Staro Rīga 2012

During 15-18 November 2012 there was the Staro Rīga '12 festival (www.staroriga.lv/)
You could basically call it the festival of light, as various objects/ buildings lit up during the evening.
Mostly in Old Town, but also in- and outside the City Centre. At the 15th I stayed in to do homework (there are benefits of doing your homework as soon as possible - not missing these kind of events!). On the 16th I went to have a look, as part of a (replacement) meeting for Riga Language Exchange. Together we did a small tour in- and just outside Old Town. Because it was quite chilly we found usself warming up in bars sooner than expected.

Whilst having heard from a Latvian that the festival was better last year, I heard from another that each year the artists change. I guess you have to get lucky with that. Maybe there was even a budget cut, who knows these days. Either way, I enjoyed my time.

We started our small tour at the National Art Museum. Here you could play keyboard. This meant not only making music, but also changing the lights in front of you. :-)
I did not opt to volunteer, as the only real song I know by heart is CanCan, and only right handed. Still it was fun to see other people play, especially if it is people that you know.





On the way to Old Town, we find a newly created bridge between Alexander Bridge and Timm's Bridge. Somehow the puzzleblocks fit into place after have seen preparatory work taking place here in the days just before. The end result, quite remarkable.

Not far from there and near the Freedom Monument, the Latvian flag is accompanied by some light sticks.

In Old Town itself there were some nice moving graphics to see on buildings. On the building at the right (see picture) there was even a game to be played with live commentary. Since it was simple Latvian I was able understand the simple words such as ''beigas'', which means ''the end''. Or perhaps, ''game over''?






Unfortunately that were the all succesful pictures from my side. I have made shots from a few more objects, but they were unsuccesful due to a lack of light. Shooting photo's in the dark remains difficult, I feel. In my belief a videocamera is easier to handle in such conditions.

On the 17th of November I also was in the city centre, but very shortly, and did not see more than I already had seen. However, I remember the slamming beat played at speakers near the National Opera combined with fancy visual graphics on its walls. Even nicer than that of the day before.
I would have loved to view the city a bit more in this light scene but ESN Seabattle (starting early on the 18th of November) preparations were calling. After having exchanged money for SEK and ''theme-party-shopping'' I returned back to the dorm to think of what to pack.