Festival der Regionen 2025
Realistic Dreams

13. - 22. June 2025
Innviertel, Braunau, , Oberösterreich

Festival of Regions 2025 – Realistic Dreams! 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 […]

Festival of Regions 2025 – Realistic Dreams!

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.

mehr lesen

Festival Opening
Opening, Partially accessible

The opening day of the festival invites you to experience art and culture in an unconventional way. The connection between Braunau and Simbach will be celebrated artistically with a mixture of performative and musical elements as well as interactive program items. The day offers space for reflection, exchange and communal celebration – a prelude that will characterize the entire festival.

Festivalcenter
Diskurs / Partizipation, Event, Partially accessible, Performance by Kunstuniversität Linz

Coming together on Linzer Straße is the realistic dream for the festival centre of this year’s festival.

Deep Rest
Installation, Live-Stream, Performance, Public Art by Jacqueline Kaiser-Böhm

The performance Deep Rest is based on a recurring dream of the artist, in which she stands outside, wrapped only in her blanket. Based on this experience, she developed a live performance that blurs the boundaries between privacy and public space.

Die Testamentsverlautbarung (nach dem Hamdrahn) bei seinem Scheißgeburtshaus
Barrier free, Contemporary history, Happening by Marlene Hauser, Lydia Haider

In the course of a performative reading (spoken by Marlene Hauser), a will is announced: the original will (edited and alienated by Lydia Haider).A liberation of the people. An object, designed by Martin Grandits and Vito Baumüller, is reminiscent of a Nazi club and is swung by the performers and the audience during the performance.

Landschaft kochen
Cooking, Research / Social / Participation by Franziska Schink, Larry Meyer

Chicken soup is cooking in the Heimathaus: time for conversation, silence, stirring, reading, singing and lingering. Each day, a different guest takes on the role of chef. Anyone who would like to help with the preparation is very welcome.

Zeche Hinterfotzing
Happening, Partially accessible, Party, Performance by Angelika Faissner, Flora Besenbäck, Marlene Hauser, Magdalena Hubauer

The appropriation of patriarchal-rural traditions as a realistic dream: the Zeche Hinterfotzing gathers FINTA* people for the first “Menscha*zech” of the Innviertel! In a “Zechen Bootcamp” and two “Ziagan” through Braunau, the sly Menscha* celebrate gstanzl, dance and satirical poetry in a rebellious and humorous way.

Ein Fingerhut voll Utopien
Diskurs / Partizipation, Happening, Installation, Party, Performance by Lisa Alice Klosterkötter, Rosanna Graf, Goldhauben Braunau

The project focuses on the Goldhauben women of the Braunau district, building a bridge between tradition and future.

Doris Leeb, Lou Paulsen
Reading by Doris Leeb, Lou Paulsen

Doris Leeb can do it: say a lot without needing many words. In her second volume of poetry, “Menscha”, she presents dialect poetry that tells us all about our lives.
Lou Paulsen takes us on a colorful journey “Queer through Austria”.

Hearth – on wet grounds
Happening, Party, Performance, Tanzperformance by Magdalena Forster, Milena Georgieva, Martina De Dominicis, Mar Szydlowska, Simon Forster, Mollusca Productions

Hearth – on wet grounds is the next development of Magdalena Forster’s solo performance „Hearth“, in which the choreographer uses iron objects to create connections and draw the audience into a world that ranges from subtle, fleeting details to larger contexts.

Tanzdorf
Happening, Partially accessible, Party, Performance, Tanzperformance by Hannah Shakti Bühler, Simon Mayer

Hannah Shakti Bühler and Simon Mayer create a new space for dance and art in the Innviertel region. Inspired by historical dance manias, they breed a “dancing virus” full of joie de vivre, which is then allowed to spread throughout Braunau: the resulting dance village is mobile, bridge-building and open to everyone.

Friedenswanderung
Diskurs / Partizipation, Music, Tours by Andreas Mühlleitner, Paul Zauner

Open to everyone, and open to culture along the way: as part of the “Festival of Regions”, jazz trombonist Paul Zauner, in coordination with photographer Andreas Mühlleitner, organizes a peace hike from Braunau to Schärding.

Recommendation from the region: Opening Stahlpark Riedersbach
Exhibition, Partially accessible

The Stahlpark Riedersbach is revitalized in the project kUNSt geHÖRT geSEHEN (Art Belongs Seen). Ten monumental steel sculptures from the Stahlpark Riedersbach are curated and presented in an impressive exhibition on the meadow between the river Salzach and the Riedersbach power plant.

