From September 21 to 25, 2021, the VIII Moscow International Festival “Circle of Light 2018” will be held in Moscow.
The Festival of Lights 2021 in Moscow will be held at seven venues: on the Rowing Canal, in Tsaritsyno Park, on Teatralnaya Square, in the Kolomenskoe estate, on Poklonnaya Gora, in the concert hall e “Mir” and in the Digital October center.
The Moscow International Festival “Circle of Light” is an annual event in which lighting designers and professionals in the field of 2D and 3D graphics use the architectural space of Moscow as a target for multimedia and lighting installations.
Grebnoy Canal
The festival opened this Friday, September 20th. On the Rowing Canal, viewers were shown the light musical “Seven Notes” - a story about ordinary townspeople for whom music helps find a way out of difficult life situations and understand their experiences.
The show was organized in a huge water arena. A special structure was erected over the canal, connecting the two banks. It became a screen for video projections and a platform for placing fire and lighting effects instruments. More than a hundred burners, over two hundred fountains and water fan screens were installed on the water.
On September 21 and 22 at 19:45, Muscovites and guests of the capital will be able to see repeat performances of the musical, followed by a musical and pyrotechnic show.
On September 24 at 20:30 the festival will close on the Rowing Canal. The ceremony will consist of two parts. First, the audience will be presented with the light novel “The Code of Unity” , dedicated to the genetic code of the nation, which was formed thanks to a common history, culture and traditions. And then guests will see high-altitude fireworks .
The brightest event of the year: the Circle of Light festival started in Moscow
The opening ceremony of the Circle of Light 2018 festival took place on the Rowing Canal in Moscow
Photo: Victor GUSEINOV
One of the brightest events of the year, in the literal sense of the word, has started - the Circle of Light festival opened in Moscow.
The multimedia show “Carnival of Light” on the Grebnoy Canal combines light, laser projections and pyrotechnic effects
Photo: Ivan MAKEEV
On the first evening, viewers were shown the multimedia show “Carnival of Light” on the Rowing Canal. Light and laser projections merged in a bizarre dance with the jets of fountains; on the surface of the water and specially built structures, genies, sirens and the main character of the performance – the Entertainer – appeared every now and then, as if he had stepped out of the pages of “Alice in Wonderland”. The show ended with a grand fireworks display that lasted 15 minutes. In total, during the festival, pyrotechnics will fire 45 thousand volleys at this site alone.
Almost 300 fountains were installed on the water especially for the show.
Photo: Ivan MAKEEV
This year, in addition to the Rowing Canal, the Circle of Light will be hosted by Kolomenskoye, Tsaritsyno Park, Teatralnaya Square, the Victory Museum on Poklonnaya Gora, the Mir concert hall and the Digital October center - seven venues in total. The festival will last until September 25.
During all the days of the festival, more than 45 thousand volleys of fireworks will be fired on the Rowing Canal
Photo: Ivan MAKEEV
We have collected the most striking shots from our photojournalists from the last opening.
With the help of modern technologies, architectural objects and landscapes familiar to Muscovites are completely transformed
Photo: Ivan MAKEEV
On the first day, the grandiose fireworks display lasted 15 minutes
Photo: Victor GUSEINOV
On the first day, the grandiose fireworks display lasted 15 minutes
Photo: Victor GUSEINOV
The best lighting design and video projection specialists from 36 countries around the world are taking part in creating fabulous shows in 2021
Photo: Victor GUSEINOV
This show may get into the Guinness Book of Records as the largest projection on a water surface.
Photo: Victor GUSEINOV
The venue on the Grebnoy Canal became the most technically equipped in the history of the festival
Photo: Victor GUSEINOV
To create video projections along the spit of the Rowing Canal, a structure of 12-meter cubes was built
Photo: Victor GUSEINOV
The closing ceremony of the festival will take place here, on the Rowing Canal.
