iMapp Bucharest takes place on September 20–21 in Constitution Square. George Enescu and Constantin Brâncuși honored through video mapping. Program also includes a rally with 100 cars

By Bucharest Team

NEWS
10 SEP 25

George Enescu and Constantin Brâncuși will be honored with two video mapping works at the anniversary edition of iMapp Bucharest, taking place September 20–21. Organizers also announced the Gumball 3000 international rally in Constitution Square, with 100 cars at the starting line. Dutch DJ Afrojack will perform a special set.

Now in its tenth edition, iMapp Bucharest brings together two major private partners: the legendary Gumball 3000 international rally and the Food Truck Festival, a landmark event in Romania dedicated to urban gastronomy.

10 years of iMapp Bucharest

iMapp Bucharest was a pioneering project, born from the desire of Romanian and international artists to explore New Media art and to create on the largest projection surface in the world – the 23,000 sqm façade of the Palace of Parliament. Over the past ten years, the event has turned the city into a center of artistic innovation, offering audiences unique visual experiences in public space. Over time, this international competition has become a “Winners’ League,” annually bringing to Bucharest artists awarded at the world’s most important light festivals.

This year, iMapp Bucharest celebrates a decade in which Bucharest has established itself as a global hub of New Media art: ten years of innovation, international collaborations, and memorable moments that have transformed the city into a capital of creativity and light.

The theme for 2025, “Art is all around,” celebrates the omnipresence of art in everyday life: from the architecture of the city to the charm of projections, from pixels to emotions. Artists will transform the façade of the Parliament into a captivating visual experience of forms, colors, and textures drawn from daily life, reminding us that art doesn’t belong only in museums – it lives in public spaces, in communities, in architecture, in urban chaos, and in human expression.

On Saturday, September 20, 16:00–23:00, iMapp Bucharest presents the winners of seven partner festivals: Chongqing International Light Art Festival (China), Genius Loci Weimar Festival (Germany), Jakarta Light Festival (Indonesia), Luma Projection Arts Festival (USA), 1minute Projection Mapping Competition (Japan), Video Mapping Festival (France), Zsolnay Light Festival (Hungary).

These artists will compete for the Grand Prize iMapp Bucharest 2025. At the end of the evening, an international jury will award the Jury Prize, while the audience will choose their favorite work via SMS voting, which will decide the People’s Choice Award.

This year’s edition will also honor two Romanian cultural giants, George Enescu and Constantin Brâncuși, through video mapping works by Carmen Lidia Vidu and Mindscape Studio. CREART and ARTEXIM will present a special moment set to a fragment of Enescu’s “Romanian Rhapsody No. 1,” performed by the Orchestre National de France under conductor Cristian Măcelaru, marking the closing of the 2025 George Enescu International Festival.

The Romanian Cultural Institute will launch a video mapping piece announcing the opening of the exhibition “Brâncuși – The Birth of Modern Sculpture”, hosted at the Hart Museum Amsterdam until January 2026, in partnership with Centre Pompidou Paris, custodian of the world’s largest and most representative Brâncuși collection.

The evening’s music will feature DJ Varer and DJ Christian Thomson with melodic techno and afro-house, followed by Adrian Șaguna and Arias with a back-to-back set alongside drummer Emil Vergo. Belgian DJ HVMZA, known for blending afro, Latin, and organic house with oriental vibes and traditional African rhythms, will also perform.

A highlight of this anniversary edition will be the collaboration between HVMZA and maestro Gheorghe Zamfir, the world’s greatest pan flute virtuoso, accompanied by the Bucharest Metropolitan Orchestra under conductor Daniel Jinga. This fusion of electronic music with the timeless sound of the nai will create a unique artistic moment, uniting cultures and generations.

iMapp Bucharest x Gumball 3000 – horsepower, adrenaline, and supercars

On Sunday, September 21, 12:00–23:00, the legendary Gumball 3000 rally returns to Constitution Square, integrating a Bucharest pit stop into its spectacular 2025 route. Over 100 cars will participate, driven by celebrities, influencers, athletes, music legends, gamers, YouTubers, and business leaders from more than 40 countries – from custom classics to the latest hypercars.

The rally celebrates its 26th edition with a 4,828 km road trip from Istanbul to Ibiza in just 7 days, crossing over 8 countries and turning each city into a festival of cars and music. After Bucharest, the route continues through Belgrade, Florence, Nice (with the Gumball 3000 Foundation Charity Gala), Valencia, and ends in Ibiza.

The Sunday program in Bucharest will feature international music stars, including Afrobeats sensation Adekunle Gold, Grammy-winning rapper EVE, and Afrojack, who will close the night with a special back-to-back set with Vikkstar from the Sidemen collective.

Meanwhile, the Food Truck Festival will join iMapp Bucharest in Constitution Square with street food from around the world, accompanied by sets from local DJs.