Please note that this is an overdue event

Sharjah Light Festval

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Contacts

Sharjah Light Festival 2019: A Journey of Lights

When: February 6 - 16

Time:

Weekdays: 6pm-11pm
Weekends: 6pm-12am

Returning for its 9th consecutive year, the Sharjah Light Festival invites internationally renowned artists to celebrate science, creativity and heritage in a display of lights, colours and music at beloved landmarks.

Festival Shows:

AVENUE OF LIGHTS (Sharjah University City Campus Avenue). The great ballet of the Sharjah Light festival opens on one of the most accessible and powerful light installations. A gallery of light as a tribute to the spirit of the festival, symbolizing the bonds between Sharjah’s educational monuments. A technical masterpiece of a show that showcases the variety of light installations that are part of the Sharjah Light Festival. 4 months to set up, 4.6 km of lights, countless eyes amazed.
CONNECTIONS (Sharjah Police Academy). What is the link between families and cultures? Should we seek for its very origin? “Connections" is an interpretation of the strong relations nature and humans are able to develop. Connections between Art and Science, Architecture and Light, Families and Cultures. This show explores these connections by looking at the connections between sound, the visual and space with the canvas of 3 beautiful facades.
ONE MORE NIGHT (University City Hall). “One more night” is a creative fusion between drawings using various techniques and 2D animations on computer software. The show will display a dreamlike epic through tales from Orient and Occident. Thanks to a subtle play on visual metamorphosis, City Hall’s facade turns into a wonderful show echoing our collective memory filled with princes and princesses, initiatory journeys, mythological animals, lost treasures and wise encounters. This show acts therefore as a tribute to these tales that help us grow and feed our imagination.
MARCHING THROUGH LIFE (American University of Sharja). What is University about? University can be thought as the gathering of an intellectual family passing on everlasting knowledge and desire to learn even more to each next generation of students. The show imagined for American university of Sharjah symbolizes this procession of actors passing on traditions and knowledge from one generation to another. A band of characters in animated hand drawing, march and play all around the facade of the building, a tribute to the talent of AUS’s creative students.
THE LIVING NETTING (Sharjah Book Authority). Identity takes shape throughout generations. Step by step, habits develop, rules take roots. Family itself develops in time, generation after generation its very own culture. However, outside cultures and influences also shape a family, culture and family are therefore evolving in a constant state of transformation: a symbol for a solid base with constant renewal. The Book authority show takes its inspiration from organic elements such as coral, and displays a variety of unique graphical universes each developing in their own way and expanding to meet each other.
TRANSMISSION - THE OPENING CEREMONY (Sharjah City Municipality). Opening Ceremony Starts at 8.15pm on the 6th of February. The show “Transmission” imagined for Sharjah Municipality is a powerful tribute to Arabic culture and the ones who made it live, yesterday and today. The stories emerging from legends and mythic poets that are still told today. This show focuses on the universality of Arabic culture and singularity of its symbols. It aims at presenting Sharjah as a place of reunion of all these different directions. The show takes full advantage of the magnificence of the Municipality building to enhance its colossal architecture with a thought-provoking ballet.
AQUATIC PARADE (Khalid Lagoon). This show is a fairy tale on the water, a delicate prologue tickling eyes and curiosity and drawing the audience to the beautiful lagoon show. A 200 meters long parade magically leading to the Grand Final on the water. An aquatic muse dressed in blue gown opens the dance, a dozen glowing silhouettes emerge from a mysterious mist and follow her as a colony of servants. After them come the fairy's luggage, carried by giant floating horses and their rides, loaded with trunks and shimmering fabrics. What follows is a captivating show with mythic aquatic heroes, fire and petals swirling in the sky spreading sparkles.
JOURNEY THROUGH LIGHT (Khalid Lagoon). Sharjah’s lagoon will welcome a unique celebration, reflecting all over the city from watery waves to clear sky. We are reminded of ancient celebrations and forgotten cities, but also the joy of gathering with family to watch the skies together.