Photo: Victor GUSEINOV
Several autumn nights in Moscow will be illuminated by the “Circle of Light”
Photo: Victor GUSEINOV
The organizers tried to make the Circle of Light festival a real holiday for Moscow residents
Photo: Victor GUSEINOV
This year, in addition to projectors and lasers, fountains and fire are involved in creating the show
Photo: Victor GUSEINOV
Spectators can enjoy light and music works by the world's best masters absolutely free
Photo: Victor GUSEINOV
Several autumn nights in Moscow will be illuminated by the “Circle of Light”
Photo: Victor GUSEINOV
The organizers tried to make the Circle of Light festival a real holiday for Moscow residents
Photo: Victor GUSEINOV
This year, in addition to projectors and lasers, fountains and fire are involved in creating the show
Photo: Victor GUSEINOV
Spectators can enjoy light and music works by the world's best masters absolutely free
Photo: Victor GUSEINOV
At different stages of the Circle of Light, viewers will be treated to the story of the Phoenix bird, a story about the designers of victory and a short story about Spartak
Photo: Victor GUSEINOV
theatre square
The largest video projections of the festival will unfold on Teatralnaya Square. Here the facades of the Bolshoi, Maly and Molodezhny theaters, as well as additional planes for video projections, will merge into a single panoramic picture.
Every day of the festival from 19:30 to 23:00 a light novel dedicated to the Year of Theater in Russia and the best light shows of past years will be shown. In addition, visitors will see on the theater facades the works of the finalists of the international video mapping competition “Art Vision” in the “Classic” category.
Christmas market in front of GUM
By the way, about fairs. If you want to plunge into art or, for example, walk a bright Pavlovsk scarf, then go to Red Square, where my favorite Christmas market is held every year, as well as a wonderful skating rink.
Ice skating rink on Red Square
A carousel, music, dancing and a sea of wooden houses with goods of various folk crafts, sweet rolls, tea and other provisions - this is all the fair near GUM. It seems to me that once upon a time, when bears were still walking along Tverskaya, our ancestors were having fun.
New Year's GUM
Christmas Fair
You can warm up and relax in GUM, which every year features an original Christmas tree and a thematic exhibition.
GUM New Year's decoration
In the 2017-2018 season, the main Moscow store prepared a nostalgic exhibition about the Soviet New Year. You will see sweet Christmas tree decorations from the 70s and 80s, handmade dolls, and Santa Clauses from the past, which stood under the Christmas tree in almost every home.
Soviet toys Santa Clauses
Soviet Santa Claus
Family New Year, for which we have been preparing for several months. And even the creepy plastic masks look touching here and you just want to try on the image of a bunny and a fox from childhood, recite a poem and receive a gift.
Soviet New Year masks
Soviet New Year
Many families threw away Soviet New Year paraphernalia, but here, in modern GUM, they understand that they did something stupid... Therefore, to be a little sad, to admire such dear and forgotten things, come to GUM.
Christmas decorations in GUM
New Year's GUM
"Kolomenskoye"
The Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve will turn into a Fairy Tale Park for the duration of the festival. Every day from 19:30 to 23:00 its territory will be filled with light installations and video mapping shows.
Along the fairy-tale route, guests will meet characters from their favorite children's works and come to life puppets, visit the “Shadow Theatre”, and the light men will perform a fiery dance for the audience.
In addition, on September 22 at 20:00 a concert by Dmitry Malikov with lighting accompaniment will take place in the park. The program will include the most popular songs.
Ostankino Park
Guests of Ostankino Park can enjoy the show “Geometry of Light” . Here, unusual light and video projection installations will not only interact with the surrounding landscape, but even distort the space.
Two Guinness records and four million spectators: how the “Circle of Light” took place in 2018. The Polytechnic Museum and Sakharov Avenue will become new venues for the “Circle of Light” festival
Academician Sakharov Avenue
One of the new features of the festival this year was the site on Academician Sakharov Avenue. Here, light shows will also take place daily from 19:30 to 23:00.
