The Light Guerrilla Festival is certainly well known to many. It takes place in a relaxed summer atmosphere and already has quite a nice history. This year's Svetlobna Gverila festival is the fourteenth in a row. It's a good thing it's not the thirteenth, because then, given the obstacles caused by the pandemic to organization and execution, superstition would surely prevail.
Anyway, the team preparing it stubbornly persisted despite the obstacles and the festival is here again to brighten up our evening walks around the capital. One of the locations this year is also the arcade and the atrium in front of our store, which makes us extremely happy.
"The theme of this year's festival is related to nature and its mighty forces. We have chosen the theme Five Elements as the guide for the festival edition. The concept of the festival is based on the ancient tradition of the four basic elements (water, air, earth, fire), which are joined by the fifth element. The Greek philosopher Aristotle defined the fifth element as ether, the mysterious substance of the universe, while in the older Indian cosmological tradition we encounter a related concept called Akasha. In any case, it is a spiritual element, a sow from which the four elements are born; it was left to the artists participating in the festival to define the fifth element in their own way. Thus, in addition to numerous interpretations of the elements of the classic foursome, several projects were created that define the fifth element either as light, or as information, or even as life itself, as that element that transcends the material world, but is at the same time firmly connected to it. Of course, given the conditions, the artists did not avoid current topics: some projects also thematize the very different coordinates of everyday life, which is threatened by the virus."
In the passage of Mestne trg 10, you can see a light installation by the artist Marko Kovačič, called the Fifth Element. With the help of various materials, the artist designed a new object, where with the help of peepholes, the viewer is given an insight into the world of the four primordial elements, illustrated with the help of historical scenes and the symbolism of colors. The mysterious fifth element appears this time in the form of light, which, as a metaphor for the sacred and spiritual, enables the perception of the four elements.
In our atrium, you will be able to see an interactive audiovisual installation, the Light Guerrilla Laboratory, entitled Plato's Bodies. The installation was created in a workshop as part of this year's laboratory dedicated to the creation of an interactive audiovisual installation, where special attention was paid to the inclusion and programming of light fixtures using an analog interface. The installation summarizes the form and symbolism of Plato's five bodies, which represent the five elements. The central object is the so-called icosahedron. Original video content and audio-reactive samples will be projected onto its pages. The final appearance of the installation is influenced by the sound structures as well as the spectators, who will manipulate the lights by touching the sensors.
The festival defies and adapts to the situation in a guerilla manner, but of course it still maintains its fundamental mission, which seems all the more valuable in these uncertain and not the most culture-friendly times: to highlight the role of art in shaping public space and thus also public, free discourse, while thereby strengthening the quality and variety of urban life.
The festival took place from June 15 to July 11, 2020.