SIGNAL FESTIVAL 2026 PROGRAMME
This year’s Signal Festival, themed Dream On! Dreams and Visions, will take place from 15 to 18 October and will feature a total of 21 installations, a brand-new route and new locations, a student zone, a programme for children, and a tribute to the legacy of Václav Havel.
Alongside the traditional route through Prague city centre, we are introducing a route in Dejvice for the first time in the festival’s history. In addition to the Student Visions zone, it will feature a ten-metre-high laser installation on the Vltava River.
We are bringing internationally renowned artists such as Jim Campbell and Kurt Hentschläger to Prague. Visitors can also look forward to the festival’s first-ever video mapping by Ukrainian artist Svitlana Reinish, as well as works by Czech artists including Milan Cais, Jan Kaláb and Maxim Velčovský.
DEJVICE ROUTE → lasers on the Vltava, 1,500 light bulbs and a student campus
Aka Chang → Multimmersion_Upside Down
Taiwanese artist Aka Chang will transform the calm surface of the Vltava River into a mirror with his ten-metre-high laser installation Multimmersion_Upside Down. The installation continuously multiplies the light, creating the illusion of infinite depth and placing visitors on the boundary between reality and its reflection.
The striking light installation will be complemented by the nearby Old Wastewater Treatment Plant in Bubeneč, one of the country’s most iconic industrial heritage sites.
Its unique space will also come alive this year with the site-specific performance Water by Laterna magika.
Jim Campbell → Scattered Light
One of the most monumental installations in the history of Signal Festival awaits visitors in General Lázaro Cárdenas Park.
World-renowned pioneer in the use of digital technologies Jim Campbell is bringing his work Scattered Light to Prague. The installation consists of 1,500 LED lights. In the darkness, they evoke a monumental constellation of suspended light bulbs, gently pulsing, responding to the movement of visitors and revealing fleeting human figures.
Felix Frank → Missing Interval
A new video-mapping location will be added to the festival this year: the Archbishop’s Seminary. German artist Felix Frank, in his project Missing Interval, will transform its impressive façade into a dynamic composition of light.
Student Visions → Experiments, formulas and chemistry
For the first time, the festival will also feature Student Visions, a zone dedicated to young creators from Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU) and the University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague (UCT Prague).
The programme will include a show featuring chemistry experiments, the audiovisual projection EFORCE, tracing the development of a student racing car, the interactive FaceIt system, which transforms visitors’ facial expressions into stylised portraits, and the light installation Impulse, exploring a surprising optical phenomenon.
Milan Cais → Into Imagination
Artist and musician Milan Cais, in his installation Into Imagination, patroned by glo™, will bring together sculpture, architecture and digital art.
During the day, the geometric object with its glossy black surface will mirror its surroundings on Fleming Square, drawing fragments of the city into itself. After dark, it will transform into an audiovisual stage where image, light and sound bring the space inside the structure to life.
Jan Kaláb → Black Mechanical Planet
The Dejvice route will also feature Black Mechanical Planet, a sculpture by Czech visual artist Jan Kaláb, with lighting design by Jan Hladil.
The work will be located next to the headquarters of the PPF Foundation, a long-term supporter of Signal Festival that also contributes to the realisation of the international programme.
CITY CENTRE ROUTE → video mapping at the Old Town Hall, intimate works and a programme for children
Svitlana Reinish → Living in Truth
This year’s second video mapping will take place on the Tower of the Old Town Hall. Ukrainian artist Svitlana Reinish drew inspiration from Václav Havel’s essay The Power of the Powerless, whose ideas are particularly resonant this year as we commemorate what would have been Havel’s 90th birthday.
Words such as Truth, Freedom, Justice, Love and Democracy will appear on the façade, gradually becoming distorted, breaking apart and disappearing. The mapping is accompanied by music by Ukrainian composer Anton Dehtiarov.
Karolína Schulcová → What Are You Responsible For
A student of Interactive Media at the Faculty of Art and Design at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem (UJEP), Karolína Schulcová also draws on the same Václav Havel essay in her installation. Her work will be located in the courtyard of the Church of Our Lady of the Snows and consists of illuminated panels featuring statements reflecting passivity and the desire to “stay unseen”.
Visitors walk through the panels, which gradually go dark until only one remains illuminated, carrying an important message. The installation was created in collaboration with the Díky, že můžem association and is patroned by Václav Havel Airport Prague.
Immersive Projections → To the Moon and into Darkness
This year’s festival also presents several installations that invite visitors to experience an intimate encounter with the artwork and an intense visual experience.
At Theatre X10, a projection by Laurie Anderson and Hsin-Chien Huang will transport you to the Moon. At Savarin Riding Hall, you will be immersed in complete darkness in FLUX, a work by Austrian artist Kurt Hentschläger.
A pioneer in the use of immersive art, Hentschläger works with brief flashes of light that remain on the retina for a moment even after the space plunges back into darkness.
Maxim Velčovský → In a Flash by Mercedes-Benz
At Clam-Gallas Palace, visitors will find In a Flash by Mercedes-Benz, an installation by Maxim Velčovský created for the festival’s main partner, Mercedes-Benz.
Using lasers and trajectories of light, the installation connects Baroque architecture with 140 years of the brand’s technological development — from the first engines to electric vehicles.
ENCOR Studio → Alcove LTD Light Chamber
The project Alcove LTD by Swiss ENCOR Studio will transform an upcycled shipping container into an immersive light chamber on Republic Square, in front of Palladium, the installation’s patron.
Inside, light, smoke, shadows and reflections create an ever-changing space where the boundaries between transparency and opacity continually dissolve.
Hybernská Campus → Signal for Children
This year, the programme at Kampus Hybernská will be dedicated to the festival’s youngest visitors.
Greek multimedia artist Yiannis Kranidiotis has prepared family workshops called Medusa Valley, combining light, animation and basic programming. Younger children can create their own animated jellyfish, while older participants can try their hand at soldering and programming an LED strip.
At the same location, children and parents can also visit the interactive installation Sound Robot by Slovak artist Ján Šicko and unleash their imagination through tones, rhythms and melodies.
SEE THE FULL PROGRAMME HERE
Of the 21 installations featured at this year’s festival, 8 are part of the paid Signal INSIDE zone. Tickets are available on our website.
Tickets for the official Signal Festival Afterparties presented by glo™, featuring SOHN, Two Lanes, Róisín Murphy and Röyksopp, are available on GoOut.
The accompanying programme will also include the 3rd edition of Signal Forum — an inspiring discussion conference held in the Balling Hall at the National Technical Library (NTK) in Dejvice. Register here; capacity is limited.
Signal Festival is held with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and the City of Prague. This year’s main festival partner is Mercedes-Benz, with Pražská Plynárenská and Red Bull as official partners. The international programme is supported by the PPF Foundation.