Murten Light Festival

Part one – Before the festival

The January Light Festival in Murten is a highly anticipated event that has been a cult favorite for years. Our team was thrilled to be invited to participate in this year’s festivities.

From January 17th to 28th, 2024, the 8th Murten Light Festival will once again captivate visitors with its incredible light shows, live performances, and futuristic light installations. Every evening from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM, the city transforms into a real-life fairy tale.

The first Festival of Light in Murten took place back in January 2016 and was a huge success, exceeding all expectations. A staggering 80,000 people flocked to the cozy town of about 8,200 inhabitants to witness the magical transformation of Murten into a city of lights.

So what can visitors expect from the Murten Light Festival 2024?

This year’s festival promises to be a true work of art, with 17 art venues and a total of 22 light installations. The festival will once again bring together Swiss light artists and artists from near and far abroad.

For the first time ever, the entire festival site will be framed by a harmonious setting created by professionals and volunteers from the region. The four best places in the city to experience the festival are the main square between Bernthor and the school, the German Church, the main street in the old town, and the lake shore with the harbor. These places, as well as many historic buildings or hidden romantic niches, will become temporary art venues. There will be lights and sometimes music!

Verba Shadow Theater at the Murten Light Festival 2024

One of the highlights of the festival is a shadow theater performance in the German Church of Murten. This year, our team is proud to be a part of the festival with a new and unique performance that depicts the fascinating life of a couple who met and lived a happy life in Switzerland. But the uniqueness of the performance lies not in its plot, but in the way it will be portrayed. In addition to the usual shadow theater, the performance will be enhanced by the extraordinary work of Adrian Scherzinger, the artist who created the animated interior decoration of the church. During the performance, the story will come to life not only on our screen, but also everywhere around our “stage,” on the walls, columns, arches, and ceiling.

The organizers of the festival invited our team to last year’s festival, but due to the Russian invasion to Ukraine, we were unable to prepare for the festival properly. We are very grateful to the organizers for inspiring us with their desire to show our work to the festival visitors.

In times of polarization and global uncertainty, it is very important to create and maintain strong friendships with each other. That’s why, when we performed at the Numeric Games Festival in another Swiss town last August, we invited the organizers of the Murten Light Festival to our performance. It allowed us to meet live, exchange ideas about the upcoming performance, and discuss the possibilities of future projects.

If you are in Switzerland and would like to attend our performance, you should book your ticket as soon as possible for our 15-minute performance at the German Church in Murten (CHF 10 for adults, children under 16 free, www.murtenlichtfestival.ch).

Part two – After the festival

And so, the 10 days of the festival have passed. During this time, our show was seen by 15,000 people! There were so many spectators that the organizers asked us to give 2 more shows than initially planned. Instead of 54 performances, we performed 56 times. We became real stars of the small town of Murten. After the first days of performances, people started recognizing us on the streets and greeting us. We were interviewed and approached by audience members from different corners of the world.