The Italian town of Brixen (Bressanone) normally stages its famous Water Light Festival in May - but the popular event was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
One artist on Saturday 16 May decided to dispel the gloom and instead celebrate the International Day of Light in the town in South Tyrol, in Italy's north.
Stefano Cagol set off emergency flares at Brixen's Piazza del Duomo in a message of hope for people as they continue to battle the coronavirus.
The bright SOS beacons could be seen for miles away, lighting up the pre-dawn skies.
Cagol, who has staged shows at the Biennale art festival in Venice, usually bases his performances on the topics of climate change and the destruction of nature.
But he said he hoped the "very strange and particular condition" of the virus pandemic "will help us to find a new way and I hope for a new future, a better future for the planet also".
