The “Staro Rīga” Festival of Light will experience a positive “force majeure” during the European Capital of Culture year, featuring a large number of international multimedia light and technological art projects, and encouraging participation of the public.
The “Staro Rīga 2014” Festival of Light will continue for five evenings from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. on the 14th to 18th of November.
This year the festival takes on a new quality, as the main exhibits at the festival will be video installations that have won international acclaim or were created specifically for the festival, as well as projections, mapping and light installations. The main programme of the festival includes works by artists from Latvia, Lithuania, England, France, Canada, Portugal and other countries, who will present their globally-acclaimed works from the world’s largest festivals of light, as well as new works that international artists have created specifically for the festival in Riga.
For the first time, there will be an impressive parade of light objects created by Latvian artists where, through the use of various special effects, the story of the secret urban life of light will be told to the public. The parade, one kilometre long, will move through the Old Town twice each night. As part of the festival, the largest graffiti in the Baltic countries, “The Sun. The Thunder. The Daugava”, created for the “Riga 2014” Programme this past summer, will also be shown in a new light.
“Staro Rīga 2014” is part of the “Riga Carnival” thematic line of the “Riga 2014” Programme.
The theme for this year’s festival, “Riga Carnival”, will be emphasised in the main programme of the festival as well as in the public participation campaign that will be organised for the first time during the “Staro Rīga 2014” Festival of Light.
“Carnival stands for happiness and change. “Riga Carnival” at the Festival of Light will not only present the idea of transformation and lighting up the city, buildings, facades and windows, but also continue to give people the feeling of adventure, exploration and discovery, which is, in a way, symbolised by the carousel. When we step onto a carousel, we have the feeling of leaving the place on a journey, an exciting flight, and when we step off, the world seems to have changed and we find ourselves in a completely different, lighter and happier place – and we, too, have changed and become better persons,” the Head of the “Riga 2014” foundation and curator of “Staro Rīga 2014”, Diāna Čivle says to explain the theme of the festival and the public participation campaign.
The objects of the “Staro Rīga 2014” Festival of Light will be located in the centre and Old Town of Riga, and preparations for the “Riga Carnival” will begin in the near future already. Residents, businessmen, various associations and individual participants are invited to get involved in the public participation campaign “Riga Carnival”, the motto of which is “Light Up Your City!” – by creating colourful light installations in the windows and on facades of buildings.
“Lattelecom”, the main co-operation partner of the “Staro Rīga 2014” festival, will set up new WiFi hotspots at bus and trolley-bus stops near the Cabinet of Ministers and Riga Regional Court buildings, meant for the visitors to the festival. This in addition to the more than 1,000 free WiFi hotspots in Riga – the European capital of free WiFi. On the other hand, the “1188” directory assistance will, as usual, create an online map of all “Staro Rīga 2014” exhibits, which will be convenient to use also in mobile phones and tablet computers.
The “Staro Rīga 2014” Festival of Light is financed by the Riga City Council, the festival’s partner “Lattelecom” and other co-operation partners, the “Connecting Cities” network of the European Union’s programme “Culture 2007-2013”, and the EEA/Norway Financial Instrument in Latvia. The festival is organised by the “Riga 2014” foundation.
