Cesare Cremonini still lights up the arcades of Bologna: thousands turn on
The installation, created on the occasion of the second edition of the Bologna Portici Festival, will remain lit from 5 to 9 June, from dusk to dawn
Photo by Erika Serio
BOLOGNA – The Portici of San Luca, a UNESCO heritage site since 2021, come to life on the occasion of the second edition of the Bologna Portici Festival, thanks to an impressive artistic project unique in the world created by Cesare Cremonini with the participation of the German artist Philipp Frank. The installation will remain lit from June 5th to 9th, from dusk to dawn. Thousands welcomed the singer-songwriter when he first turned it on.
Luci a San Luca tells the story of Bologna through lights and colors that reflect the feelings of a city in such an important year. A year of goals, successes and celebrations: from the 150th anniversary of the birth of one of the greatest inventors in modern history, Guglielmo Marconi(born in Bologna on 25 April 1874), to the historic qualification of Bologna in the Champions League which, after 60 years, reaches an unforgettable milestone in its glorious history.
“Bologna is the city where you can walk in light – says Cesare Cremonini– from every perspective you look at it, it is the protagonist of our way of living. continuous geometries of shadow and light that are created between the porticoes, to the facades fiery with color at sunset, Bologna is that place where the dark is not scary. Light like Lucio Dalla, the Michelangelo of Italian song. But not only that. Bologna as a beacon of knowledge kept in the Alma Mater Studiorum, the oldest university in the world. Is this why we all feel a bit like young people here? Guglielmo Marconi, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist who discovered radio waves. with which today we ignite our time of communication and creativity, turns 150 and continues to inspire new generations. The same new generations who are lucky enough to live the dream of Bologna football flying to the Champions League in the coming year. > The ‘Luci a San Luca’ projectis dedicated to all this and more, part of the Bologna Portici Festival, now in its second edition. A dedication of light and color to bring Bologna to the eyes of all of Italy and beyond”.
THE PROJECT
Cesare Cremonini, this year wanted to involve the visionary land-light artistPhilipp Frankand his ability to create a fusion between the natural landscape that surrounds it and plays of light, thus shaping unmistakable and high-impact atmospheres.
Under the portico of San Luca, from the Arco del Meloncello to the Basilica, for almost two kilometres, technology will give life to over 300 arches, illuminating them, in a setting of extraordinary beauty. Walking along the portico, at the famous curva delle Orfanelle, it will be possible to witness a real visual spectacle in which the trees present along the path will integrate with seductive projections of lights in a combination that will transport the public into a surreal atmosphere.
THE UNRELEASED MUSIC OF CESARE CREMONINI
Here, for the first time, theimages will be accompanied by the unreleased music that Cesare Cremonini wrote for the occasion together with the producer and musician Alessandro Magnanini.
Finally, shortly before arrival, the portico will be the setting for avideo installation, signed by Philipp Frank,in which architecture, nature and technology meet in a moment full of suggestion , where the virtual becomes real.