\u201cCompletely different from usual.\u201d That was how one Braunau resident summed up the Festival of Regions 2025, which came to a successful close on Sunday, June 22, 2025.<\/p>\n\n
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For 33 years, the Upper Austrian Festival of Regions has seen itself as a \u201ccollaborative project\u201d bringing together the artistic avant-garde and the social issues and challenges facing the Upper Austrian periphery.<\/p>\n\n
Not a series of events, but an invitation to the festival region to engage in critical dialogue and to dream – with both feet firmly planted in reality. A multifaceted, sometimes contradictory, but always lively debate about the present and future of rural areas.<\/p>\n\n
The Festival of Regions 2025, with free admission to all events and activities, will once again attract around 20,000 visitors and festival participants, offering opportunities for personal encounters, networking, and interaction.<\/p>\n\n
A performative takeover of public space.<\/p>\n\n
With temporary objects and sculptures made from scrap wood and bulky waste that shaped the urban landscape. From school classes in neon yellow safety vests on scavenger hunts in the morning to the \u201cMenscha*\u201d of the \u201cZeche Hinterfotzing\u201d dressed in white and black and singing satirical poems and rhymes: patriarchal customs written in a \u201cqueer\u201d way.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cRealistic Dreams\u201d has made a noticeable and visible impact, sparking discussions.<\/p>\n\n
Unusual venues and formats<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Mobile dance floors, train stations, parks, trains, city squares, riverbanks, road bridges, pubs, vacant commercial premises, churches, local galleries, and small exhibition venues\u2014the festival focused on spaces that are often overlooked in everyday life.<\/p>\n\n Diversity of artistic formats and forms of expression<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Participatory performances, dance floor pop-ups, listening sessions, banquets, radio projects, workshops, exhibitions, celebrations, happenings, hikes\u2014open and easily accessible.<\/p>\n\n A festival of \u201ccooperation\u201d and a \u201cfestival of encounters\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n A festival that not only encouraged critical engagement with difficult topics, but also encouraged participation, co-creation, dancing, and celebration. Realistic Dreams was a festival that relied heavily on cooperation with local initiatives. Many projects were developed together with local communities.<\/p>\n\n The \u201cFestival of Encounter,\u201d jointly organized this year with ZIMT (Center for Interculturality, Coexistence, and Participation), became a city festival with around 1,500 visitors.<\/p>\n\n The fact that projects were able to take place in other locations in the Innviertel region (including Ried, Sch\u00e4rding, Altheim, and Obernberg) in addition to Braunau is thanks to the Lebensraum Innviertel initiative (KUKI project): A particular highlight of the supporting program for the 2025 festival was the first Innviertel \u201cPride\u201d event, which was organized as part of this cooperation on June 7 in the run-up to the festival in Ried.<\/p>\n\n See Braunau through different eyes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n The festival edition \u201cRealistic Dreams\u201d found its main venue in Braunau, a city that is often reduced in the media to its troubled heritage. Instead of concealing history, the festival confronted historical ambivalence. Many projects addressed the politics of memory, collective memory, and future identities\u2014subtly or aggressively, but never moralizing.<\/p>\n\n One key project was \u201cMarble Slab & Disc with Duck,\u201d which explored new forms of remembrance and reflected on them artistically in collaboration with the House of Austrian History.<\/p>\n\n The goal of seeing Braunau through different eyes was achieved. Braunau was not reinvented\u2014but it was retold. The claim that participatory art actually makes a difference was proven true in many places.<\/p>\n\n What remains of this festival are once again \u201clittle cultural seedlings\u201d that continue to grow in the region. The ball is now in the region’s court.<\/p>\n\n What will remain of the Festival of Regions 2027?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n A selection.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n The Festival of Regions 2025 has had a lasting impact on the region beyond the duration of the festival. Many projects have become permanent fixtures, networks have grown, and artistic and social processes continue to have an effect.<\/p>\n\n The festival has left its mark\u2014artistically, socially, and in terms of cultural memory.<\/p>\n\n Lasting works have been created, vibrant communities have grown, traditions have been reimagined, and networks have been established that will continue to shape the region for a long time to come.<\/p>\n\n A permanent venue for the Bauhoftheater?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Through its cultural and political commitment, the Bauhoftheater has taken a decisive step toward creating a long-term space for indoor performances. This project will be pursued as part of the region’s infrastructure development.<\/p>\n\n The reading of the will in book form<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Lydia Haider’s text on the performance \u201cTestamentsverlautbarung\u201d (Proclamation of the Will) has just been published in the volume \u201cNeue Rundschau 2025\/3\u201d by the renowned German publishing house S. Fischer Verlag.<\/p>\n\n https:\/\/www.fischerverlage.de\/buch\/neue-rundschau-2025-3-9783108091422<\/p>\n\n New spaces for new dreams (kunst:d\u00fcnger)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n The regional group continues to work toward realizing its collective dreams. One particularly visible dream has already become reality: the establishment of a queer community in the region, which is now preparing for the next Pride event.<\/p>\n\n INN\/4PRIDE continues \u2013 Queer community stands up<\/strong><\/p>\n\n The festival has given rise to a queer community that is establishing structures, raising its profile, and planning to host another Pride event in the region\u2014an important step for diversity and social participation.<\/p>\n\n Keep fighting and drinking with the “Zeche Hinterfotzing”<\/strong> “Menschazech” is still active, performs regularly, and is currently working with Hansi Falkner from Attwenger on Gstanzl recordings. Their lyrics have been added to the Austrian Folk Song Archive. In doing so, they have critically rethought and transformed regional traditions.<\/p>\n\n A “Fingerhut voll Utopien” as inspiration for “Goldhauben”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n The project \u201cEin Fingerhut voll Utopien\u201d (A Thimbleful of Utopias) at Kunstraum Valentin had a particularly strong impact on a group of women from Goldfrauen, who emerged from the festival feeling empowered.<\/p>\n\n Annual peace hike with Paul Zauner<\/p>\n\n The Peace Walk is to be continued as a recurring event, thus remaining a catalyst for dialogue and social debate in the region.<\/p>\n\n Keep moving in the dance village by Simon Mayer and Hannah Shakti B\u00fchler<\/p>\n\n The \u201cdance virus\u201d has created a lasting impact: the ZIMT cultural center now hosts regular dance events. In addition, Simon and Hannah have settled in the region and are now more strongly connected there – an important step for a vibrant local dance scene. As part of the project, a documentary film was made featuring interviews with many people from the region. https:\/\/www.dorftv.at\/video\/46693<\/p>\n\n A new landmark for the city of Braunau?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n The textile artwork created during the festival by Braunau-based seamstress Lydia Waldh\u00f6r will be presented to the city as a \u201cnew landmark\u201d and is expected to be displayed permanently at the state music school in Ranshofen as a visible symbol of regional history and stories.<\/p>\n\n