Winners Announced for "Shining Shanghai" 2026 Light Art Open Call

Shanghai, China, On September 23, 2026, the winners of the "Shining Shanghai" (Jing'an) 2026 International Light Art Open Call were announced. The final jury, which convened at Motion Magic Space on September 16, selected the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Award winners from 20 outstanding works. These works were chosen from a pool of 156 entries submitted by 149 artists and teams from 41 countries and regions across six continents.

The theme of this year's open call, "Metamorphosis," invited artists to reinterpret the history of Shanghai through digital art, exploring the infinite possibilities that light can bring to urban transformation. The open call received a diverse array of submissions, with more than half of the participating artists and teams having previously received major awards at internationally renowned light festivals and competitions, including the Fête des Lumières in Lyon, Amsterdam Light Festival, and iMAPP Bucharest.

Among the 20 finalists, the jury selected one Gold Award winner, one Silver Award winner, and three Bronze Award winners. The Gold Award was awarded to Wang Xinsheng for his artwork "The Bronze Age." The Silver Award went to the Quartet for their piece "As a Child, I Watched Houses Grow." The Bronze Awards were given to Kati Katona for "Morphogenesis," MöDAR for "Chroma Existentiae," and John Tettenborn & Kourtney Lara Ross for "ENTRO."

The award-winning and finalist works will be showcased as major highlights of the 3rd Shanghai International Light Art Festival, which is part of the 4th "Shining Shanghai" Jing'an International Light Art Festival. The works will be projected directly onto the façades of the historic Shikumen buildings at Shenyuli in Suhewan from September 26 to October 7, 2026.

The international jury, chaired by Teng Junjie, included Jin Jiangbo, Cai Xinyuan, and Nina Wlodarczyk, along with Joshua Bernard, Marcello Arosio, Mikaël Frascadore, Philip Modest Schambelan, Martin Pošta, Tamás Vaspöri, and Zhou Bo. Each work was assessed across multiple dimensions, including concept, architectural integration, visual aesthetics, professional execution, and interpretation of the theme.

The "Shining Shanghai" (Jing'an) International Light Art Open Call has grown into a leading international platform for light and projection art over the past four years. It aims to provide artists and creative brands worldwide with opportunities to present their work while establishing an internationally influential event dedicated to light art and digital creativity.