Impulse Festival 2026 Programme | Introduction
Dear Audiences!
The past year, with all its uncertainties and crises, did not leave the independent scene unscathed. Ongoing cuts as well as social upheaval and concrete threats, alongside global wars, are reflected in the work of many artists – whether through content or through conscious gestures of empowerment, empathy, community and a commitment to complexity.
The showcase selection of the Impulse Festival offers only a small glimpse into the exciting work being created in the independent performing arts scene in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Ten showcase productions were selected from over 500 works reviewed, which—despite ongoing cuts to cultural funding—continue to reflect a remarkable diversity. In responding to current conditions, several themes and aesthetic approaches have emerged in these works: “Work” is a recurring theme preoccupying festival artists Sheena McGrandles, Michael Turinsky, Marie Meyer, and Nihan Devecioğlu: society is work, community is work, politics is (and wants to be more) work, democracy is work, resistance and care are work, and art is also work! Art can make invisible work visible; it can explore the influence of an increasingly ubiquitous AI on artistic forms of work and remind us of marginalised working bodies. At this year’s festival, the central themes of current political debates – work-time and life-time - will be discussed and processed performatively in a wide variety of ways.
Furthermore, the artists critically examine visual regimes and attributions – often in tension with intimate encounters: sometimes through seduction, sometimes through the discomfort of closeness and confrontation. Keep an eye out for the works by Alina Arshi, Veza Fernández and Rykena/Jüngst. Aesthetically, music plays a fundamental role in a striking number of festival productions: participatory sound spaces will be built, stories of migrant workers or pizza delivery drivers told through touching songs, baroque evergreens will be brought into the future, and an orchestral work is transformed into an accessible, multi-sensory performance. Music fans, on no account miss the performances by Camille O & Jule Flierl, Nihan Devecioğlu, Marie Meyer, Nature Theater of Oklahoma and Rykena/Jüngst! Julian Warner associates the role of the Black cultural worker with that of the soldier in his concert performance with its driving drums. This work links to another festival theme – historical and current controversies surrounding militarisation, the prevention of violence, and state control over the body.
We provide a space for multi-perspective discussion on these issues, for example at an assembly organised by the international artists’ network The Embassy, as well as in public follow-up and accompanying discussions with invited experts. The play by Polish director Magda Szpecht addresses this topic in a concrete and painful way, shedding light on the lived experience of a friend and soul sister as a soldier in the Ukraine war - and querying our solidarity. This work is part of the festival’s second programme theme: the Post-West focus. Here the Impulse Festival sharpens awareness of “East” and “West”, as shaped by empirical knowledge, to beyond the German-German context towards Eastern Europe.
We are bringing very different artistic forms to North Rhine-Westphalia with the performative “funeral meal” by Slovakian artist Dávid Koronczi; the successful Chemnitz production of “Songs of (In)Security” by Tanja Krone; a non-binary, Upper Silesian Dindać; and the melting ice worlds of Estonian performer Netti Nüganen. And finally, this year a railway theatre company makes an unscheduled stop in Duisburg and invites visitors to engage with GDR steelworkers – on the tracks beneath a disused blast furnace, Hochofen 5.
Last but not least, for the third programme theme, Impulse meets..., we invite international professionals, and you dear audiences, to join artists and partners from North Rhine-Westphalia to network both locally and internationally: through workshops on drag and archival practice, in discussions on cultural policy and conditions of production, at parties and with a joint playlist of our “favourite songs”.
Once again in June our travelling festival is on the road in North Rhine-Westphalia: we kick off in Düsseldorf, then head to Mülheim an der Ruhr and finally back to Bochum for the first time in ten years! The conclusion of the festival will be celebrated in Cologne – on both the left and right banks of the Rhine. We very much look forward to presenting works that move, amaze or provoke - both on stage and in the open air in North Rhine-Westphalia. These remarkable entries are the productions that impressed us, and our sincere thanks go to both the festival jury and the scouts who selected them! We would also like to thank our organiser, the NRW KULTURsekretariat, and all the sponsors of this edition of the festival, who share our belief that diverse and challenging art connects us in a unique way with both ourselves and the world and can maybe even spark hope.
A warm welcome to the new Impulses. Let’s enjoy a spectacular festival together!
Franziska Werner (Artistic Director)
and the entire Impulse team