The Festi Lumi Bonifacio : illuminated enchantment in Corsica’s picturesque capital +Added to my favoriteItem already present

From 4 to 6 July, the Ancient City lit up to put on one of the Corsican tourist season’s most dazzling events: the 6th annual Festi Lumi, a festival that uses artistic creativity to showcase Bonifacio’s heritage in a new way, through twenty or so illuminated installations.youtube

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This event takes place in the Citadel only but can be seen from the port since the imposing Bastion de l’Etendard (Flag Bastion) is the backdrop for a monumental projection in changing colours, displaying the words FESTI LUMI. The palette of colours used was chosen by the island’s painters. From the historic monument, which is free to visit during the festival, visitors were able to enjoy an extraordinary “sons & lumières” (sound and light) spectacle. In the words of Régis Clouzet, founder of the Agence Lumière, which was responsible for designing and planning the festival and for its artistic direction and which also created some of the works and illuminated projections, the spectacle was “a major achievement and certainly one of the grandest in Europe”.

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As the leader of this artistic rendez-vous, Clouzet made a success of the challenging mission to give the Upper Town a nocturnal identity with his experience as a lighting architect. In 2015, he and his team, with whom he has already overseen the last three annual festivals, postponed the competition to promote the Bonifacio Citadelle.

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The event is free and accessible to all, regardless of age. Around 30 artists express their art through illuminated creations combining new technologies and imagination on a free trail with some offering audience interaction. [A1]   Like the “Live Drawing Project”, for example, which turns spectators into participants by having them collectively provide thousands of small drawings, done via a website accessed on their mobile phones, which are then projected onto the façade of “Le Time” restaurant, located opposite the boules pitch and boasting a panoramic view. Another interactive installation, “Les hommes debout” (The Standing Men), featuring figures which light up as you approach while recounting the personal stories of local historical figures, can be found just behind the City Hall.

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The 2020 goal: Incorporating the creations of Corsican artists.

Claire Welscher, heritage development manager at the Bonifacio Tourist Office, explains that the Tourist Office wants to create a synergy with Corsican artists (photographers, sculptors, live performance artists, visual artists, audio artists etc,) in order to integrate them into the event while still creating connections with light.

It was within this context that some of the island’s artists were invited, last Saturday night, on the last night of the festival, to take a tour of the installations to give them ideas and help them come up with a project to put forward for next year.

This event starts at nightfall on 2, 3 and 4 July 2020.

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The artists involved in the 2019 event were:

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Rafaela Ferreira – iMateria

For the monumental projections and mapping, i.e. the works: “Aquarelle numérique”, “Abstr’act” and “Num-art-ique”.

-          Robin Perrey, Antoine Fevre-Burdy, Paul Drezet and Jérémy Vigouroux – Collectif Ex Lumina

For the works: “Volumétrie” and “When the Sky Has Opened”.

-          Aurélien Lafargue (Visual Artist), Mourad Bennacer (Sound designer) – Collectif Nature Graphique

For “Réfraction”.

-          Pierre Amoudruz, Victor Roux, Valentin Durif, David Guerra, Nicolas Douchet, Cyrielle Tissandier – Collectif AADN

For: “Les Hommes Debout”.

-          Marie-Jeanne Gauthé – Teaching artist at the école des Gobelins, Paris

For the installations: “Seuils”, “Brumes rayonnantes” and “Prisme”.

-          Marie Gelix, Agathe Rapilly, Claire Seris and Alice Tran – Students at the école des Gobelins in Paris.

For the “Prisme” mapping.

-          Maxime Hurdequint, Louis Clément and Maxime Touroute – Digital artists

For the collective work entitled: “The Live Drawing Project”.

-          Mako Deuza – Graffiti artist

For the performance “Graffiti évolutif”..

-          Olivia Remiti, Harold Castelliti and Loïc Soleilhavoup – Circassians from the Association Creacirque

For “Les parapluies”, “Buugeng & bolas”, “Lumières de mon cœur”, “Bambou” and “Roue libre”.

-          Zail & co – Danseurs.ses/jongleurs.ses/acrobates/contorsionnistes

For “Océanides”.

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