THE EVENT

Celebrating 560 years since the first documentary attestation of Bucharest, Bucharest City Hall, through creart, organized on 21^st of September 2019, in Constitutiei Square, Bucharest, Romania, the 6^th edition of iMapp Bucharest, one of the biggest 3D video mapping international contests.

Due to international recognition, starting with 2019, iMapp Bucharest became the International Video Mapping Competition – Winners League, according to a collaboration agreement signed between iMapp Bucharest and 6 important video mapping festivals worldwide: Borealis (U.S.A.), Genius Loci Weimar (Germany), Kyiv Lights Festival (Ukraine), 1minute projection mapping competition (Japan), Zsolnay Light Festival (Hungary) and Luz y Vanguardías (Spain). The 1st prize winners of these 6 festivals, as well as the winners of iMapp Bucharest 2018 edition – Jury Award and Public Award – automatically qualified as finalists of iMapp Bucharest 2019.

THEME

The theme of the 6^th edition of iMapp Bucharest marked the fact that the competition became the Winners League of the Video Mapping World, connecting by this some of the most important festivals, artists and specialists worldwide, making at the same time a reference to the 30th Anniversary of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the limitless possibilities – including the borderless cooperation and communication – it brought into our life.

”One Map. Different Journeys

Discover the Video Mapping World at iMapp Bucharest!”

THE FINALISTS

The 8 teams that presented their works on the façade of the Palace of Parliament were: Antaless Visual Design (Winner of the 1minute projection mapping competition festival in Japan), George Berlin Studios (Public Award Winner at the Borealis – A Festival of Light in U.S.A.), 404.Zero (Winner of the Genius Loci Weimar festival in Germany), MØJØ STUDIO (Winner of the Kyiv Lights Festival in Ukraine), Marco Morgese (Winner of the Luz y Vanguardias festival in Spain), Michele Pusceddu (Winner of the Zsolnay Light Festival in Hungary), René and Andrzej (Jury Award Winner at iMapp Bucharest in Romania) and Mindscape Studio (Public’s Choice Award Winner at iMapp Bucharest in Romania).

THE JURY

On the 21^st of September 2019, the 8 finalist teams were judged by a professional panel of international judges, who are all distinguished experts and prominent representatives of the international visual scene (from the field of arts, visual communications, media, film etc.) and who represented the partner festivals: Alberto Mariñas – Director of the Luz y Vanguardias festival in Spain, Hendrik Wendler – Managing Director of MXPerience Festival gUG: representing Genius Loci Weimar from Germany, Peter Pusker – Organizer and head of the curatorial team ”Route of Light”: representing the Zsolnay Light Festival in Hungary, Terry Morgan – Executive Director of Borealis – A Festival of Light in  U.S.A., Yoshihiro Kobayashi – supervisor of Projection Mapping Association of Japan (PMAJ): representing the 1minute projection mapping competition from Japan, Yuri Kostenko – co-founder of the Kyiv Lights Festival from Ukraine, Andrei Boncea – producer of important films and television programs in Romania, founder of WonderTheatre company: representative of Romania in the jury.

The winners

JURY AWARD – Michele Pusceddu (Italy)

PUBLIC’S CHOICE AWARD – René şi Andrzej (Netherlands & Poland)

On 21^st of September, in Constituției Square and on Unirii Boulevard, over 60.000 people attended the 6^th edition of iMapp Bucharest – Winners League. Michele Pusceddu from Italy won the JURY AWARD and René & Andrzej from the Netherlands & Poland won the PUBLIC’S CHOICE AWARD.

LIVE CONCERTS

Ahead of the 3D video mapping competition, renowned artists performed on the stage from Constituției Square, officially opening the event through electrifying concerts: SCHILLER and Waldeck.

SCHILLER, the most famous electronic music artist in Germany, acclaimed for hits such as: ”I Feel you”, ”A Beautiful Day” and ”Smile”, will perform within iMapp Bucharest 2019, before the video mapping shows. In his live tours, SCHILLER, on his real name Christopher von Deylen, enhances his music with breathtaking visual performances.

Viennese band Waldeck, led by musician Klaus Waldeck, will perform in the opening of SCHILLER’s show an exceptional live concert with Electro Swing influences. Known for hits like “Memories”, “Make my day” and “Addicted”, Waldeck will kick off the fun at iMapp Bucharest 2019.

Starting this year, iMapp Bucharest becomes the International Video Mapping Competition – Winners League, inviting in the Capital on 21st of September some of the best video mapping artists in the world who are the winners of the last edition of these famous international festivals: Borealis (U.S.A.), Genius Loci Weimar (Germany), Kyiv Light Festival (Ukraine), 1minute projection mapping competition (Japan), as well as the winners of the 2019 edition of Zsolnay Light Festival (Hungary) and Luz y Vanguardias (Spain) who are about to be announced soon. These 6 teams will be joined by the winners of iMapp Bucharest 2018 edition – Jury Award and Public Award.

