Signal Festival

The third annual SIGNAL festival was in town this past weekend.  Showcasing art, light, video mapping and interactive installations, and a bunch of artsy things I just have not wrapped my head around, it takes over Prague 1 for a couple of days.  We went last year and were mesmerized by all of the lights, so we thought we would make a night of it.  We stopped at the girls favorite old town haunt - the Hard Rock Cafe - for dinner.  That is truly a treat, because we tend to stay away from the HRC if we can.  By the time we finished, it was closing in on time for the festival to start.  Since it is all about light, it has to be dark, hence the 7 pm start time.

The first installation is in the Old Town Square, which meant passing by the Astrological Clock.  We got a surprise show as we passed.  A bunch of singers, some dressed in costume, regaling us with songs in Czech.  We have no idea what it was about, but it was fun.  And I got a few more pictures of the clock (like I needed them...)

Just around the corner, at the Palác Kinských, was the first show.  Using the facade and elements of design of the building itself, this videomapping is called The Dive.

Next we headed to the Colloredo-Mansfield Palace for a tribute to the Flemish Masters.

Next up, the light installation 1.26.  Named for the 1.26 microseconds that the 2010 Chilean earthquake shortened the Earths day, the artist uses light and netting to show the interconnectedness of terrestrial phenomena and systems.  The net is created in the shape of the tsunami waves that resulted from the earthquake.

Time for the kids to play a bit...

  

And off to another installation called Wide/Side.  Completely interactive, the figures shown upon the screen are constantly changing and taking their shapes from the crowd that is watching.  Responding to the movement and gestures of the people surrounding the screens, the video projection never repeats itself and is always unique.

Our final stop of the evening was the Nimbes show.  The only one which we had to have tickets (or pay for) it was well worth the wait.  The dome, created to evoke the holy space of the inside of a church and also the roof of a planetarium simultaneously, allows the viewer to become one with the show.  The all encompassing theme of being and our very existence, seen from the personal and universal perspectives, searches to combine all of our experiences with our relationship to the worlds creation.   The 15 minute show was breathtaking.

 

This is what the show looked like from the outside.

And then we were inside watching it...(it was a bit loud)

The Universal perspective (above) and our personal perspectives (below)

It was late, and well past the girls bedtimes, so we called it a festival. We jumped on the tram home and the whole time MadHatter couldn't stop talking about the last show - and the stars and the trees and how it made her feel.  I love that my kids love art...and understand it better than I do sometimes.