On December 23, projections with Ukrainian state symbols and Christmas-themed abstractions, embroidery, sunflowers and many other bright and cheerful images appeared at St. Andrew’s Church, the National Museum of the History of Ukraine, the bell tower of St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery and the bell tower of St. Sophia’s Cathedral.
As part of the light art tour “CHRISTMAS LIGHT FOR HOPE”, the world-famous Swiss light artist Gerry Hofstetter presented Ukraine with a light show to bring hope and light to Ukrainians in these dark days. Together with a small team of four people and his own electric generator, the artist will work in Ukraine for two more Christmas evenings – December 24 and 25 from 4 to 10 p.m.
“It is very symbolic that at a time when russia is trying to deprive us of light, we, together with our European friends, can return this light. At least in such an artistic way,” said Oleksandr Tkachenko, Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.
Gerry Hofstetter and his team consciously refused to celebrate Christmas with their families as a sign of solidarity with Ukraine. After all, due to the russian armed aggression, many Ukrainians cannot celebrate as usual in warm and cozy homes among relatives and friends. But the artist proves with his works that it is worth living and protecting, and supporting the place where we live, the planet Earth, its environment.
Projections that appear on buildings in Kyiv are also broadcast live, so they can be seen in any corner of Ukraine and the world. Individual projection images are created immediately during on-site lighting as NFTs and hosted on the Opensea NFT platform. The funds received from the sale of works will go to the artist’s next campaign to support Ukraine.
The project is implemented with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, the State Agency of Ukraine on Arts and Artistic Education, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Embassy of Ukraine in the Swiss Confederation and Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine.
Photos of the show are available to the media at the link.