Bankett am Bankett
Cooking, Event, Music / Sound, Partially accessible, Party, Reading by Lisa Bolyos, Natalie Deewan

A Literary Feast for All. The „Banquet at the Bank“ celebrates 10 years of the „Summer of Migration“ when many people from Syria, Afghanistan and Iran had to leave their countries and came to Austria in 2015.

ravensbrück
Barrier free, Theater by Stefanie Claes

Stefanie Claes’ grandmother was imprisoned in the German concentration camp Ravensbrück during the Second World War. In this solo piece, Claes carefully and delicately follows the traces that still remind us of this past today.

Filmabend
Film by Alex Reinberg, Iris Blauensteiner, Leni Gruber, Marie Luise Lehner, Olga Kosanović, Sybille Bauer-Zierfuß

Audiences are invited to the screening of five films in the festival center.

U20 Poetry Slam: Road to the Festival
Barrier free, Poetry Slam by David Samhaber, Katharina Wenty, Laura Hybner, Pascal Simon

A festival doesn’t just begin with its opening – it grows, unfolds, leaves traces. Road to the Festival takes this path literally and brings together students from the festival region to make their voices heard: unadorned, direct, poetic.

Poetry Slam
Barrier free, Poetry Slam by Thomas Eiwen, Pascal Simon, David Samhaber, Katharina Wenty, Jasmina Amasha, Lisa Paulsen, Christine Teichmann

This performative poetry contest is all about winning over the audience – a powerful contest in which words come to life! Poets battle for your enthusiasm with rhyming, rapped or narrative prose stories.

Recommendation from the region: Poetry Slam auf der Landesgartenschau Schärding
Poetry Slam

After one slam, comes the next. The Slamily (our slam family) is moving on from Braunau to Schärding, where the next stop is the State Garden Show. The open-air slam in the afternoon will be hosted by Laura Hellmich and Laura Hybner from the association Wortwerkler. Katharina Wenty, Jasmina Amasha, Pascal Simon, and other slam […]

Musik und Textwerkstatt
Barrier free, Music / Sound, Poetry Slam by Yasmo & die Klangkantine (light)

Yasmo & die Klangkantine (light) are known as a band for their sophisticated songwriting, cutting-edge lyrics, and high-energy, connective music. A concert by them is a shared experience. As part of the Festival of Regions, they won’t just be playing for us – they’ll be playing with us.

Exotische Provinz Frühschoppen
Diskurs / Partizipation, Partizipation by Alex de las Heras, Paul Peters

A culinary leap in time combines the seriousness of sauerkraut with tropical grooves. The centerpiece is the Frühschoppen installation: in a newly designed food truck, which is more than just a kitchen, history is preserved and the future is prepared.

Räume für Träume
Partially accessible, Performance by kunst:dünger mit Teresa Doblinger und Tanzdorf

Spaces for Dreams. How can dreams – big and small, personal and collective – be captured, made visible, and perhaps even realized? Spaces for Dreams invites people to share their wishes for themselves, their surroundings, or the future with us.

VERFLECHTN. Kummst a mit?
Partially accessible, Tours, Workshop

Who is actually working on the other side of the Inn? What cultural initiatives are there? And how can we network? The Festival of Regions invites you to a special bus tour with four stops: a journey to art and cultural sites on both sides of the Inn.

Bust Talk
Barrier free, Performance by Thomas Geiger

Bust talks is a performance series that has been running since 2018, based on the assumption that busts and statues are not just cold, soulless objects, but potential witnesses whose experiences and views can have an impact in the present.

Fest der Begegnung 2025
Barrier free, Party

A festival for all the senses and for everyone – the 2025 Festival of Encounters invites you to a day full of music, dance and fashion.

Flying Borders
Installation, Partially accessible, Public Art by Celina Maria Sikora, Clara Sophia Daubek-Puza, Paul David Daubek-Puza

This installation makes borders surmountable, connects people through words and sound and questions who owns language with a wink.

FREI.LAND
Partially accessible, Public Art by Hanna Kirmann

FREI.LAND is a temporary intervention that consists of 50 small sculptures – concrete chickens ready to be fried – on the Old Innbrücke, opposite the bronze “Gockel Walter”.

Marble Slab & Windowpane with Duck
Exhibition Marmorplatte & Scheibe mit Ente, Partially accessible by Franz Kapfer, Cana Bilir-Meier, Michèle Pagel, Seth Weiner, kuratiert von Antoine Turillon

The political attempt to neutralize one past with another is the starting point of the exhibition “Marble Plate & Disk with Duck”.

Wirklichkeit neu denken
Augmented-Reality, Partially accessible, Public Art by Oliver Alunovic

The project offers the opportunity to rediscover Braunau by means of a circular hiking trail that opens up communal spaces.

