Press release for the opening of the art festival

Weimar, August 21, 2023.
On August 23, KUNSTFEST WEIMAR 2023 will open with the erection of an ephemeral installation by the important Düsseldorf object artist Günther Uecker on Weimar's Theaterplatz. Uecker, who became famous with his "nail pictures," will erect the "stone monument" in memory of the victims of Buchenwald concentration camp together with Weimar citizens and guests. This will be the first major action in public space by the 93-year-old since the pandemic. The participatory construction of the installation will take place on August 23 from around 2 p.m., culminating in the official opening of the largest festival of contemporary arts in eastern Germany at 6 p.m. After greetings from Kunstfest patron Minister President Bodo Ramelow and Weimar Mayor Peter Kleine, renowned Swiss stage and film actress Sibylle Canonica will read from Imre Kertész's text "My Speech on the Century." At 9 p.m., the eagerly awaited German premiere of Robert Wilson's performance: "UBU" after Alfred Jarry using original stage figures by Spanish surrealist Joan Miró.

The motto of the Kunstfest Weimar is "Remembering creates the future" and for 18 days it offers an overview of contemporary art in ten categories: In addition to visual arts, dance, performance, drama, musical theater, film, literature and discourse are at the heart of the festival. Around 160 events and 45 projects, including20 premieres and first performances, will keep Weimar in suspense until
September 10 will keep Weimar in suspense. On September 2, the music theater "Missing in cantu" by the two Austrians Johannes Maria Staud (music) and Thomas Köck (libretto) will be premiered in co-production with the German National Theater Weimar - a multi-layered examination of the self-destructive greed of capitalism and a swan song to the world power USA. On September 7, Amir Reza Koohestani's "Dantons Tod Reloaded" will also be premiered in a co-production with Hamburg's Thalia Theater, an astute Büchner rewriting as a commentary on the failed revolution of women in Iran.

In view of massive inflation, the Kunstfest Weimar has made it its mission to make the festival's cultural offerings accessible to as many people as possible, either free of charge or at low prices. For the emblematic concert format commemorating Buchenwald on August 25 with the MDR Symphony Orchestra under Martijn Dendievel, the wish price applies: every spectator can book one of the four price categories between 5 and 45 euros with free choice of seats. The gala "Kill Krieg" on September 3 at the German National Theater in Weimar - as the conclusion of the large-scale, five-day, interdisciplinary music theater project "Kriegsweihe" (Consecration of War) by Berlin composer and director Marc Sinan - is available for a flat rate of 7 euros. For this, among others, the two acting stars Jelena Kuljić and David Bennent will be on stage alongside members of the Kiyv Symphony Orchestra. Finally, the author reading project "Wir sind Möglichkeiten" (We are possibilities) offers 13 free readings by renowned authors in public spaces on the topic of exclusion - including bestselling author Dirk Oschmann and award-winning playwright Sivan Ben Yishai.

Beyond the venues in Weimar, the Kunstfest is present throughout Thuringia: for example, with the mobile production "Eschenliebe" - a world premiere by Theresia Walser, which will also make guest appearances in inns and cultural farms. The audio installation "Da lag Preßwitz schräg drinne" invites visitors to take a rowboat trip on the Hohenwarte reservoir and offers an audio topography of the places flooded when the lake was created. Finally, as part of a cooperation between the ACC Gallery and the Kunstfest with the Federal Agency for Civic Education, the bus tour project "Endland" will take visitors to abandoned places in Thuringia that have been reimagined by Thuringian artists and authors and are now being brought to life.

 

The presale for all events has started.
Photos for download here www.kunstfest-weimar.de/presse

Contact:
KUNSTFEST WEIMAR
Rathenauplatz 6 | 99423 Weimar
Tel | 03643 – 755 292
Email | marcus.graenz@nationaltheater-weimar.de
kunstfest-weimar@imketramnitz.de