For over a decade downtown San Luis, with its historic buildings and Colonial-period architecture has been transformed into a canvas painted with light, full of color, motion and Mexican motifs, giving the hard and colorless stones a never before seen perspective and become a new tradition in the city.
The Fiesta de Luz began in 2007 when the State’s Tourism Secretariat along side Algeria-born painter Xavier de Richemont began planning a video art and mapping installation that would be projected onto the Cathedral’s façade on Winter 2007-2008.
After becoming a huge success, the Fiesta de Luz was also designed for other building, such as the Temple of Our Lady of El Carmen, the main building of the University and the Cathedral in Matehuala, a city two-and-a-half hour north of San Luis.
Twice a year, during the Holy Week and Easter breaks and the Winter breaks, Fiesta de Luz returns to San Luis Potosí.
A free, daily spectacle full of visuals, light, animations, sounds, voices and music, giving life to centuries old buildings and making Potosinos proud of their city as each year new talent form different universities come together to create the whole of the production, from design boards to animation and illustration, trying to convey a particular theme and carefully curating the story-telling of the show. Each team works for 5 months to create each different animation, and each team is joined by animators, technicians, illustrators and musicians to help the project come to fruition.
During the 2012 Fiesta de Luz, myself and a team of fellow students at TecMilenio University created the “Xantolo: an offering of light” animation. For just a little over 5 months the team formed by Graphic Design and Animation students Daniel Rivera, Isabel Ocejo, Paula Echaniz, Oscar Pérez, Juan Armando Sifuentes and Christian Sánchez and myself, worked together to create a story board that later became animated and illustrated, based on the creation of writer Homer Adame and set to music composed by the Nahuayotl Sanctorum ensemble. Production was in charge of Francisco Javier de Ávila, Alán Turrubiartes and Tania García, from the Tourism Secretariat.
Having participated in the creation of a segment of this project, the great work required for it became obvious. Investigation and research was the first step, as well as creative brainstorming sessions and a carefully curated selection of the illustrations that would be used and the sequence they would appear in.
Yet, the best thing behind the Fiesta de Luz is the opportunity given to young creators from San Luis Potosí to showcase their work in such relevant and symbolic venues as the Cathedral and the University’s central building. For Potosinos and tourists as well, the Fiesta de Luz has become another attraction in town and you should be sure not to miss it.
Article written by:
Sofía Torres Castillo
Master’s degree in Graphic Design and Animation
Instagram: sofiatc91
