A gloomy Belgian winter is lit up for the third time by the lights of the Mons en Lumières festival. It feels like this time the jewel of Wallonia has outdone itself. The festival has expanded beyond the city limits, adding a second site at SPARKOH! — an interactive science centre in Frameries where science is all about “touch, try, experiment” rather than staring at dull museum display cases. What makes the place special is that it stands on the grounds of a former coal mine, set against the backdrop of real industrial architecture. A 3-kilometre route featuring 17 light installations is offered completely free of charge to both Mons residents and visitors — no small thing at a time when immersive shows are rarely cheap.
Mons en Lumières was conceived and delivered by the City of Mons in close collaboration with the University of Mons (UMONS), which in 2025 presented the science exhibition “Électrique!”. Together they explore a theme that is at once poetic, sensual and deeply contemporary: “Towards the Light. A Call to Illuminate the World.” As a university city, Mons has mobilised its scientific community to ensure that light carries both a strong metaphysical and scientific dimension. At the same time, the festival’s leading figures are artists, creators and musicians. For the third year running, ARTS² (the Mons School of Arts and Design) has taken part, with students from the Digital Arts department producing original installations. Exploring the interaction of image, sound and movement, these young digital artists have turned Mons into an open-air art laboratory.
The city’s circular layout perfectly matches the idea of the parcours — you move gently around Mons, discovering its landmarks along the way. One of them is the famous Beffroi Tower. Artist Romain Tardy, with a musical score by the group Before Tigers, has created an immersive installation in the Beffroi park. It’s the mesmerising dialogue of light and sound between the ground and a distant point above, as if the world were in conversation with the universe.
Projections, pulses of light and a laser beam at the top of the belfry react in real time, linking the sky with the Baroque tower. At the crossroads of science fiction and visual meditation, “Cosmic Dialogue” invites us to see humanity from the perspective of infinity and to rediscover the beauty of our planet. The Beffroi Tower is no stranger to fire. Its original purpose was to warn townspeople of fires, and in the 20th century it was used to signal air raids. Since 1999, it has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Majestic yet elegant, it rises above Mons.
For example, Place Léopold comes alive in a completely new way thanks to the striking installation “Lampe-moi” by the TILT collective. Giant lamps styled like architectural light fixtures gently lean over passers-by, while broad beams reminiscent of torchlight transform the square into a dynamic stage of light and colour. Visitors are invited to sit, watch and immerse themselves in this urban theatre of light, where everyday objects take on sculptural forms. Blending poetry and design, Lampe-moi uses light to highlight human scale and the charm of ordinary things, reminding us that the city is a place where we live and dream together.
The signature landmark of any city with medieval roots, the Grand-Place, has been transformed by Maxime Houot and Collectif Coin into a monumental matrix of 81 suspended light pixels. Each point rises and falls, pulses and glows in sync with a hypnotic sound composition, tracing visible lines of time in the air. Inspired by the theory of relativity, the work embodies the flow of time and the coexistence of moments, blurring the boundaries between past and present. In Abstract — as Maxime named the project — light becomes both language and movement, connecting science, art, and emotion in the very heart of Mons’ cultural heritage.
With Héliotrope, the Luminariste collective transforms Sainte-Waudru Cathedral into a sacred space filled with light and sound. Five suspended discs cast shifting halos inspired by Gothic rose windows, sunflowers, and the solar cycle, creating a constantly evolving luminous landscape. Organic sounds — the whisper of the wind, the murmur of water, the buzz of bees — follow the movement of the light beams in a six-minute contemplative loop. The installation offers a form of symbolic light therapy — a magical moment where light becomes breath and stone resonates with sound.
In just three years, Mons en Lumières has become a city‑uniting festival, bringing together all of Mons’ creative forces!