Imran Mojib, Special Correspondent

As the 10th edition of Sharjah Light Festival (SLF 2020) is enthralling one and all at 19 locations across the emirate, it is the University City area with its many beautiful buildings that has been attracting a big number of visitors with some exciting and unusual shows.

The University of Sharjah, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah Police Academy and the University City Hall are among this year’s selected locations in the Emirate, featuring the creative works of renowned international lighting and video artists.

While the shows are prepared by an exciting line up of globally renowned artists to mark the event’s 10th anniversary, the magnificent displays of colour, images and lights, inspired by creativity, art, science, knowledge and culture at the University City involve creative efforts of Sharjah students.

For the first time in the history of the festival, the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA) has collaborated with two leading universities in the emirate to showcase creativity of students.

SCTDA Chairman Khalid Jasim Al Midfa said, “Today we celebrate 10 years of this successful event, simultaneously being held across 19 different locations in the emirate. This event embodies creativity in ideas, mission and art, relying on lights, colors, music and modern technologies, in presenting the finest shows that transform Sharjah into a field of harmonious art curated by a group of international artists, with the notable participation of university students in the emirate.”

He told the Gulf Today that the festival collaborated with a distinguished group of university students from the emirate, such as the University of Sharjah and the American University of Sharjah, with the aim to develop young skills and talents and encourage them to present innovative shows and ideas.

“This move was aimed at enhancing role in the fields of knowledge transfer and innovation provision,” he said.

The students from the University of Sharjah, yet another new festival location, has turned the building into a canvas on to which the show ‘A Student’s Day in Sharjah’ is being projected, under the art direction of Mathieu Felix. The show highlights the daily routine of students’ lives in Sharjah using present generation ideograms such as emojis and smileys, while also showing their strong connection to the beautiful emirate.

The students of the American University of Sharjah, under the art direction of French artist Mathieu Felix, are presenting a show titled ‘A Journey from Sharjah to America’ as part of the festival. The spectacle takes audiences on a roundtrip, a flight from the emirate to America and back by transforming the University building into a surreal travelogue, while also highlighting the nuances of the students’ relationship with their learning environment.

The show named ‘Jungle Book’ by artist duo Federico Gonzalez and Javier Pinto, three facades of the Sharjah Police Academy are activated by 3D video mapping with music, narrating the age-old story of instincts, nature, survival, fight, fear, love and learning, crossing cultures to become part of global imagination. The show engages public imagination in building the story, with the sound design particularly amplifying the underlying meaning of the visual presentation which lasts for 10 minutes,

The show titled ‘Planet Sharjah’ by Barcelona-based studio Tigrelab is lighting up three facades of the Sharjah University City Hall, activated by 3D interactive video mapping with music. The show travels through a universe inspired by the elements of Sharjah, enabling participants to interact with the planets and adjust the characteristics of the show by stretching the boundaries of the building beyond its walls using technology, like the control panel placed in front of the building. Visitors can also visually enjoy the augmented reality feature that can be downloaded through an application that transforms the sky above the building into a planetarium that is visible only through the use of your mobile phone

This year, the festival has got a new attraction – Food Truck Areas which is also expected to see the participation of a number of local businesses and families.