Bucharest Days brought the celebration of the Capital’s 567th anniversary into public space, through a weekend of events, music and urban experiences at several points across the city. At the heart of the program, iMapp Bucharest Winners League 2026 turned Constitution Square into the anniversary weekend’s main stage, with two evenings of digital art and international music, featuring Rudimental and Whomadewho.
Nearly 200,000 people took part in the anniversary program of Bucharest Days, held over two days across the entire Capital. Of these, approximately 150,000 participants took part in the events organized by Bucharest City Hall, through ARCUB, in Constitution Square, on Calea Victoriei and at other points around the city. Added to these were the events held as part of European Mobility Week, free visits, recitals and concerts at the Arcul de Triumf and Sala Dalles, theater shows, plus other activities held in Bucharest.
The central event of the anniversary weekend, iMapp Bucharest Winners League 2026, organized by Bucharest City Hall, through ARCUB, transformed Constitution Square through digital art, music and technology, bringing together international artists and the public around monumental audiovisual shows.
Now in its 11th edition in 2026, iMapp Bucharest was held under the theme PAST. FORWARD., turning the approximately 23,000-square-meter façade of the Palace of Parliament into a stage for international video mapping creations.
SEVEN INTERNATIONAL VISUAL UNIVERSES ON THE FAÇADE OF THE PALACE OF PARLIAMENT
On Saturday evening, iMapp Bucharest Winners League 2026 brought before the public seven international artists and studios, winners of video mapping competitions organized by partner festivals around the world.
The façade of the Palace of Parliament became, in turn, the canvas for seven visual universes built around the theme PAST. FORWARD.:
- MP-STUDIO – “EVERYWHEN” (Hungary)
- WANG – “Voyage of Love” (China)
- Studio Zoltán Varga – “Neural Heritage” (Japan)
- V.P.M – “Resonance” (Germany)
- John Tettenborn & Kourtney Lara Ross – “ECHO” (France)
- Leticia RMS – “ANTENNA” (Brazil)
- ruestungsschmie.de – “XXXL³” (USA)
Through image, sound and technology, the seven works offered different perspectives on time and memory, reinterpreting the monumental architecture of the Palace of Parliament and continuing the dialogue between past and future proposed by the edition’s theme. The live broadcast of the competition was watched by over 20,000 people from around the world, extending the iMapp experience beyond Constitution Square.
The works were evaluated by a leading international jury, made up of curators, artists, directors and co-founders of important festivals and organizations dedicated to video mapping and New Media art.
The international dimension of Winners League is supported by the collaboration with partner festivals Zsolnay Light Festival, Asia Mapping Art Contest, 1Minute Projection Mapping, SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Karlsruhe, Video Mapping Festival Lille, Festa das Luzes and LUMA Projection Arts Festival.
“RESONANCE” AND “ANTENNA,” THE WINNERS OF IMAPP BUCHAREST WINNERS LEAGUE 2026
At the end of the competition, this year’s edition named its two winners: one chosen by the international jury and one through the vote of the audience present at iMapp Bucharest.
The Jury Award went to the German studio V.P.M, for the work “Resonance,” representing SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Karlsruhe.
The Audience Award was won by Brazilian artist Leticia RMS, for the work “ANTENNA,” representing Festa das Luzes.
“NADIA – THE PERFECT 10”: 50 YEARS SINCE A MOMENT THAT CHANGED THE HISTORY OF GYMNASTICS
One of the edition’s special moments was dedicated to Nadia Comăneci, 50 years after her historic performance at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. At iMapp Bucharest, the moment was marked through a message sent by Nadia Comăneci and through the special projection “NADIA – The Perfect 10,” created by Mindscape Studio & Carmen Lidia Vidu.
From the scoreboard which, 50 years ago, was not prepared to display a score of 10, to the images projected onto the façade of the Palace of Parliament, Nadia’s story was brought into the present through the language of digital art, in an edition built precisely around the meeting of memory and the future.
“When someone tells you it can’t be done, remember that even scoreboards can be redesigned,” was the message Nadia Comăneci sent to the Bucharest audience.
RUDIMENTAL AND WHOMADEWHO ROUNDED OUT THE IMAPP BUCHAREST 2026 EXPERIENCE
The two days of iMapp Bucharest extended the event’s experience beyond digital art, through two international acts with distinct musical identities.
On Saturday, RUDIMENTAL (UK) brought to Constitution Square a sound sitting at the intersection of drum & bass, electronic, soul and pop, in a show that opened the evening of the Winners League competition.
On Sunday, WHOMADEWHO (Denmark) continued iMapp Bucharest’s musical program, in a different register from the first evening, blending electronic, indie and dance music, in a hybrid format that combined electronic selection and production with live-performed elements.
BUCHAREST CELEBRATED ITS 567TH ANNIVERSARY IN THE STREETS
iMapp Bucharest was part of a broader program through which Bucharest marked 567 years since its first documentary attestation. Bucharest Days brought together five landmarks of the anniversary weekend: iMapp Bucharest Winners League 2026, Open Streets – Bucharest, Urban Promenade, Open Doors at Bucharest City Hall, and the partner events: Dâmbovița Fresh Water (organized by Nod Makerspace and the Ivan Patzaichin – Mila 23 Association) and the Triangle of Museums (organized by Sector 1 City Hall).
On Calea Victoriei, “Open Streets Bucharest” once again turned the artery into a pedestrian space dedicated to the city and its people, with sports activities, exhibitions, theater and circus performances, concerts, debates and guided tours.
Open Doors at Bucharest City Hall gave the public access to the history, architecture and representative spaces of the Capital’s administration building, while at Dâmbovița Fresh Water, Bucharest residents could discover the Capital by water through free boat rides from the United Nations Pier.
In the Kiseleff Victoriei Square area, the Triangle of Museums brought together the “Grigore Antipa” National Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant and the National Museum of Geology in a program dedicated to Dobrogea, with workshops, activities for children and families, musical experiences and architectural lighting installations.
As such, over the course of a weekend, Bucharest’s anniversary unfolded right within the city’s spaces: Calea Victoriei became a promenade, the Dâmbovița offered a different perspective on the Capital, the museums extended their programs to the public, and Constitution Square and the façade of the Palace of Parliament became the stage for digital art and international music.
With approximately 200,000 participants over the two days, Bucharest Days thus wrapped up a weekend in which the city, heritage, art, technology and the public met in the urban space, celebrating Bucharest through experiences built right around it.
