Bucharest’s Spotlight festival returns this month with 19 light installations

The Spotlight - International Light Art Festival will return to Bucharest from October 9 to 11 with 19 installations and video mapping shows. Its tenth edition, organised by Bucharest City Hall through ARCUB, will take place under the theme Playground.

The festival route will cover a longer section of Calea Victoriei than in 2025, extending from the Radisson Blu Hotel to the intersection with Splaiul Independenței. Events will also take place at ARCUB - Hanul Gabroveni, Mega Mall, and Promenada Mall.

Six video mapping shows will transform the façades of the Odeon Theatre, Telephone Palace, Novotel Hotel, National Military Club, Corinthia Grand Hotel du Boulevard Bucharest, and the National Museum of Art of Romania.

Another 13 immersive installations along Calea Victoriei will include interactive new-media works and illuminated organic forms that respond to the movements of passers-by, the organizers announced.

The programme brings together 16 artists from Romania, Switzerland, France, Australia, Italy, Austria, and the United Kingdom. Approximately 7,000 sqm of exhibition space will be used along Calea Victoriei.

The organizers said the event would require more than 300 tonnes of equipment, 11 projection structures and towers, 20 laser projectors, and over 200 light sources.

ARCUB - Hanul Gabroveni will host one of the installations, as well as conferences and panel discussions with international guests. The festival’s 2026 curator is Dorel Naste, founder of Mindscape Studio and a specialist in interactive design and projection mapping.

The complete programme, route map and details of the participating installations will be published on the festival’s website.