Light up Montilivi: five years turning the UdG campus into a spectacle of light and creativity

When night falls, the buildings, facades, and passageways of the Montilivi campus in Girona cease to be merely settings for university activity and become surfaces for visual experimentation. Light draws new landscapes, projections alter the perception of architectural volumes, and interactive installations invite visitors to look at and discover the environment in a different way. It is the transformation proposed by Encén Montilivi, an initiative of the University of Girona (UdG) that celebrates its fifth anniversary this year and that, from November 12th to 15th, will once again open the campus doors to the entire public.

The routes combine technology, creativity, and artistic expression. One of the unique features of this fifth commemorative edition will be the recovery of some of the most iconic and highly regarded installations by the public from previous events. A way to review the evolution of an activity that has been gaining personality and the ability to attract crowds.

Open-air teaching

But behind the visual appeal there is also a teaching experience. Encén Montilivi is, in large part, the result of the work of fourth-year students of the electrical engineering degrees and the double degree in electrical engineering and industrial electronic and automatic control engineering. The students dedicate a week to preparing and setting up the installations, in an exercise that forces them to transfer the knowledge acquired in classrooms and laboratories to a real space.

Miquel Rustullet, professor of electrical, electronic and automation engineering at the UdG, highlights precisely this leap between academic learning and field practice. "What they have learned in the laboratory they have had to bring outside, with the consequent problems of humidity or temperature changes. All of this gives them additional experience that cannot be acquired in a laboratory," he explains.

Outside, conditions appear that force us to review solutions, adapt connections, check equipment, and react to unforeseen events. Technology must be put to the test under conditions that cannot always be anticipated. It is here that the activity becomes a kind of open-air laboratory, in which students must combine technical knowledge, problem-solving skills, and teamwork.

Technique, art, and teamwork

Aroa Delgado, a fourth-year student of the double degree, emphasizes the intensity of this experience. "We have worked many hours in a group, under stress, against the clock and solving problems," she admits. An effort that, however, has a reward that goes beyond overcoming technical challenges: "We have the pleasure of being able to enjoy the finished installations." Seeing how an idea conceived and developed by the students transforms into a visual intervention that everyone can contemplate is, probably, one of the most rewarding parts of the project.

This combination of technological training and artistic expression is one of the distinctive features of Encén Montilivi. Light does not appear here solely as a resource for illumination, but also as a tool to communicate, create atmospheres, and establish a different relationship with the architecture.

Fifth anniversary activities

This year's program also incorporates special activities to mark the fifth anniversary. The inauguration will take place on Thursday, November 12, at seven in the evening, at the entrance of the P2 building of the Polytechnic School. On Friday the 13th, at four in the afternoon, the assembly hall of the P4 building will host a masterclass on the control of pixel mapping, led by Rebeca Sánchez, founder and CEO of LedsControl. This technique allows for the individual control of the light points of an installation and synchronizing them to create compositions, animations, and high-precision visual effects.

An EUMES concert

Music will also have a prominent role in this edition. On Saturday the 14th, at seven in the evening, the entrance of the P2 building will be the stage for LUMINA, a scenic project promoted by the Higher School of Advanced Music and Sound (EUMES). The show places women and the plurality of their experiences at the center of a proposal that intertwines live music and dramatized speech. Through poems, declarations, and texts from different languages, backgrounds, and eras, the performers' voices build a dialogue about desire, sensitivity, courage, care, and the capacity to create.

The program will be completed on Sunday with a light intervention before the Girona FC match, which will extend the reach of the initiative beyond strictly university spaces.

Guided tours, on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, from 6:30 PM to 7:00 PM, will depart from the entrance of the P2 building and will allow for a better understanding of the facilities and their particularities.