Iconic Sharjah buildings come alive for Sharjah Light Festival

Iconic Sharjah buildings come alive for Sharjah Light Festival

  DUBAI – The iconic Sharjah Municipality Building came alive in a spectacular light, sound and pyrotechnic show at the opening of the Sharjah Light Festival on Wednesday (February 5). The opening ceremony was graced by His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, and signaled the lighting up of more than 15 buildings across the emirate. The event was followed by entertainment and fireworks at the Sharjah Al Majaz Waterfront, which featured a show that combined modern interpretative dance with Emirati dance. The Sharjah Light Festival will see emirate's iconic buildings transformed into living works of art through a LED show until February 15. This year’s festival features the theme “Ten years of light”. The light festival invites internationally renowned artists to celebrate science, creativity and heritage in a display of lights, colours and music at beloved landmarks.

Here are events you shouldn’t miss

Planet Sharjah Dates: February 5-15 Location: University City Hall Timings: 6pm – 11pm weekdays, 6pm – 12am weekends Travel through a universe inspired by elements of Sharjah with Planet Sharjah. An interactive video mapping installation that allows participants to use technology to stretch the boundaries of the building beyond its walls, interacting with the planets and modifying the characteristics of the show. A Journey from Sharjah to America Dates: February 5-15 Location: American University of Sharjah Timings: 6.00pm – 11.00pm weekdays, 6.00pm – 12.00am weekends The Students of AUS take us on a roundtrip, a flight from the emirate to America, landing back again in Sharjah. The University building transforms into a dreamy travelogue, re-establishing the students’ relationship to their daily environment, traveling far but deeply-rooted in the Emirate of Sharjah. Jungle Book Dates: February 5-15 Location: Sharjah Police Academy Timings: 6pm – 11pm weekdays, 6pm – 12am weekends The Jungle Book is an age-old story of instincts, nature, survival, fight, fear, love and learning, crossing cultures to become part of global imagination. This show is a journey through the key moments of the Jungle Book. Filling the building with its essence and involving the public to build the story. The Sound Design particularly amplifies the underlying meaning of the visual material. A Student’s Day in Sharjah Dates: February 5-15 Location: University of Sharjah Timings: 6pm – 11pm weekdays, 6pm – 12am weekends With present generation ideograms such as emojis and smileys, students from University of Sharjah present their daily routine of life in Sharjah while showing their strong connection to the beautiful emirate. Arabic Fusion Dates: February 5-15 Location: Masjid Sheikh Rashid Bin Ahmed Al Qasimi – Dibba Al Hisn Timings: 6.00pm – 11.00pm weekdays, 6.00pm – 12.00am weekends SLF 2020 lights up the Grand Masjid Sheikh Rashid Al Qasimi in a show narrating stories of culture and memory in a contemplation of legacy. Paired with light odes to Islamic patterns and orient designs, ‘Arabic Fusion’ gives a particular touch to the structure’s architectural details, and to the images of the Islamic culture representing Sharjah’s heritage. Paradoptical Dates: February 5-15 Location: House of Justice – Khorfakkan Timings: 6.00pm – 11.00pm weekdays, 6.00pm – 12.00am weekends Past legacies and future creativity coexist during a show, to disrupt our senses and perpetuate traditions. During this show, the artist will merge traditional and modern styles, deforming and then creating a new building, a blend between eras and designs finally forming the present culture of the emirate of Sharjah. Forever Young Dates: February 5-15 Location: University of Sharjah – Kalba Timings: 6.00pm – 11.00pm weekdays, 6.00pm – 12.00am weekends The show explores games, fun and playful moods across every age. Pixel Carré is a construction game of a screened image, referencing pixels and TV test images. Hypnotic Graphics display a panorama of shapes inspired by board games and brain teasers. Minimal Circus reveals an acrobatic show where the game is more about the motion, the body and the performance. Gradient Track depicts fun and energy around the power of music. Balloon Fountain floods us with balloons in a myriad of patterns and colors in bouncing slow motion Light Celebration Dates: February 5-15 Location: Sharjah Mosque Timings: 6pm – 11pm weekdays, 6pm – 12am weekdays This visual and luminous installation is an ode to the beauty of the Islamic architecture of the emirate’s newest mosque, a graphic ballet of shadows and lights. The details and patterns of the mosque unfurl over the entire building, to the rhythm of the four elements (water, earth, fire and air) and illuminated pages of illustrations of the beautiful Quran. A Light Guide Dates: February 5-15 Location: Al Wousta TV Building – Al Dhaid Timings: 6.00pm – 11.00pm weekdays, 6.00pm – 12.00am weekends This illuminated building in the middle of a vast open-space represents the hope that Sharjah represents in the Arab world and internationally. This