October 3 – 10 at the Amphitheater on Wilhelm-Leuschner Platz and satellites.
Under the title “Challenging Conditions”, we are examining protest movements and freedom struggles in authoritarian regimes from 1989 to the present day with local and international artists and cultural practitioners, contemporary witnesses and activists. In Central and Eastern Europe and beyond, we are concerned about the rise of anti-democratic and authoritarian forces. The approval ratings for right-wing, anti-democratic parties throughout Europe, disinformation and propaganda, the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine, the systematic repression of the Belarusian opposition, the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh and Russian influence in Georgia are shocking evidence of the threat to democratic and pluralistic values.
As part of a vibrant and critical civil society, art and culture have a special role to play: they not only reflect and document historical and current socio-political events in their productions, but also fight for the survival and emancipation of cultural identities. In this way, they strengthen the backbone of resistant civil societies against dangerous right-wing narratives and the oppressive mechanisms of authoritarian systems. Socially and politically engaged cultural practitioners sometimes live and work under existentially challenging conditions. They defy the circumstances and challenge themselves as well as the mechanisms of oppression to which they are exposed. We want to support and make visible this commitment and the resulting important contributions to positive social change.
With readings, music, artistic interventions and discussion events, the festival invites visitors to broaden their perspective, reflect critically and share their own experiences and memories. Our aim is to use the mutual adoption of perspectives to help shape a free and tolerant society.