Signal Festival is a Prague festival of contemporary digital art that links installations with architecture, technology and the academic community. The 2026 edition comprises 21 installations and leads visitors along two main routes: one through the centre of Prague and a new one through Dejvice.[1]

Programme of the 2026 edition

In the park named after General Lázaro Cárdenas, visitors can see Scattered Light by the American artist Jim Campbell, made up of a system of 1,500 flashing LEDs. At the Stará čistírna odpadních vod in Bubeneč, Laterna Magika presents the site-specific production Voda, and on the surface of the Vltava a ten-metre laser installation, Multimmersion_Upside Down by the Taiwanese artist Aka Chang, will light up.[1] The paid festival zone Signal INSIDE offers eight indoor installations, for example the immersive work FLUX by Kurt Hentschläger in the Jízdárna Savarin, the joint installation To the Moon (Na Měsíc) by Laurie Anderson and Hsin-Chien Huang in the Divadlo X10, or works at the Faculty of Law of Charles University and in the Mirror Chapel of the Clementinum.[1] Czech authors taking part include Maxim Velčovský, Jan Kaláb and Milan Cais, whose object Brána imaginace stands on Flemingovo náměstí.[1] A new video-mapping location is the Arcibiskupský seminář, with the installation Missing Interval by Felix Frank.[1]

For the first time the festival includes Student Visions, a zone for young creators from the Czech Technical University in Prague and the University of Chemistry and Technology.[1] For families with children, among other things, the interactive Sound Robot (Zvukový robot) by Ján Šicko is prepared at Kampus Hybernská.[1]

Commemoration of Václav Havel

The festival joined the celebrations of the ninetieth anniversary of the birth of Václav Havel with two installations inspired by his essay The Power of the Powerless. The Ukrainian artist Svitlana Reinish and the composer Anton Dehtyarov created the video mapping Living in Truth (Život v pravdě) on the façade of the Old Town Hall. The installation What Are You Responsible For (Za co neseš zodpovědnost ty) by Karolína Schulzová is in the Kostel Panny Marie Sněžné. Both are free to visit, and the second is to be shown after the festival ends at the November celebrations of the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution on Korzo Národní.[1][2] The festival's curator Pavel Mrkus said that the possibility of creating freely cannot be taken for granted.[2]

Signal Forum

In 2026 Signal Festival is holding the international conference Signal Forum for the third time. It features the panel Dare to Dream, which draws on Havel's intellectual legacy.[2]

Chronology

  • — The Czech Republic marked the 90th anniversary of the birth of Václav Havel with exhibitions, conferences, radio broadcasts and Signal Festival installations, including at the Prague airport that bears his name. → Český rozhlas Sever (Ústí, Karlovy Vary) iROZHLAS

Sources

  1. Deník N
  2. Pražský deník — 12 September 2026