The artistic light festival Llum BCN makes a strong comeback on the first weekend of February as a prelude to the Santa Eulàlia festivities. The contest, an already consolidated winter classic, reaches its twelfth edition to turn Poblenou into a colorful urban laboratory with 28 facilities thanks to technology, design, lighting and architecture for another year. Without forgetting the current energy crisis, some artists have devised sustainable and self-sufficient works. An outstanding example will be the projection of a moon with lasers using solar energy from the Central Park of Poblenou. This facility, named Another Moon from the Korean collective Kimchi and Chips, can be seen from a kilometer away.
On the other hand, the proposal by the Dutchman Thijs Biersteker will reflect on the climate crisis with a sculpture with a series of blades three meters in diameter that will be powered by wind energy in the Hangar artistic center. For his part, the Dutchman Richard Vijgen will take advantage of the Glòries Tower to reflect the city’s air data in real time with light signals while the installation call out At the Disseny Hub Barcelona museum, he will draw the traces of the satellites that cross the sky of Barcelona to reflect on the human impact in space.
read also
“Our concern for the energy issue is not a purpose of the festival nor do I believe that the art world is the technical solution to a crisis, but there is a new imaginary that can help from a social point of view to face these situations”, has pointed out Maria Güell, the artistic director of Llum BCN during the presentation this Monday of the festival.
In line with making a more sustainable festival, some work, such as that of the British-Indian artist Chila Kumari Singh Burman, has been produced in Barcelona instead of London. Specifically, in an old 19th-century factory in Raval in collaboration with La Traginera, a neighborhood community project made up of the Impulsem and Colectic cooperatives, the Fundació Tot Raval, the Fundació Surti and the La Boqueria architecture studio. The result: some showy and eclectic compositions through led light tubes that will represent neon sculptures hanging on the façade of Can Framis, headquarters of the Fundació Vila Casas. Likewise, the largest possible number of lighting installations will be connected to the Barcelona Energia network, the metropolitan public electricity operator.
Presentation of Llum BCN 2023 with the poster of this edition
The Deputy Mayor for Culture, Education, Science and Community, Jordi Martí, highlighted not only the “artistic and popular” component of the festival but also its “link with the educational field”, turning Poblenou into a “nursery of innovation ”. In this sense, for this edition, fifteen schools of art, design and architecture of the city will participate. There will also be Off Llum, the alternative festival promoted by the neighborhood’s creative community. If the cold allows it, the organizers expect a large influx of the public to this festival that last year registered more than 100,000 visitors.
The contest will be held over three days, from February 3 to 5, with hours on Friday and Saturday from 6:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. and Sunday from 6:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. The budget, with public and private contributions, amounts to 1.1 million euros. One of the official sponsors this year will be the ISE Fair, the largest audiovisual fair for professionals that will take place at the Fira de Barcelona from January 31 to February 3.