Thus, with the 6^th edition, iMapp Bucharest becomes the binder of the video mapping scene across the world, creating, together with the 6 partner festivals, a community of those who have transformed video mapping into a form of emerging visual art, which at this moment enjoys a real success in various fields of activity. At the same time, through this collaboration arises an international platform that encourages artists to participate in many video mapping competitions and to present their work in as many corners of the world as possible. Starting this year, winning a prize at one of the international festivals of this genre, brings the video mapping artists closer to Winners League – iMapp Bucharest qualification.

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PARTNER FESTIVALS

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BOREALIS (U.S.A.)

www.borealisfestivaloflight.com

BOREALIS – Festival of Light is a competition and exhibition of technology and light art that takes place each year, in October, in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. The festival is free to the public and features a unique combination of live music, street art performance, lighting art installations and multimedia video mapping, designed to transform landmark buildings and façades into a virtual reality extravaganza – an urban canvas for unconventional storytelling by artists from around the globe. Within the 4-day-long event, more than 120.000 people admired the artworks on site in 2018.

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GENIUS LOCI WEIMAR FESTIVAL (GERMANY)

https://www.genius-loci-weimar.org

The international GENIUS LOCI WEIMAR Festival for audiovisual projections was launched in 2012 as part of the ”Weimar Summer” initiative. Optimally located in this city of poets, musicians and thinkers, as well as the birthplace of the Bauhaus movement, the festival has become an important cultural event for Thuringia and is now in its seventh edition. Throughout, the festival is distinguished by the interplay of a broad range of artistic genres, the event reuniting the widely appreciated façade projections, the Genius Loci LAB stage featuring up-and-coming artists, as well as music events and the light installations in public spaces.

The GENIUS LOCI WEIMAR Festival is the realisation of a concept that is unique worldwide, combining digital technology with artistic expression and historical heritage. Today, the festival represents an international platform in the field of video mapping, through the competition organized at each edition: annually three façades of heritage buildings are chosen, the artists who create artworks that transform these façades being selected after an open call.

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KYIV LIGHTS FESTIVAL (UKRAINE)

www.kyivlights.com/en

KYIV LIGHTS FESTIVAL stands for three days of unforgettable atmosphere created by an international festival of light and media arts in the Ukrainian capital. The stunning possibilities of advanced technologies turn the city into an open-air art gallery with colourful light sculptures, installations, and projections. Media artists from different countries are invited to transform the River Port building on Poshtova square into a huge screen with spectacular video projections. The Kyiv Lights Festival follows the traditions of famous light festivals that are held annually in many capitals of the world. Admission is free to all festival venues.

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1MINUTE PROJECTION MAPPING COMPETITION (JAPAN)

http://1minute-pm.com

1minute Projection Mapping Competition is an international competition and one of the biggest mapping contests in the Asian area. The ”1minute Projection Mapping Competition” started in 2012, many great artworks from different corners of world being presented during each edition.

This competition has two unique features. One is the length of content, being the shortest video mapping competition in the world, where each creator is expected to demonstrate originality, visual techniques, attractive stories and innovative ideas within a less than 2 minutes video-artwork.

Another feature of this competition is the fact that the venue and the theme are different each year, which represents a challenge for creative participants worldwide, the number of participants increasing annualy. 125 entries from 42 countries and different areas joined the last competition in Miyazaki, the southern part of Japan.

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ZSOLNAY LIGHT FESTIVAL (HUNGARY)

https://www.zsolnayfenyfesztival.hu/en

In mere three years, the Zsolnay Light Festival from Pécs has grown to become one of the most attractive events in Hungary. In 2019, the event will take place between 27^th and 30^th of June. Hungary’s first and still only light festival was a huge success in 2018, enjoying more than 75,000 visitors. Also this year the event will organically combine the world of light festivals with street art productions, concerts, theatre and contemporary-circus performances.

The main attraction of the festival is the Zsolnay Light Art Mapping Competition, where visitors can enjoy three-dimensional, moving light designs on the monumental façade of the Cathedral from the city, creating a world where the imagination of the public is the best guide and the curiosity – the best travel companion.

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LUZ Y VANGUARDIAS (SPAIN)

https://luzyvanguardias.com

Every year in June, the festival Luz y Vanguardias places the Spanish city of Salamanca in the spotlight of the national and international art scene by bringing together an international video mapping contest and the creations of renowned artists that use the light as the raw material of their works. The event overlays the streets and the most emblematic buildings of this UNESCO World Heritage Site with art and light projections during four nights. Visitors and residents can walk around the city and learn about the latest artistic trends while enjoying the history and universal legacy of Salamanca from  a different angle. The festival was organized for the first time in 2016 and it has grown significantly every year. In 2018, the festivalLuz y Vanguardias gathered more than 366,000 people and 38 participants from ten different nationalities.