KTU, together with partners — major international and Lithuanian companies – is inviting everyone to enjoy “Light Festival 13.7” on KTU Campus. For a full week, starting on Friday, September 23, eight unique interactive light installations, accompanied by concerts and creative workshops, will be open for everyone. The highlight of the Festival’s opening event will be the unique installation of 100 individual lighting elements combined by the visitors of the festival.
The festival will invite everyone to admire the light installations created by Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) students and is such a way to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Lithuanian University (LU).
“While studying mechatronics, I enjoy that I can work on many projects. For example, we were doing research and designing lighting for the Lights Festival, which will take place on the university campus. I can promise you, it will be a very big thing,” said Gerson David Pinto Chica from Colombia, one of the students who was working with the Light Festival’s installations.
Celebrate the beginning of the autumn semester by admiring light installations located on the KTU campus and the visualisation illuminating the KTU E-learning Technologies Centre (Studentų Street 48A). Until next Saturday, October 1, everyone visiting the KTU campus will have the opportunity to experience light magic. The lights come on every night from 7 pm.
On Friday, the opening day of the festival, at 7:30 pm, the concert of the “Dargana” group and singers Gabrielius Vagelis and Evgenya Redkos will attract the attention of visitors on the stage located in front of “Technologija”, KTU publishing house.
Alternatively, Tunyla and Sibile & Momoko will play on the stage located in the front of KTU Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.
The synthesis of light art and technology will be realised by the visualisations of Vilnius Academy of Arts (VDA) animation students. The first one, “Live performance” will explore the connection between humans and technology, using space and light. The authors of the show promise an engaging story based on technologically innovative solutions: 3D technology, “motion” graphics and live drawing involving the audience of the festival.
The second focus of the festival – the creation of the LU 100th anniversary installation – will take place at the opening of the event. The audience will be invited to co-create and contribute to the designing of the final visualisation from 100 different details.
On Saturday, September 24, the light installations will be accompanied by a concert of “Girių dvasios”, Joseph June, “Solo Ansamblis” and “Vincas24 B2B Aleline”. During the next week, from September 25, almost 15 music groups will perform on the KTU campus. Full programme here.
The idea that grew from a student project to a celebration was matured by the KTU student organisation “Kartočiau” and alumni. Lithuanian and international companies such as EPAM Systems, Lemona, Ignitis, Vakarų Medienos Grupė and Birkle IT contributed to its implementation.
According to Denis Chichmarev, Head of EPAM Lithuania, learning about the Festival from the University team resonated with EPAM’s commitment and values as the company aspires to ignite students’ interest in engineering and foster creativeness and an innovative thinking mindset.
“Within the company, we work in hybrid teams, where various ideas, diverse experiences, and skills combine to create unique solutions. Supporting Light Festival and similar initiatives, we’re introducing this approach and strengthening students with new knowledge. It is a unique experience that will be useful to many of them in the future and help them become in-demand specialists, build connections with professionals and mentors, and join the global community,” says Chichmarev.
Since 2021, students, with the help of mentors, have deepened and expanded their knowledge in seminars and created audio-visual installations in groups that will decorate the festival spaces.
“Conducting the technical review of the concept with our experienced mechanical and electrical engineers at EPAM, we were positively surprised by the comprehensive approach and sophisticated knowledge our mentees demonstrated while working on their installation project!”, says Alex Babko, Senior Project Manager at EPAM.