The facades of the buildings of the International Investment Bank complex will turn into a canvas for a combined video projection and laser show , unique in its scale. In the history of the Circle of Light, laser projections have never been implemented on facades of such an area.
A 15-minute laser show and two video projection performances will be shown on loop. The first of them, “A Space Odyssey,” will take viewers into the depths of space. The second, “Melodies of Knowledge,” will immerse them in the spaces of various scientific disciplines.
Magic Christmas tree forest on Manezhnaya Square
Magic forest on Manezhnaya Square
We go to Manezhnaya Square and find ourselves in a labyrinth of fir trees and pines of all sizes, of which there are hundreds. This is the Magic Forest created by the organizers in the city center! The highlight of this site will be immersive theater and the fairy tale “12 Months” and all this is free.
Christmas tree maze
In my ranking of Moscow decorations, the Magic Forest took first place. This is a new feature in the appearance of New Year's Moscow: through the light arch you can see the Kremlin and the Historical Museum. Next we find ourselves in a maze of Christmas trees decorated with balls and theatrical masks. Here and there, organically integrated tents will appear that will offer something tasty, as well as display cases with flowers and other compositions.
With every step, the panorama of the Kremlin changes, and at the same time it becomes unusual, unusual. Well, in our time there were no forests under the walls of the Kremlin! I can imagine how wonderful it will be here when the forest “comes to life.”
Manezhnaya New Year's Square
New Year on Red Square
The ice slide, the largest in the city, will traditionally be installed between Manezhnaya and Revolution Square. You can ride and rent cheesecakes for free, and additional slopes will help reduce queues.
Arbat Hall
Fans of club music are welcome on September 21 at 22:00 in the Arbat Hall concert hall, where an international light and music party - a competition between VJs from different parts of the world participating in the Art Vision competition.
The headliner of the show will be DJ Kirill Boske, known for experimenting with broken rhythms. Entry to the event is free, but you must register on the festival website.
Museum of Science and Industry
For the first time, the site of the Circle of Light will be the renovated Polytechnic Museum . From September 20 to 24, from 19:30 to 23:00, citizens will be able to watch two multimedia shows about the history of the Polytechnic University and scientific and technological progress.
Visitors will learn about the most significant events in the educational life of the museum: from the success of the Polytechnic Exhibition of 1872 to the present day, about the activities of scientific laboratories, creative meetings with V.V. Mayakovsky, S.V. Rachmaninov and other legendary figures of Russian culture and art.
The second show, on the contrary, is dedicated to the future. What scientific discoveries is humanity on the verge of? What other mysteries remain in the universe? Viewers will learn about this from the light show, the elements of which will effectively interact with the architecture of the building itself.
Festival themes
Every year the festival has a new theme.
- In 2012 - “Energy of Life” (the main idea is the speed of changes in the consciousness of society, fashion, tastes, the idea is the unity of peoples and cultures).
- In 2013 - “Relay of Light” (during the festival the Olympic Flame arrived in Moscow, 11 countries of the world took part)
- In 2014 - “Around the World Trip” (combined iconic places and attractions of the capital in a multimedia show)
- In 2015 - “In the City of Light” (an amazing journey to the capital, as no one has ever seen it before)
- In 2021 - “Circle of Light” (a grand journey around the world)
- In 2021 - “The seven tallest buildings in the world” (Eiffel Tower (300 meters), Dubai skyscraper Burj Khalifa (828 meters) and New York Empire State Building (443 meters), Toronto TV tower (553 meters), Shanghai (486 meters) meters), Tokyo (332 meters) and Sydney (309 meters).
Victory Museum
This year, the facade of the Victory Museum will become part of the international competition “Art Vision” in the “Modern” category. 16 participants from 12 countries will present their works: Bulgaria, Indonesia, Spain, China, Colombia, Mexico, Russia, Romania, Ukraine, Montenegro, Chile and Japan.
Due to repair and construction work, visitor access to the site of the Victory Museum is closed . Only the contestants and the jury will be present here. The planned events - "Space Odyssey" and VJ show - have been moved to other venues.
