For four days, Riga’s streets once again lit up by the 'Staro Rīga' festival, so that anyone can celebrate Latvia’s birthday in a unique lighting atmosphere. This year’s theme was ‘Gaismas laiks’ (‘Time of Light’), highlighting the role of light as a unifying force in society that brings hope with it.
‘Our festival had many newly pieces of light art using various techniques, with 22 of all of the objects being new light installations created specifically for the festival. Visitors seemed to really like that 'Staro Rīga' got beyond just the city centre. The large turnout means that the return of the festival was a welcome event for our country’s birthday celebrations,’ Diāna Čivle, the manager of 'Staro Rīga', said.
This year saw the festival’s first geographic expansion, with a new route outside the Old Town and the central part of Riga. Its path of light led to the left bank of the Daugava, adding new areas to the map of the festival and offering a new look on the urban environment and places in the city that had never been used to set up light objects or events. The festival’s guests especially liked the 'Gaismas ceļš' ('Road of Light') light cascade object created by Artistic (and located at the beginning of O. Kalpaka Street), complemented by performances by students of the Latvian College of Culture and the Riga Circus School.
‘People have used light for their needs since ancient times. The location of the sun and its light showed them when to sow and harvest. And this is how it is this year: we think about light in the sense of cycles, with the 'Raibā dzīve' ('Colourful Life') programme performed at its core,’ Maija Gauja, producer of the ‘Gaismas ceļš’ programme, emphasised. This multimedia light installation performance combined various expressive tools, with light installations, laser projections and interplay of lighting elements that created a layered flow of sensation in which those who took the road of light could choose the storyline and the drama that resonated with them the most.
This festival gave a special place to emerging and young light artists, making it possible for them to showcase the new light and creative experiments they have been engaging in at the Art Academy of Latvia and Latvian College of Culture’s young artists programme in Uzvaras Park. One of the festival’s objects, ‘Sinhronija’, is also a work by students of the Latvian College of Culture, with a programme that combined music, videography, light installations, and co-creation, looking for answers to today’s current societal issues and creating synchronised messages for the future in different genres of art.
'Staro Rīga' took place between 15 and 18 November. Organisers estimate that more than 250,000 people attended the festival over these four days. Visiting its art objects was free, and the festival’s guests could enjoy twenty-five light installations and objects created in different techniques, with a light show in Doma square, video projections in Rātslaukums and Strēlnieku squares, multimedia light installations at various locations along the route of the festival, where theatrical and music performances added as new elements. The festival programme also featured three installations by international artists, including the artist Stephane Masson (France) and the creative group OCUBO (Portugal).
The first 'Staro Rīga' was held in 2008 and became an annual tradition. This year, the festival came back after a four-year hiatus for the thirteenth time. The festival continues the tradition of combining the power of light and art with technological solutions to provide an unforgettable experience for residents of Riga, visitors from other Latvian cities and tourists from abroad.
