IGNITE Broward Festival Returns Bigger and Brighter Than Ever
IGNITE Broward, South Florida’s premier festival of art and lights, returns for its fourth year February 14-23. The 2025 edition is the festival’s most ambitious yet, running for 10 days with over 30 spectacular displays of art, light and technology across three locations: Esplanade Park and Riverwalk in Fort Lauderdale, Mad Arts in Dania Beach, and ArtsPark at Young Circle in downtown Hollywood. The festival will include immersive large-scale projection mapping, interactive light sculptures and installations, sound-based experiences, musical performances and other family-friendly programs by more than 24 local, national and international artists. The festival is free and open to the public, continuing its mission of accessible art for all.
A Thousand Times Forever by Holly Danger
Among the festival's notable participants are artists Daniel Popper and Javier Riera. Popper, a multidisciplinary artist known for his large-scale figures that frequently serve as stages, gateways or chapels at major art and music festivals, transforms spaces into surreal environments, inviting viewers to engage with hybrid entities that blend elements of nature and humanity. Riera is a pioneer in his field who specializes in lighting interventions on the landscape in public spaces. His installations aim to broaden viewer’s perceptions of hidden dimensions, generating an experience of visibility in which there is both calm and amazement at the same time. Both Popper’s and Riera’s works will be on view in Hollywood.
Some of the event’s signature works of art include the projections at Mad Arts by New York-based artist Peter Burr with generative art that virtually drives the figures of people off a cliff as the algorithm produces a new piece each day, or the work by Max Cooper featuring Ksawery Komputery and MinJeong An, where viewers can interact with the piece in real time and share things they would like to express but can’t in everyday life. Mad Arts is an art and technology museum that immerses audiences in high- and low-tech experiences. During IGNITE, visitors can explore 13 installations, plus attend artist talks and participate in workshops.
Quantum Jungle by Robin Baumgarten
Over at Esplanade Park and Riverwalk, visitors can enjoy nine spectacular installations and a series of projection-mapping pieces at the New River Inn and additional works along the riverfront. Highlights include an immersive show of light and wonder through the expansive work of The Moonlight Collective.
PULSE by This is Loop. Photo Credit Katie Maddison
In conjunction with the City of Hollywood’s centennial celebration, IGNITE Broward is expanding this year to ArtsPark, an immersive art circuit at Young Circle that highlights the city’s rich cultural and community spirit. In Hollywood, visitors can enter a hypnotic portal sculpture by This is Loop and encounter the works of sedemminut.
Join the artists for an extraordinary evening at IGNITE Broward's official kickoff celebration on February 14 at 5:30 p.m. in Hollywood, featuring a performance by LIZN'BOW at 6:45 p.m., adding a unique musical dimension to this spectacular showcase of creativity and innovation.
IGNITE Broward 2025 is presented by the Broward Cultural Division and produced by Mad Arts, with additional support provided by the City of Hollywood, Visit Lauderdale, and City of Dania Beach.