Now in its ninth edition, the open-air visual art festival Spotlight has prepared a new series of multimedia experiences in established and premier locations on Calea Victoriei.
Spotlight Festival is a member of the largest international network of light festivals, the International Light Festivals Organisation. Thus, Bucharest is connected to the largest cities in the world that host spectacular new media events in public spaces.
SPOTLIGHT FESTIVAL 2025
PREMIERE AT SPOTLIGHT #9
Between October 10 and 12, the 9th edition of Spotlight – the International Festival of Light, the most significant visual art event organized by the Capital City Hall, through ARCUB – the Cultural Center of the Municipality of Bucharest, brings Calea Victoriei a unique show of light and technology: impressive light art installations and video mapping sessions on emblematic buildings of the city will offer the public a unique immersive experience.
The 2025 edition of the Spotlight Festival, SYMBIOSIS, proposes a shift in perspective: from competition to collaboration, from immediate results to living processes. The festival becomes a laboratory where artists, curators, brands, and communities join forces to experiment and generate new forms of expression, engaging in a dialogue between art, technology, and ecology.
Spotlight invites reflection on how we can build sustainable cities and communities—places where creativity, empathy, and shared resources evolve into a collective intelligence capable of regenerating not only urban spaces but also the relationships between people.
During the three days of the festival, Spotlight 2025 will guide visitors on Calea Victoriei, where essential buildings and public spaces in Bucharest will offer a new media show of lights and projections. The route starts at the National Military Circle.
It continues with projections and installations at the Odeon Theatre, the Palace of Telephones, the Novotel Hotel, the Music Store, Revolution Square, the Central University Library, the National Art Museum of Romania, and George Enescu Square.
Hotel InterContinental Athénée Palace Bucharest marks the end of the Spotlight 2025 route.
International artists come to Bucharest for the first time and present large-scale multimedia installations that will come to life on Calea Victoriei.
For the first time, beyond the light shows in public spaces, Spotlight aims to become a platform for professional dialogue through its “Spotlight Talks” — presentations, round tables, and networking sessions that bring together artists, curators, producers, and organisers of light festivals from Romania and abroad.
The conference is addressed to professionals in the visual arts, curators, festival organizers, artists, and students interested in new media, as well as representatives of cultural institutions, local authorities, and the creative industries. Its goal is to encourage the exchange of knowledge and best practices, to showcase relevant case studies, to promote innovation, and to foster future collaborations between artists, festivals, and cultural institutions.
Invited speakers include: Anastasia Isachsen (Fjord Oslo Light Festival, Norvegia), Davy & Kristin McGuire (Studio McGuire), Marcello Arosio (Kernel Festival, Italia), Marko Bolkovic (Visualia Festival, Croația), Linartas Urniezis (Video Architects), Tamas Vaspori (Maxin10sity / Borealis Light Festival, SUA), Patrick Grandi (Rencontres Audiovisuelles), Olivier Clape (Aerosculpture), Julien Menzel, Marc Sicard (Luminariste), Pierre Froment (Groupe Laps).
Spotlight 2025 – #9 transforms Calea Victoriei and its surrounding areas into an open-air gallery of light: video mappings on landmark façades, interactive installations, luminous sculptures, and immersive sound experiences. More than 20 international and local artworks will be featured — from forests of light and mythical birds to Pac-Man ghosts and flying whales.
Night after night, Bucharest becomes a city of stories told in light.
The program of this edition will not miss the Discoballs installation from the Muzica store. This installation will transform the urban space into a meeting place for music lovers and bring more fun to Calea Victoriei through games of lights, shadows, and animated textures.
Spotlight – The International Festival of Light, the most popular new media festival in the Capital, attracts over 100,000 visitors annually and transforms the city into a meeting place for lovers of visual art and technology through multimedia projects at the intersection of art, design and technology. As of 2023, the festival is a member of The International Light Festivals Organization, one of the largest organizations dedicated to light festivals around the globe.
Spotlight Program #9 – Symbiosis, October 10-12, 2025
The Spotlight 2025 starts on October 10, with the installations illuminated from 9:00 PM to 11:00 PM, and continues on October 11–12, from 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM.
Installations at Spotlight 2025: Over 20 light artworks will transform Bucharest’s landmarks and public spaces, including:
- Xelfer – Hotel Novotel
- Odonata – Corneliu Coposu Monument & Mega Mall
- Parallel Mind – Promenada Mall
- Sol Machina – National Military Circle
- Discoball – Muzica Store
- Energy Pulse – Revolution Square (by PPC)
- Keyframes – Sky Towers (246C Floreasca Road) & National Museum of Art of Romania (Sidewalk A)
- MorphoClash – Corinthia Grand Hotel du Boulevard Bucharest
- LSD – Liquid State Drive – Odeon Theatre
- Nexus – Revolution Square, Iuliu Maniu Monument
- Whale – Revolution Square, Renaissance Monument
- Simbiom – Central University Library
- Spider – Carol I Statue
- Geometries of Memory (Geometriile Memoriei) – National Museum of Art of Romania (Façade)
- HulaHoop – National Museum of Art of Romania (Sidewalk B)
- Keyframes – National Museum of Art of Romania
- Bird Passing By – George Enescu Square
- Fluxit – Romanian Athenaeum Park
- Pleasant Tensions (Tensiuni agreabile) – Intercontinental Athénée Palace Bucharest
- Pixel – Ghosts – ARCUB, Gabroveni Inn