is a lighthouse in the middle of the desert to guide people and their vision for the future, Sharjah as a Cultural Capital, a beacon of light. Glorious Sharjah Dates: February 5-15 Location: Sharjah Municipality Building Timings: 6pm – 11pm weekdays, 6pm – 12am weekends The four elements, fire, earth, water and air, are the thread of a visual journey in the traditional culture of Sharjah and towards the horizons of the future. The architecture unfolds element by element till the whole building seems to move away to find the first Emirati astronaut who floats in space surrounded by a visual allegory of Arab sciences. Traveling Across Time Dates: February 5-15 Location: Al Hamriya Area Municipality Timings: 6.00pm – 11.00pm weekdays, 6.00pm – 12.00am weekends From the real to the surreal of the Festival, a dreamlike and evolving journey takes us through styles and eras. A paper theater plunges us into a surreal world of the city of Sharjah, its culture and its Festival in constant evolution. This video mapping show aims to take spectators through Sharjah’s different styles and eras, desert to a futuristic city with its basis in traditions and culture. Light & Painting Emotions Dates: February 5-15 Location: Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry Timings: 6.00pm – 11.00pm weekdays, 6.00pm – 12.00am weekends This is a show inspired by exchanges between people, countries and cultures. The artists chose to illustrate these exchanges through the major works of some famous international artists, taking the audience through different compositions, colors and lights, to offer intense and multiple emotions to the audience. An Endless Journey Dates: February 5-15 Location: Sharjah Roads & Transport Authority Timings: 6pm – 11pm weekdays, 6pm – 12am weekends The Sharjah Roads and Transport Authority’s show aims at transforming the cityscape and taking audiences on an endless journey through different spaces and atmospheres, inspired by organic elements such as coral, and displays a variety of unique graphical universes each developing in their own way and expanding to meet each other. The Snowdome Dates: February 5-15 Location: Omran Taryam Square Timings: 6.00pm – 11.00pm weekdays, 6.00pm – 12.00am weekends Can we capture Light and hold it? Here is a magical dome holding a giant Chandelier that has fallen from an invisible ceiling in the Sky. Representing how precious is the Sharjah Light Festival to the country and to the people coming from all around the globe to see it and grave it in their memory as a souvenir they carry around. Resonance & Kontakt Dates: February 5-15 Location: Al Majaz Waterfront Timings: 6pm – 11pm weekdays, 6pm – 12am weekends Resonance is an installation interacting with the rhythm of its environment. Dynamic and in constant movement, the massive tunnel recreates the vibe of the city with lighting and sonic atmospheres. In Al Majaz, Resonance is a fantastic path along the palm trees. The spectator is invited to wander and to change the vibe with an interactive interface located at the entrance. Kontact is live architecture combining sound, light and movement. The audience is immersed in different atmospheres, projecting various moods to the installation. This project allows the public to play by modifying this changeable structure. Each theme immerses the viewer in a specific universe. The Return of the Little Giant Dates: February 5-15 Location: Al Qasba – External Facade Timings: 6pm – 11pm weekdays, 6pm – 12am weekends The Little Giant first visited Sharjah in 2011 to launch the very first Sharjah Light Festival. 10 years later, the Little Giant returns to remind us of the beauty of the first show. A bed-time story, a child’s dream, the little giant plays all around the buildings of Al Qasba with water, fire and colors. A Cosmic Trip Dates: February 5-15 Location: Masjid Al Noor Timings: 6pm – 11pm weekdays, 6pm – 12am weekends A colourful current runs through the mosque, revealing its contours and illuminating its curvature, combining space and a cosmic theme to elevate the spiritual frame of mind of the spectators. Waves of Light Dates: February 5-15 Location: Al Majaz Waterfront & Khalid Lagoon Timings: 9.00pm – 10.00pm, No live show Monday 10th February A captivating choreographic show, representing the true colors of Sharjah and the universal harmony existing between people of different cultures. This is a bridge between modern – contemporary dance and the local culture and diverse societies of the United Arab Emirates, combining dance, lights, music, video and fireworks. Maritime Heritage Dates: February 5-15 Location: Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport Timings: 6pm – 11pm weekdays, 6pm – 12am weekends The newly inaugurated Academy is the canvas for a show based on Sharjah’s maritime and trades history. From ancient commerce where fishermen dived in the blue sea to find precious pearls and unique fish to the present day where we find the port filled with multicolored containers, a tribute to the bright Future awaiting Sharjah. For more go to sharjahlightfestival.ae

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