Festivals as Resistance!
From different corners of Europe, festivals rise not only to entertain but to remember, to reclaim, to resist. They carry forms of resistance that are often quiet but deeply felt, collective yet intimate. In places marked by crisis, silence or transformation, festivals turn into spaces where people gather not just to celebrate, but to question, to mourn, to imagine the otherwise. Through sound, movement, emotions and presence, they hold stories that might otherwise be erased.
ANTI - Contemporary Art Festival
9 - 14 Sept 2025 | Kuopio, Finland
ANTI Contemporary Art Festival takes place each year in Kuopio, Finland, bringing live art into everyday spaces like homes, streets and public buildings. Since 2002, it has focused on site-specific, body-based performances that invite audience to reflect. Its politics are subtle and situated. By shifting art into the flow of daily life, ANTI opens space for encounter, discomfort and quiet forms of resistance.
For more info click here.
Photo credits: Facebook
Open Ohr Festival
6 - 9 June 2025 | Mainz, Germany
In Mainz, Open Ohr Festival has been bringing together art and political dialogue since 1975. It combines music, theatre, film and public discussion to reflect on questions that matter. Each year, the programme is shaped around a central theme that invites both reflection and participation. In 2025, the focus is on democracy and the importance of making space for many voices. At Open Ohr, resistance is built through conversation, creative exchange and the act of coming together with intention.
For more info click here.
Photo credits: Facebook
International Theatre Festival Divadelná Nitra
6 - 11 June 2025 | Nitra, Slovakia
Divadelná Nitra is shaped by the belief that theatre can respond to the urgencies of its time. The 2025 theme, Right/s here, right/s now, reflects on how rights are claimed, withdrawn and reshaped in the context of war, displacement and ecological collapse. Through international performances and public dialogue, the festival becomes a space to question what justice means today, and for whom.
For more info click here.
Photo credits: Facebook
SPIELART Theaterfestival
17 Oct - 1 Nov 2025 | Munich, Germany
SPIELART TheatreFestival brings together performances that move between disciplines, languages and geographies. Since 1995, it has opened space for postcolonial perspectives, experimental forms and voices often excluded from institutional stages. With it’s focus on artistic freedom and critical reflection, the festival invites audiences to sit with complexity rather than resolution.
For more info click here.
Photo credits: Facebook
Latitudes Contemporaines
5 - 27 June 2025 | Lille, France
Latitudes Contemporaines presents performance as a way to question structures we often take for granted. Each edition brings together artists working on themes such as gender, labour, migration and care. With a focus on underrepresented voices and experimental formats, the festival creates space for work that does not seek to please but to disturb, listen and rethink
For more info click here.
Photo credits: Facebook
