Signal Festival returns to light up Prague for its eleventh year
Signal Festival, the annual festival of pioneering lightshows across Prague, begins its four-day programme on October 10th. The festival integrates technology and creativity with the grandeur of Prague’s buildings, and it has earned an international reputation for innovation and magnificence. Martin Pošta, one of the festival’s founders, spoke to Radio Prague about what visitors can look forward to this year.
We have now had ten years of Signal Festival, starting in 2013. What has developed and changed over those 10+ years?
“I hope that Signal Festival has become a bit bolder, in terms of what we can try to present to the audience. We have got some international claims, so we are able to introduce some artists that we could not reach before. Apart from that, apart from still presenting digital and immersive art in public spaces in the city of Prague, we have this year introduced Signal Forum, which is a conference where we present great minds from around the world who talk about technology, science, art and creativity at CAMP – the Centre for Architecture and Metropolitan Planning in Prague.”
And specifically about this year, what can visitors expect that may be new for them, compared with previous years?
“So, for the visitors who may not be familiar with Signal Festival, we put on non-traditional art in public spaces, which uses technology, lights, lasers in some cases, to present cutting-edge creativity, with the backdrop of magnificent Prague. In contrast with past editions, we are touring our artwork around the city at different locations. Specifically, this edition mostly revolves around Prague Castle and that vicinity. Overall we present about twenty-two artworks. We have some magnificent works prepared for this edition. Each is different; we have some ‘sound works’, which are new the festival, and a performative piece by Laterna Magica from the National Theatre.”
I’ve noticed, looking at the festival map, that you have these different places in Prague where people can see these light displays. Where would you recommend that people start?
“We have designed the routes of the festival to have two beginning points and two exit points. I’d prefer to start at Prague Castle, where we have on display the work of Seohyo, a Korean artist, who has created a ‘coded tapestry’. Or they can start at the other end of the route, at CAMP, which is on Karlovo náměstí.”
You have so many artworks, all in public spaces – how long did this take to put together for you and your team?
“It usually starts before the beginning of the current edition. Now we are starting to plan the next edition, so it’s for over a year that plan for this. We have to create a topic for the festival, then we approach the artists who fit the topic, then we design the works of art with them, and then we put them in place and get the permits. So there is a lot of work that has to be done to actually create the festival.”
