.ART

This article has been edited for length and clarity.

Limelight (Limelight.art) has established itself as a visionary company in digital and light-based media, which is redefining the possibilities of large-scale projection mapping and immersive light installations. As a globally recognized collective, it operates at the intersection of technological innovation and artistic expression, offering comprehensive solutions for projects that engage audiences in both public and institutional contexts. Its practice is driven by a commitment to accessibility, inclusivity, and originality, ensuring that light art remains an evolving and participatory medium.

The origins of Limelight can be traced back to the late 1990s when Viktor Vicsek, an early innovator in immersive light art, began producing large-scale installations that integrated light, architecture, and digital technology. In the early 2000s, he partnered with István Dávid, and together they formalized their artistic vision by establishing Limelight as a collective dedicated to advancing light art on an international scale. 

From its inception, Limelight has remained committed to the principle that light art should be accessible to all. Early projects were conceived as large-scale public installations in collaboration with municipalities and international light festivals, ensuring that audiences across different social and cultural contexts could experience high-quality digital art in open urban environments. The emphasis on site-specificity and architectural integration has allowed Limelight to create works that are not only visually striking but also conceptually engaged with their spatial and social surroundings.

To explore the vision behind Limelight’s practice, .ART spoke with its co-founder, István Dávid, about the evolution of light art, the collective’s commitment to accessibility and innovation, and the future of immersive digital experiences.

DK: Limelight has been at the forefront of the light art industry since the late 90s. How has the vision of the company evolved over the years? Why have you decided to explore light as an artistic medium?

ID: We’ve been working with Victor, who is the co-founding partner at Limelight. At first we were using static projections. Originally, these projectors were created for theaters to project backgrounds and sets for the scenes, and they were some kind of standard equipment in every theater. We started to use them on the outdoor surfaces, mainly on buildings. In 2006 we established Limelight as a company. 

Technology is not the goal. It’s just a tool.

I would say that the vision hasn’t changed. Of course, the mediums we are using and the technology we are using is evolving and changing, but it was always really important for us that technology is not the goal. It’s just a tool. For example, it’s not really well known, but Victor has developed the world’s first media server that allows us to precisely map the content on the buildings. We never wanted to create the product of it. It was just a tool for us to achieve what we wanted to achieve. 

It was always really important for us that light art meets a lot of people, especially outdoors. I think it was around 2009-2010, when technology evolved and it became accessible in a way that there were 15-20.000k Lumen projectors available on the market. And then we started to switch to mapping. 

The facade is not only a canvas, but it’s a very important part of our story. 

When we call something mapping, it has a bit of a different meaning, then the way the term is used in general. You can see a huge LED screen with 3D animation, and people call it mapping. Since we were always fascinated with architecture, for us mapping was a lot more than just “stretching” it onto the facade. We started to incorporate all those architectural characteristics, and we basically started to make those facades that were static architectural things into some living organisms. Our works were always based on the architecture itself. In this sense the facade is not only a canvas, but it’s a very important part of our story. 

DK: What’s the overall geography of your projects now?

ID: We never try to adapt a certain piece to another place or to another building. For us, a specific piece was created for a specific building. This is also the philosophy that we are trying to share in our master classes and educational programs that we are doing. This is the soul of projection mapping. 

We’ve been all over the world. Since we were pioneering this industry for around 15 years ago, it was still rare to find an artist collective that is professional in this sphere. 

For us, it was, in a way, a type of street art.

Especially with the outdoor projections, it is something that you cannot really learn, only by experience. Every single surface is different. Every color is different. Since we have been in this field from the very beginning, we’ve been in a lot of festivals. I think except for Antarctica, we’ve done projects on all continents. We were always incorporating local culture and creating pieces that address the local audience. For us, it was, in a way, a type of street art. All our creations are on the street and they are temporary. 90% of our pieces were created for events or festivals that were open to the public. We try to show art to people who probably would not go to the gallery or museum on their own.

Some of the European light festivals started 30 plus years ago in Lyon, in Helsinki. These were events that had a huge number of visitors and were mostly organized by local municipalities. We’ve been participating in light festivals all over Europe, in Australia as well. And I think the only part of the world where this model doesn’t really work is the US.

It’s not only technology, hardware, software, but it’s art.

DK: Your website is Limelight.art, using the .ART domain. What led you to choose this domain, and how do you see it aligning with your brand and artistic mission?

ID: A lot of people who are interested in our works and want to invite us to take part in festivals and collaborate, they could never identify what it is. We had a lot of requests about buying our creations and basically projecting it themselves. For us it was always very important to communicate that what we do is a piece of art. It’s not only technology, hardware, software, but it’s art. It was important for us to identify ourselves as an artist collective. And we’re trying to sell our vision.