In this series, we explore projection mapping projects around the globe! From shows on Australia’s iconic Sydney Opera House to Romania’s massive parliament building, we’re displaying some of the hottest monthly global projects.

On September 20–21, 2025, the city of Bucharest, Romania celebrated its anniversary with a two-day festival organized by CREART. More than 200,000 people gathered in Constitution Square, where the streets overflowed with popular music and food from Romanian culture. And in the middle of the festivities stood one of the most anticipated projection mapping contests, the annual iMapp Bucharest – Winners League.

The centerpiece for this video mapping competition was the Palace of the Parliament, the largest administrative building in Europe, which provided an enormous projection surface. Its vast façade transformed into a canvas, drawing both locals and visitors to witness a breathtaking fusion of technology and ingenuity.

The Winners League Format

Known as the largest video mapping event in the world, iMapp Bucharest is structured around a “Winners League” model, where winning teams from several previous festivals are invited to compete in the final contest. This means that competitors are not chosen through open submissions but are rather selected after winning other established partner festivals around the world.

In 2025, partner festivals included the Chongqing International Light Art Festival in China, Genius Loci Weimar in Germany, Jakarta Light Festival in Indonesia, LUMA Projection Arts Festival in the United States, the 1minute Projection Mapping Competition in Japan, the Video Mapping Festival in France, and the Zsolnay Light Festival in Hungary.

The competition theme, “Art is All Around,” celebrated the omnipresence of art in everyday life. Artists explored the theme creatively, offering a captivating visual experience of shapes, colors, and textures.

The juxtaposition of works from Asia, Europe, and North America created an experience that was both diverse and unified under the festival’s central theme.

What makes iMapp uniquely global is not only the diversity of participating artists but also the fact that the competition bridges continents and languages. On top of that, the event gives the audience an active role. While a jury of international experts chooses the official winner, spectators can also vote for their favorite piece, giving the competition both professional credibility and a sense of public ownership.

Who Won in 2025?

There were two winners in 2025, one chosen by the international jury and one by public votes. Both winners stood out in a field of exceptional competitors.

This year’s international jury awarded the Grand Prize to ELEKTRICK.ME from Bulgaria for their stunning work “Eclipse.” The piece impressed judges with its intricate choreography of light, movement, and shadow, blending technological mastery with emotional resonance. The mapping began with a video of an eclipse, before merging into other naturalistic images and soundscapes.

At the same time, the public voted for GLITCH from Belgium, whose projection “Ratio²” captured the hearts of viewers with its playful yet sophisticated exploration of geometry and rhythm.

In the end, iMapp Bucharest 2025 reaffirmed why it’s considered one of the leading video mapping festivals in the world. It is an event where global artistry meets technical brilliance, and where a city’s architecture becomes a stage for the universal language of light.

Watch Now

If you weren’t able to experience the event in person, see highlights from iMapp Bucharest 2025 below!

FAQ

Where is Romania located?

Near the shimmering Black Sea, in the southeastern part of Central Europe, sits Romania. It shares borders with countries like Hungary, Serbia, and Ukraine. Roughly the size of Oregon, the country's landscape is divided into mountains, hills, and plains. 

How large is the Palace of the Parliament?

In Bucharest, Romania, the Palace of the Parliament sits at about 3.93 million square feet (365,000 square meters) of floor area. It has more than 1,000 rooms and stands 276 feet (84 meters) tall, built with 12 above-ground floors and 8 underground levels. It’s considered one of the heaviest and largest administrative buildings in the world.

What does it take to pull off an event like iMapp Bucharest?

It takes an extraordinary amount of planning, technology, and people to pull off iMapp Bucharest, and that’s one reason it’s such a standout in the world of projection mapping. Dozens of high-power projectors are required to cover the Palace of the Parliament’s giant façade. High-fidelity sound systems must be powerful enough to reach hundreds of thousands of spectators in Constitution Square. Distributed audio zones and delay towers are used so the sound reaches the back of the crowd without echo. And that’s only scratching the surface. Additionally, it takes dozens of projection engineers, sound technicians, and other professionals to run the show. The total operation is massive!

What are some things to do in Romania if you love tech?

If you love tech, Romania has lots more to offer. Consider visiting a museum like the National Technical Museum “Dimitrie Leonida” in Romania’s capital city of Bucharest. It has over 5,000 exhibits covering mechanics, electronics, telecommunications, and more. Additionally, MINA Bucharest is the first immersive museum in Romania and one of the largest new media art centers in Southeastern Europe. The Bucharest Astronomical Observatory (Admiral Vasile Urseanu Observatory) is also fascinating. Outside of Bucharest, there’s other experiences like the Interactive Museum of Science in Brașov. Plus, the country hosts tech conferences and other events too.

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Photo Credit: iMapp Bucharest