PROGETTI
SUNPLUGGED - Sustainable Solar Rituals is a transnational sunlight art festival.
It invites artists and citizens to re-interpret old and contemporary relationships between people(s) and the sun, and gives form to new sustainable solar rituals in which artistic practices re-imagine new ways to power ecologically-resilient lifestyles and regenerative transition of socio-ecological systems.
Intangible and tangible sun-related heritages across Faro (Portugal), Ystad (Sweden) and Bari (Italy) will be activated with talks, walks, creative workshops, arts exhibitions, design labs and conferences, in order to expand the concept of light art, transitioning it from an energy-intensive nighttime experience to a nature-based, energy-efficient experience accessible in urban and rural landscapes.
Residencies
Between April and May 2024, the SUNPLUGGED artistic team mapped the local solar heritages of various locations: Ystad (April 6-13), Faro (April 13-19), and Bari (May 6-11). These weeks offered opportunities for each artist to freely explore, connect with one another, and engage with local rituals to explore the cultural meaning of sunlight in the lifestyles of local communities. Each week included time dedicated to research, exploration, visits, and networking with local traditions, artistic scenes, and festival venue hosts. At each location, the artistic team of SUNPLUGGED offered a series of creative workshops focused on cyanotype and sun printing techniques, lantern making, and collective theatre making. Have a look into what happened:
Festival
Between June and September 2024, the SUNPLUGGED artistic team exhibited
a series of sunlight artworks in various locations: Faro (June 21-30), Kåseberga and Ystad (July 5-6), and Bari (September 27-28). These exhibitions showed different sculptures, installations and performances making use of sunlight as a material, and creatively re-interpreting sustainable solar rituals identified during the SUNPLUGGED Residencies.
At each location, SUNPLUGGED Festival offered a series of talks, walks and creative workshops making the festival and exhibitions accessible to local communities.
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21-30 June 2024 Festival @ Faro (PT)
21 june 18:30 - Welcome drink + Showcase Showcase with Portuguese musician Mateus Verde 19:30 - Talk "Art & Sustainability" Speakers: Paulo Santos (Faro Municipality) Alexandra Gonçalves (ESGHT-UAlg) Jânio Monteiro (ISE-UAlg) Vasco Abreu (Sciaena) Talk moderated by Elisabete Rodrigues Sul Informação 22 june - 19:30 Performance "The dinner before" Local: Tertúlia Algarvia Restaurant (rooftop) Free entry with limit of 12 people Registrations: arquente@gmail.com by Teatringestazione 24 - 30 june / 9:30am to 1pm everyday Artworks Exhibition "Gravity" - Tó Quintas (PT) "Matahari (Faro)" - Kah Bee Chow (SE) "De sol a sol" - Teatringestazione (IT) at ARCO Gallery - ArQuente -
5-6 July 2024Festival @ Kåseberga & Ystad (SE)
5 JULY GRAND OPENING H 17 KÅSEBERGA BYAHUSET Vernissage of the SUNPLUGGED group exhibition and artist talks with Kah Bee Chow, Tó Quintas, and Teatringestazione. ART WALK H 18 KÅSEBERGA BYAHUSET (starting point) Guided walk through the exhibition artworks, concluding at the Ale’s stones. PERFORMANCE H 19 ALE’S STONES Performance of Radiant Rebellion, site-specific work by Teatringestazione in collaboration with Studio Danza from Ystad. 6 JULY PANEL TALK H 13 YSTADS KONSTMUSEUM (Hörsalen) Anthropologist Ruben Ritzén and artist Kate Moss on solar culture and creativity’s role in sustainable transitions in Southern Sweden. PARALLEL WORKSHOPS H 13.30 - SUSTAINABLE FUTURE ÖSTERLEN: YSTADS KONSTMUSEUM (Hörsalen) Speculative fiction workshop with Ruben Ritzén on sunlight-inspired creative visions for a sustainable Österlen in 2045. - CONCRETE POETRY: YSTADS KONSTMUSEUM (Lilla ateljén) Visual poetry workshop with Kate Moss on sunlight-inspired meanings of contemporary life in Österlen. -
27-28 September 2024Festival @ Bari & Polignano (IT)
25 Settembre 2024 H 18 Urban Center, Bari (BA) SUNPLUGGED X Bari Confronto civico per scoprire le relazioni tra luce solare, patrimonio, cambiamento climatico e trasformazioni urbane a Bari. 26-27 Settembre 2024 CALL FOR PARTECIPANTS - il suo passo stupiva la terra laboratorio propedeutico alla performance "Radiant Rebellion" a cura di Teatringestazione, in collaborazione con Daniela Allocca per Basso Profilo aps - Sunplugged 28 Settembre 2024 RADIANT REBELLION - Il suo passo stupiva la terra camminata performativa da Bari a Polignano a Mare (BA) di e con Teatringestazione, in collaborazione con Daniela Allocca, per Basso Profilo aps - Sunplugged Inaugurazione della mostra dell3 artist3 in residenza del progetto Sunplugged dalle 18:00 presentazione delle opere in presenza dell3 artist3 Kah Bee Chow, Tò Quintas, Teatringestazione e dal tramonto live set di Trevize Terrazzo Fondazione Museo Pino Pascali - Polignano a Mare (BA)
Solar Design Labs
SUNPLUGGED calls on you: young creators, designers, visionaries, to craft the future. This is your moment to become part of something bigger: a creative movement to reframe dominant paradigms. Step into a space where imagination meets the desire for action — where Sunplugged solar ritual stories will ignite fresh thinking about the role of the sun in shaping our future. We invite you to design new forms, products, spaces and services for the living that are responsible, regenerative, and deeply rooted in natural rhythms. The time is now to design slower, with less impact and more meaning.
08 October 2024, Bari (IT)
19 October 2024, Faro (PT)
13 November 2024, Malmö (SE)
Sunplugged Manifesto
A Call to young creators, designers, visionaries to design the future with the Sun.
SUNPLUGGED is more than a transnational sunlight art festival. It’s a movement, a creative journey that invites artists, designers, and citizens to reimagine our ancient and modern relationships with the sun. Together, we craft new sustainable solar rituals that power resilient lifestyles and guide the regenerative transformation of our socio-ecological systems.
Over the past year, SUNPLUGGED has sparked a fusion of artistic exploration and cultural storytelling in Faro and Ria Formosa (Portugal), Skåne (Sweden), and the metropolitan area of Bari (Italy). These solar stories—woven from heritage, tradition, and innovation—have unlocked new perspectives on how we live, design, and interact with the world around us. Now, as the project evolves, we invite a new generation of creators to join us.
SUNPLUGGED è un progetto finanziato dal Programma Creative Europe, CREA-CULT-2023-COOP e gestito da tre partner attuatori: Basso Profilo APS per l'Italia, Associazione ArQuente per il Portogallo e Transversal project per la Svezia. SUNPLUGGED si avvale del contributo della Camera di Commercio di Bari e Fondazione Puglia e della collaborazione della Regione Puglia, Comune di Bari, Urban Center, Fondazione Museo Pino Pascali, Spazio Murat e del supporto della Regione di Skåne, Municipio di Faro, Swedish Arts Council, ESEC University di Algarve, Ystad Municipality, Ystad Art Museum.
Notizie correlate
