lasted for 5 hours!

Copenhagen Light festival has become one Europe’s biggest light festivals in number of installations, area covered, events happening and more than 500.000 visitors over the 3 week period during the covid restrictions world-wide. It will return every February in the coming years.

End

SHOT

    • TIVOLI FACADE IN YELLOW AND BLUE
    • BRIDGE IN YELLOW AND BLUE “EOS/NYX”
    • BIRD IN YELLOW AND BLUE “”PHENIX
    • SOUNDBITE  Arno Dejaco, Artist South Türol, (I). Made Underwasser
      “And I think maybe the artists, they maybe don’t have the answers, but they have really interesting and important questions. So I think that is possible to see here. And that’s why I really like it.”
    • TRAMPOLINES WITH BLUE LIGHT “Light Trampolines”
    • SOUNDBITE Jesper Kongshaug. Head of curator board. Copenhagen Light Festival:
      “I can see now that the colors of Ukraine are in the windows of the embassy behind me. And this is also a thing that is that natural for us, that we are in our time for good and for bad”
    • BUILDING IN YELLOW AND BLUE “Ministry of Foreign Affairs”
    • SOUNDBITE Julien Menzel (FR).Artist. Made Phenix
      “I think art can help people to solve problems. It can help people to think about some topics and how to solve it. But it’s not here. To make that. It’s just here to make people feel something”.
    • DRONE OF BLUE LIGHT BEAMS “Black & White”
    • LIGHTWORK “Unterwassertage”
    • LIGHTWORK “Comms”
    • DRONE OF BLUE LIGHT BEAMS EVEN FURTHER AWAY “Black & White”
    • GREEN LASER  “Green beam V”
    • SIGN WITH COPENHAGEN LIGHT FESTIVAL AND GREEN LASER IN BACKGROUND “Green beam V”
    • SOUNDBITE Jesper Kongshaug. Head of curator board. Copenhagen Light Festival cont.:
      “I am very proud this year that we have been able to bring so many important issues into the festival about nature, about diversity, about culture. And also we have seen this being celebrated with a lot of people in post-corona business. Talking, walking around, a lot of people in the canals, sitting around and so on. It’s really been a fantastic year.”
    • LIGHTWORK NEAR THE WATER WITH BLUE LIGHTS “Neutrino”
    • PEOPLE GETTING MARRIED NEAR THE YELLOW LIGHT WORK “A Dozen Sun”
    • SOUNDBITE MARRIED COUPLE Martin Skytte Kristensen, IT specialist. DK and Anuhi Ruiz Rivera IT specialist (Mexico)
      Anuhi Ruiz Rivera IT specialist (Mexico):
      “We’ve been coming to the Light Festival for the past couple of years together, so we thought it was also significant, like it could be something we’ve done before together. And now we get married during the festival.”
    • MARRIED COUPLE KISSING
    • YELLOW BALL OF PLASTIC “A Dozen Sun”
    • LIGHT DANCERS IN BLUE “LIGHTING DANCERS”
    • DRONE OF LIGHT DANCERS IN BLUE
    • DRONE OF SILENT DISCO 
    • PEOPLE DANCING AT SILENT DISCO
    • SOUNDBITE Mohamed A. Mohamed. Denmark (31):
      “Copenhagen Light Festival is a very nice festival. This is my first time being here and I love the Copenhagen Festival. It’s so nice to be here.”
    • PEOPLE DANCING AT SILENT DISCO
    • BUILDING WITH BLUE AND YELLOW PROJECTIONS ON IT “Fluctus”
    • LIGHTWORK LABYRINTH “The Oracle”
    • BLUE LIGHTS NEAR HARBOR “Don’t be blue”
    • LIGHT IN COPENHAGEN HARBOR AND ON BRIDGE “Eos/Nyx”

  • END