Swiss artist illuminates historical buildings in Kyiv on Christmas

The art light tour of the famous Swiss artist Gerry Hofstetter "Christmas Lihts for Hope" has started in Kyiv. The artist is illuminating a number of historical buildings and monuments across the city.

Hofstetter came to Ukraine with a small team of four people and his own power generator to set up an art light tour for three Christmas evenings on December 23, 24, and 25 in Kyiv and the surrounding area. The chosen locations will be lit up every evening from 16:00 to 22:00.

So, on day 1 of the tour, Hofstetter illuminated St. Andrew's Church, the National Museum of Ukraine's History, the bell tower of St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery, the building of the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine, and the bell tower of St. Sophia Cathedral.

The artist's projections involve Christmas and ethnic Ukrainian themes.

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, said the press service of Ukraine's Ministry of Culture and Information Policy.

"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.

The project is implemented with the support of the Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine, Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, and State Agency of Ukraine for Arts and Art Education.