Europe knows too little about its artists. We want to make voices, works and stories visible and audible across borders.
An organ is sounding, but nobody is sitting at the console. At the Konzerthaus Berlin, a computer can now control the large Jehmlich organ directly. But why would anyone want it to?
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LEDs, smartphones, GPS: shortly after getting up, you have probably already encountered the results of quantum physics. In Donostia, this science is now setting off on a journey of its own.
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On Rhodes, eight voices move through the medieval city. Among stone walls, traces of antiquity and the legend of the Colossus, an unusual question arises: is there a right sound for a historic place?
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Twenty minutes, two performers and no page to turn: at the Gothenburg Book Fair, Amina and Jamila Ouahid show how literature can emerge from hands, faces, gaze, rhythm and space. A short stage programme suddenly opens a much larger question: how many different things can storytelling be?
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Bolek and Lolek needed hardly any words to tell stories. At the SOUNDESIGN festival in Bielsko-Biała, Reksio shows what happens when image, movement and sound tell a story together.
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What do a greeting from Osaka, three small Croatian words and a walk from Porto to Santiago have in common? At Zagreb’s Festival jezika, a workshop on the Kansai dialect opens up a much bigger question: where do dialects end and languages begin?
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For centuries, people have learned how to play instruments. Rian Treanor and Rotherham Sight & Sound turn that idea around: what happens when the instrument adapts to the person?
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Twenty-three schools from twelve countries have been working together throughout the school year. At the Around Europe Festival in Pombal, that work becomes visible – from the European Arch they are building together to new partnerships for future projects.
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Short films in many languages meet in Nicosia – all of them accessible through English subtitles. They tell stories of strangers, vanished borders and belonging. But what happens when even in the original language it is not entirely clear what a word or metaphor means?
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FAVORITE FALL turns Vienna’s 10th district into a stage. Residents, augmented-reality walks and neighbourhood tours invite visitors to discover Favoriten — a Vienna beyond the familiar sights.
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What happens when something turns out completely differently from what your brain expected? At the Brave Young Minds mini-festival in Leiden, children get to find out – and discover why surprise can be the beginning of learning.
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A solitary walk in the woods, a blackbird called Arne and Germany’s first bird-call imitation competition: in Landshut on Saturday, a quirky contest turns out to be all about one skill above all – listening closely.
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A language has been spoken on Jersey for more than a thousand years – yet today only a small number of people still speak it as their mother tongue. At Friday’s Festival of Words, the question is whether Jèrriais will fall silent. A small interruption may reveal what it takes for a language to survive.
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On Thursday evening in Dortmund, musicians will share a stage even though their backgrounds, family histories and political experiences could separate them. The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra does not claim that music can end wars. That is precisely where the strength of this unusual orchestra lies.
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What do a robot in a church, deep-sea sharks and artificial intelligence have in common? At the British Science Festival in Southampton, they all lead to the same bigger question: what do we do with the knowledge and possibilities that research gives us?
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Twenty-four artists, a Reformed church and very different life stories: an exhibition in Sibiu asks how contemporary art can approach the sacred.
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Venetian glass beads were jewellery, trade goods and part of global trading networks. PERLE 6.0 in Venice traces their routes to Spain and Portugal – opening up a much larger story about value, culture and the darker side of global trade.
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Almost 1,200 years ago, Vikings reached Dublin by way of the Liffey. At the first Liffey Festival, the city is showing how plans for a livelier riverfront can turn into paddle strokes, ships, stories and music.
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A 61-square-kilometre state, three towers on a mountain – and a lot of music on Saturday. At Musikfest Adriatica, ensembles from Austria, Switzerland and Italy meet in San Marino, a republic that has spent centuries balancing independence with close ties to its neighbours.
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On 11 September, thousands of people in La Aldea de San Nicolás rush into a coastal pool at the sound of a rocket to catch mullet. Día del Charco brings together ancient fishing practices, island history and a festival that not even a bishop could stop.
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At the first Helsinki Circus Festival, Finnish contemporary circus meets potato crowns, greenhouse handbags, wheels of death and hobby horses. What has become of the traditional circus?
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Adria is now around 25 kilometres from the coast, although an entire sea was most likely named after the town. ADRIKÀ follows water through archaeology, landscape and film, all the way to a Roman boat that really was sewn together.
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Malta marks Victory Day on 8 September with Fort St Angelo, several layers of history and a regatta in the Grand Harbour. Follow the boats and you soon arrive at 1565, Napoleon and the Second World War.
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Long before the European Union, countries tried to bind themselves together politically. While treaties redrew borders, artists, music, images and ideas were already travelling across Europe.
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On Warsaw’s New Town Market Square, old European hand-puppet traditions meet. Kasper, Gašparko and Punch have more in common than their names suggest.
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On the first weekend of September, Rømø’s broad beach becomes a huge stage for kites from many countries. The International Kite Festival is not just something to watch: next year, anyone can simply bring a kite and join in.
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At the PAS Festival, Maastricht University opens lecture halls, courtyards and gardens to the whole city. Between research, music and theatre, a surprisingly simple question emerges: who does knowledge belong to?
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As a young man, Larry Reynolds sometimes hid his fiddle under his coat. Later he carried the music of East Galway to Boston. Today a festival in Ballinasloe bears his name – and passes that music on to a new generation.
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Denys Karachevtsev became known for playing Bach among the ruins of Kharkiv. On 2 September he brings his cello to Sarajevo – a city that also knows what war can do to streets, buildings and people.
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In the Jardins do Palácio de Cristal, books sit among the trees. Porto’s book fair mixes stalls and readings with workshops, conversations and music, turning an entire park into an open cultural space.
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