The first year under the new artistic direction set clear accents: contemporary dance took on a stronger role, international co-productions and premieres brought new artistic perspectives to Weimar, and formats such as »Soundtrack for Midnight TAMURO« created new spaces for encounter and shared experience.

The festival also explored new ways of engaging with art and the festival itself. The DGS weekend, created by and with Deaf artists, brought together Deaf and hearing audiences and showed how diverse a festival experience can be.

The current coverage also reflects how these new directions were received by audiences and what made Kunstfest 2026 special. In its review, MDR highlights the strong response to the dance productions, the development of the festival audience and the new artistic formats.

This is exactly what we find exciting: What happens when a festival tries new paths? Which artistic encounters stay with us? And which ideas will we carry forward into the coming years?

Kunstfest 2026 was an important beginning. And now: once the festival is over, the next one is already on the horizon.

→ Listen to the MDR feature of Kunstfest Weimar 2026 (in German)