Wonder-Wand
Partially accessible, Public Art by Marianne Gogg

Large-format cyanotype fabric panels – installed on the city wall facing Simbach – depict the realities of the lives of female-presenting people from the Innviertel.

Die Braunauer Stadtnäherin
Barrier free, Performance by Lydia Waldhör

The Braunau City Seamstress creates a public workplace on the city square of Braunau, where she will process textiles brought by the public into a patchwork quilt.

Homecoming
Exhibition, Partially accessible by Ulrike Schild, Laura Sperl, Luzia Stempfer, Dominik Gohla, Daniel Stempfer kuratiert von Nina Lucia Groß

Five artists, one curator: They all grew up in the Innviertel and left at some point. To study, work, make art or just to be somewhere else.

Materielle (T)räume
Barrier free, Contemporary history, Research / Social / Participation, Sculpture by Lebenshilfe Braunau, Gruppe Bussi

The Bussi group explores the stories of buildings in the Innviertel region that have been taken out of service or are scheduled for demolition, documents their past and brings them back to life on the edge of Braunau’s old town.

Platz für Kultur
Barrier free, Diskurs / Partizipation by Bauhoftheater Braunau

The Bauhoftheater Braunau Makes a Cultural-Political Statement on the Lack of Cultural Venues. A greenhouse for the “cultural plant” offers a visionary response to precarious working conditions and the lack of performance spaces in a city full of vacant buildings.

Space for culture
Barrier free, Diskurs / Partizipation by Bauhoftheater Braunau

The Bauhoftheater Braunau takes a cultural-political stand against the lack of cultural venues. A greenhouse for the ‘cultural plant’ offers a visionary response to precarious working conditions and a lack of venues in a city full of vacancies.

Festivalradio – Radio FRI
Partially accessible, Radio by Christian Fuchsmayer

The Free Radio Innviertel is a training radio station – commercial-free and diverse, with contributions directly from the lives of the people in the Innviertel. As a media partner, we make “(un)realistic dreams” and their dreamers audible.

BüroREAL
Barrier free, Diskurs / Partizipation, Event

From April 2025 on, BüroREAL on the town square in Braunau has been a lively meeting place for art, society and creative exchange. Even before the Festival of the Regions, BüroREAL opens its doors to anyone interested in creative processes and collaborative design.

Inn/4 Pride
Happening, Partially accessible

The cultural association KiK – Kunst im Keller is organizing a Pride Parade in Ried im Innkreis together with “Kunst und Kultur Innviertel” as part of the Festival of Regions.

Festival Closing

For a relaxed festival finale, we come together to reflect on the past days – with delicious food, smooth music, and a warm summer evening.

Lunch table

Grandma used to say: “”Beim Essn kumman d’Leid zom!“” (translated: People come together over a meal!).
And so we also want to come together over lunch.

Artist talks

Do you want to know how an art project is created and what artists have in mind during the process? You can find out this and much more at the daily artist talks. Come along, just to listen or to ask questions yourself.

The Hit House
Exhibition Marble Slab & Windowpane with Duck, Exhibition Marmorplatte & Scheibe mit Ente, Live-Stream, Public Art, Sound Installation by Seth Weiner

Imagined as a radio station operating from the room where Adolf Hitler was born, “The Hit House” focuses on the ecstasy of yesterday.

Entry Permitted
Diskurs / Partizipation, Exhibition Marmorplatte & Scheibe mit Ente, Public Art by Cana Bilir-Meier, Silvia Troian, Chana Boekle

Nine signs in the shape of traffic symbols mark everyday discrimination: racism, classism, police violence. The phrases come from anonymous interviews with residents of Braunau.

I am my prisoner
Exhibition Marble Slab & Windowpane with Duck, Exhibition Marmorplatte & Scheibe mit Ente, Performance by Franz Kapfer

From 2020 to 2022, Franz Kapfer systematically collected propaganda materials from Vienna’s anti-COVID protests: stickers, flyers, hand-painted signs – documents of a protest movement charged with conspiracy ideologies, adopting far-right narratives, and crossing historical lines.

Victim of Police Violence: Could Be Me!
Exhibition Marmorplatte & Scheibe mit Ente, Public Art, Sculpture, Video by Michèle Pagel

Who polices the police? Michèle Pagel reposes this question in a storefront installation in Braunau’s old town.

This Way, Dreamers!
Partizipation

This Way, Dreamers! Guided tours – short & compact Once a day, we invite you to take a tour of selected exhibitions, projects and performances. The tours are led alternately by one of the five programme board members (benefit: changing exhibition focus) or by experienced mediators from the Festival of Regions team. Each tour is […]