The “Shining Shanghai” (Jing’an) 2026 International Light Art Open Call announced its Gold, Silver, and Bronze award winners following a final jury evaluation held at Motion Magic Space on September 16, 2026, according to official competition announcements. Operating under the theme “Metamorphosis,” the global competition invited artists to reinterpret urban history through digital art and light, drawing 156 submissions from 149 artists and teams across 41 countries and regions on six continents.
Final Jury Evaluation and International Leadership
Submissions underwent rigorous rounds of evaluation before 20 finalist works advanced to the final round, according to event organizers. The international jury assessed the final entries across multiple criteria, including conceptual strength, architectural integration, visual aesthetics, professional execution, and interpretation of the core theme. National First-Class Director Teng Junjie chaired the international jury, joined by Vice Chairs Jin Jiangbo, Cai Xinyuan, and Nina Wlodarczyk, alongside a panel of global artists, festival founders, and digital creativity professionals including Joshua Bernard, Marcello Arosio, Mikaël Frascadore, Philip Modest Schambelan, Martin Pošta, Tamás Vaspöri, and Zhou Bo.
2026 Award Winners
Five digital art and projection works secured top honors during the final evaluation. Chinese artist Wang Xinsheng captured the Gold Award for the artwork titled “The Bronze Age,” according to competition records. The Silver Award went to the Chinese artist group Quartet for their work “As a Child, I Watched Houses Grow.” Three Bronze Awards were distributed internationally: Kati Katona of Hungary won for “Morphogenesis,” Indonesia-based group MöDAR earned recognition for “Chroma Existentiae,” and Germany-based artists John Tettenborn and Kourtney Lara Ross received a Bronze Award for “ENTRO.” Over half of the participating artists across the open call had previously received accolades at major international light festivals, such as the Fête des Lumières in Lyon, the Amsterdam Light Festival, and iMAPP Bucharest.
Exhibition Dates and Public Display
All 20 finalist works, including the five award-winning pieces, will be projected directly onto the historic Shikumen building façades at Shenyuli in Suhewan. According to event schedules, the public exhibition runs from September 26 to October 7, 2026, serving as a primary highlight of the Jing’an venue during the 3rd Shanghai International Light Art Festival. Organizers note that the initiative forms part of Jing’an District’s year-round urban cultural programming, designed to leverage light art to enhance public spaces, stimulate commercial vitality, and increase the visibility of regional cultural and tourism initiatives.
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