The Festival of Regions 2025 was an invitation to think, feel, and create together. The program ranged from artistic interventions that tested the unexpected and created new connections – a testing ground for ideas that grew and were carried forward. We dug into the recesses of memory, artistically reworked history, and asked questions about tomorrow. In the Mischmaschinn, perspectives collided, rubbed against each other, mixed together – and gave rise to new forms of coexistence.

Braunau, Simbach & the Innviertel dreamed. Loudly.

Between the border river and the concrete bridge, between the tavern hall and the empty shop window, a space for realistic dreams was created. Utopias landed on the ground of reality – with dust on their feet and sparkle in their eyes.

The Festival of Regions 2025 invited people to get involved, to spin along, to empathize. Artists, communities, and initiatives from the region and beyond turned Braunau and other places in the Innviertel into a playground for new alliances, radical gentleness, and courageous questions: Who actually dreamed along? And who was shaken awake?

There were no easy answers—but there were many exciting encounters, discoveries, and shared dreams.

Der Beitrag Realistic Dreams erschien zuerst auf Festival der Regionen.

The Festival of Regions 2013 is dedicated to the people of Eferding. All themes, motifs and interventions relate to history and stories, social conditions and structures in the region. Under the motto UMGRABEN, Eferding will be explored and artistically ploughed; the aim is to create unusual perspectives on the familiar and to prepare fertile ground for new artistic plantings, including their strange growths and hybrid mutations.

Website FESTIVAL DER REGIONEN 2013

Künstlerische Leitung: Gottfried Hattinger, Kaufmännische Leitung: Barbara Mitterlehner
Vorstand: Susanne Blaimschein, Dagmar Höss, Gerald Priewasser
Künstlerischer Beirat: Katja Aßmann, Christine Bieler, Matthias Ulrich

Der Beitrag Digging Up erschien zuerst auf Festival der Regionen.

34 projects from the fields of art, performance, theatre, dance, film, contemporary history, literature and science make up a lively multidisciplinary festival programme. A good proportion of the projects come from the region – many associations, institutions and committed individuals from Ebensee are involved in artistic processes.

Documentary about “Schichtwechsel – Hackeln in Ebensee” “Ebensee Valley – Festival Fiktion” von dorf tv.

Künstlerische Leitung: Gottfried Hattinger, Kaufmännische Leitung: Barbara Mitterlehner
Vorstand: Susanne Blaimschein, Dagmar Höss, Gerald Priewasser
Künstlerischer Beirat: Bernadette Fülscher, Elke Krasny

Der Beitrag Schichtwechsel – Hackeln in Ebensee erschien zuerst auf Festival der Regionen.

Der Beitrag Ungebetene Gäste erschien zuerst auf Festival der Regionen.

Under the motto “Höchste Eisenbahn” (High Time), current future issues were the focus of artistic exploration – from climate catastrophe to societal coexistence. The geographic and thematic starting point of the Festival of the Regions was the Summerauerbahn railway line, which winds its way from Linz through the Mühlviertel region to Horní Dvořiště in the Czech Republic.

The Journey as a Metaphor
The railway line, symbolizing a region, served as a metaphor in the 2023 festival edition for a series of challenges. From public and individual transportation to dealing with resources and the boundaries in people’s minds. A metaphor for traversing, shaping, and molding landscapes and societies. For overcoming distances. For places of encounter and dialogue between regions, cultures, and generations. For breaking away and leaving behind. Staying and moving on. For transitions. For deceleration. For stopping and continuing. For something that belongs to everyone. And concerns everyone. For a shared resource.

The train has not left yet
But it is high time to reset the tracks. And it is high time that something changes. That we talk more with each other. Come together again. Work on the future. Break down barriers. Become more open to differences and contradictions and unconventional approaches. It is high time to allow something different and look at our world from multiple perspectives.

Der Beitrag High Time! erschien zuerst auf Festival der Regionen.

In 2021, the 15th edition of the Festival of Regions will focus on the Upper Austrian part of the historic Salzkammergut – Bad Ischl, Bad Goisern, Hallstatt and Obertraun.

For the first time, a model of artistic project development will be applied in which artists, so-called “Kulturnaut*innen”, develop their projects directly in the region with the population.

Seven countries, five continents, 18 creative people

The KulturNauts come from the region and Austria as well as from other countries. Classical/folk music, concerts, visual arts, dance, theater and installations – the FdR implements projects on gripping themes and enables sensual experiences.

Implementation of projects in the region, together with the population

Despite the difficult times, which this year’s festival motto UNDERGROUND couldn’t be more apt, the process of finding projects was a wonderfully effervescent one. Whether under strict conditions on site in the Salzkammergut, at home or virtually – the KulturNaut*Innen have hit the heart of the locals, bi-locals and Zuagroasten with their passion for art & culture. Only through the cooperation with the population of Bad Ischl, Bad Goisern, Hallstatt and Obertraun stories are presented and brought to the surface at the 15 edition of the festival. Many cooperations have been established, which have a lasting impact on the region!

The venues are largely outside – parks, gardens, open spaces or alpine pastures.

Exhibitions and readings – live art, concerts, theater and pre-recorded.

Due to the current conditions, the Festival of Regions will be a very special one.

The KulturNaut*Innen and the Festival of Regions are looking forward to your visit and the common exchange!

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Der Beitrag Underground erschien zuerst auf Festival der Regionen.

The participating artists are named CulturNauts due to the research nature of the work process.

Der Beitrag Unter Tag / Underground erschien zuerst auf Festival der Regionen.

With the topic of “social warmth,” the festival focuses on a current sociopolitical issue. As a counterpoint to the widespread claims of “social coldness,” we want to give the stage to togetherness, empathy, and respect. Many of the festival’s projects will be developed with locals from the region. By allowing oneself to become engaged in something, taking part, getting infected, and being touched by other people’s life stories, we break down our personal boundaries and are able to open our eyes so that we can see the people standing in front of us. When enemies become friends, there is no longer space for coldness. That concerns interpersonal relationships just as much as it does lawmaking and politics.

In accordance with the festival motto, we are making an effort regarding inclusivity on all levels. We offer translations in Austrian sign language and the greatest possible barrier-free accessibility regarding both spaces and media. By using the “pay-as-you-can” principle, we are trying to make it possible for everyone to partake in the festival regardless of their “buying power,” because for us, the access to art and culture is a human right!

Der Beitrag Social Warmth erschien zuerst auf Festival der Regionen.