Let there be light… on the Brussels canal

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From Thursday to Sunday, prepare to be dazzled by the banks of the Brussels canal as imaginative light installations and spectacular performances invade the neighbourhood.

This is the first time this free festival has been held in Brussels.

Luminarie De Cagna is an Italian family business founded in 1930. Back then, on festive occasions, the company illuminated buildings and squares with oil and carbide lamps. This was quickly switched to electric lights, and since 2006 only LEDs are used for new projects. The lights are joined to make large curtains of light, which are placed onto buildings or spread out on other objects in the area. In this way, whole streets and even squares are full of light.

The route starts with the ‘Tower of Pisa’, 20 metres tall, featuring thousands of coloured LEDs. Further along you’ll hear trumpeting – a lifelike African elephant will appear out of a cloud of dust in the hangar of the Citroën garage – ‘Elephantastic’.

‘The Lords of Lightning’ act out the battle between good and evil, with dazzling bolts of lightning. These two English performers allow no less than four million volts to flow through their bodies.

Along the Peniches quay, ‘The Skeleton Dance’ makes use of skull mapping, a unique form of street mapping. By projecting onto the road surface instead of the usual projection onto a building, it is possible to create a 3D illusion which gives the animation another dimension.

In collaboration with a fireworks specialist, the children who live in le Petit Château will prepare a pyrotechnical fireworks show on a boat. Petit Château is one of the 18 reception centres for asylum seekers in Belgium. The centre can accommodate 720 asylum seekers and is therefore the main (and largest) reception centre for asylum seekers in Belgium. Currently, it is also home to 40 unaccompanied minors.

Wrap up well as the nights get colder and save your appetite for the winter barbecue.

Thursday 31 October to Sunday 3 November, from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. every evening.

Sainctelette Square and place Armateurs.

The event is free of charge.

Metro: Yser

www.brusselslightfestival.be