The fourth year of the Nasuti festival will work with darkness as a natural as well as an artistic phenomenon. As in the first three years, we will once again find ourselves at the intersections of art and science.

At the present we are troubled not only by the undesirable result of the overproduction of goods, but also by the overproduction of something that appears to be seemingly intangible and positive – light. Excessive lighting is actually the essence of overproduction, forcing constant activity and activity. However, darkness is essential for our survival and it is becoming a big problem that it is disappearing more and more. Light pollution is a serious environmental problem today. It is known to cause difficulty with sleep, loss of balance in the production of the hormone melatonin. A number of civilization diseases, from depression to high blood pressure, are linked to sleep deprivation.

We cannot se the sky and stars because of the light pollution – we cannot see above the horizon, metaphorically or literally. Many species of beetles will no longer see the way, because they naturally oriented their activity depending on the reflection of the Milky Way. However, it is only visible while preserving the natural darkness in nature. When there is a deviation from the balance of insect life, it disrupts the whole ecosystem – pollination, animal and human nutrition…

The seasons in the mild climate zone are characterized by a different length of sunny day. When hunting for its extension, we forget about darkness and its irreplaceable good attributes. Blue light flashes from smartphone displays almost constantly, and it is known that most living organisms have a 24-hour circadian rhythm, which is based explicitly on the alternation of darkness and light. Dramatic differences were also found when measuring the value of light in the exterior and interior during the day. Night darkness and daily exposure to a reasonable amount of sunlight contribute to healthier sleep of people and healthy cycles of other living organisms. Lives spent in the interiors of offices and cars will affect the quality of health.

The balance of extremes, the harmony of different stages of natural phenomena is deviated in several dangerous directions. Again, the solution is not easy and is not universally applicable. To live a healthy life we need to know and follow a number of principles in the right context. It is not possible to explicitly disable LED lighting, it is not possible to move to Poloniny mountains. It is not possible to go back to the pre-industrial period, post-industrial instruments can be treated more sensibly. We believe that the Nasuti festival IV with the subtitle Darkness will bring more light to this topic.