A LAGOON’S REFLECTION (Masjid Al Noor). This show is a direct tribute to Sharjah as an Arabic capital of culture and is a reminder of the surrounding landscape of Al Noor Mosque as well as of the water environment of Sharjah. The Mosque alongside the water acts like a spiritual gate to the city.
SKY LINES (Khalid Lagoon). he lagoon lights are a poetic tribute to the multiculturalism of Sharjah, building a bridge of light over the water of the lagoon, and therefore over cultural differences. The lagoon lights offer a new perspective of the Festival. They ask the audience to raise their eyes to the sky and and see the landscape anew.
A BRIDGE OF LIGHT (Al Qasba - Internal Façades). Laser technology shows off the best of Qasba architecture to broadcast a show full of life and energy. Highlighting the architecture in a dynamic and playful way, the laser show illuminates each detail and cuts out stone carving like delicate lace. Emerging from both internal facades of Al Qasba, laser threads make these twin edges meet and build a bridge over the water. This play of light draws us to reflect on the many paths we choose to travel and the point at which we meet again to come ome.
A FIREFLIES FOREST (Palm Oasis - Khalid Lagoon). Have you ever dreamt of venturing into an enchanted forest? A place where light pops out of the trees and bewilders your senses? Where the borders between dream and reality are fading away… Palm oasis sees its famous trees covered with billions of fireflies. This installation rethinks this space to offer a renewed use for families and friends. During the festival, they are invited to gather, wander and wonder. This technical marvel “sets light” to 330 trees.
ROUTE OF CULTURES (Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry). “Route of Cultures” is a trip back to the trade relations between the old cultures around the world, one of the first mediums of making connections between cultures – opening roads and building bridges. The adventure starts in Ancient China, crosses India and Old Mesopotamia, on the way, we will encounter dangerous glaciers, fertile oasis, graceful horses, lost pearls...a story on the walls.
AQUATIC VISIONS (Municipality and Municipal Council (Al Hamriyah). Arabic literature gives great importance to the wonderful, especially in tales and stories of journeys. The patterns in this show take elements of the wondrous from Arabic literature; fishing nets, azulejos mosaics, Arabian carpets and transform into marvelous aquatic visions. The activity of Al Hamriya city is centered around its lagoon and harbor, which therefore highly influences its culture. This show is directly inspired from this aquatic world becoming a fantastic childish universe, a contemplative moment for families.
MATTER OF MYTHOLOGY (Municipality, Municipal Council and Directorate of Human Resources (Kalba)). This show displays the story of the very origins of culture and its inscription on paper: literature, the page itself holds a variety of treasures. The practical use of paper and ink are shown as open gates leading to stories and spirituality. “Matter of Mythology” will therefore display several scenes, beginning in the curves of calligraphy. These curves progressively take the shape of book pages covering the buildings’ facades.
HERITAGE AS A JOURNEY (Municipality, Municipal Council and Town Planning Department (Khorfakkan). Every civilisation holds the basic elements of each writing system to pass on heritage, of a way of thinking, or of a story. This show will retrace on the first facade, the journey of the smallest of signs in its simplest shape (a dot, a line) as it changes into a sharply designed silhouette, a letter. The second building will take the audience to an educational journey through the traditional book cover marble technique called “Suminagashi”, an inspirational, abstract show with landscapes and gently moving organic shapes.
TALES IN MOSAIC (Masjid Sheikh Rashid Bin Ahmad Al Qasimi (Dibba Al Hisn)). Grand Mosque Dibba, overlooking the busy activities of a fishing harbor and the spiritual infinity of the lonely sea, is the facade for this show. The voices and stories being told to families and new generations can be seen as a mosaic of speech, a kaleidoscope of tales and elder’s wisdom. The show’s aesthetic focuses on traditional Arabic lines and offers endless texturized effects. One after another, an infinite variety of glass pieces, mosaic, offers us a different way of seeing and in this way; a different way to see the world. A colorful experience that will act as a contemplative show for families and friends to marvel at.