Go East Festival

Go East Festival
Name	Go East Festival
Location	Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany
Founded	1990s
Founders	Festival organizers, cultural institutions
Dates	Annual (spring)
Genre	Contemporary theatre, performing arts, film

Go East Festival Go East Festival is an annual international festival of contemporary theatre, film, and performing arts held in Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany. The festival presents a program of premieres, retrospectives, and co-productions that showcase work from Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and the post-Soviet states, attracting artists, critics, and cultural managers from across Europe and beyond. It functions as a platform for artistic exchange among institutions such as the Kunstfest Weimar, Wiener Festwochen, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and municipal theatres in cities like Berlin, Vienna, Prague, and Warsaw.

History

The festival was established in the aftermath of the Cold War and the political transformations of the early 1990s, amid cultural initiatives linked to the reunification of Germany and the expansion of cross-border collaborations among institutions including the Goethe-Institut, the European Cultural Foundation, and municipal arts offices of Wiesbaden and Frankfurt am Main. Early editions featured works tied to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the conflicts in the Balkans, and the transition experiences of countries such as Poland, Romania, Hungary, and Czech Republic. Over time the festival forged relationships with international presenters like the British Council, Institut français, Polish Cultural Institute, and the Austrian Cultural Forum, and with contemporary companies associated with names such as Tadeusz Kantor, Pina Bausch, Oskaras Korsunovas, and Roman Viktyuk. Institutional partners have included the Staatstheater Wiesbaden, the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, and municipal cultural funds in Hesse.

Program and Events

The program combines contemporary theatre premieres, site-specific performances, dance works, and curated film programs often devoted to directors from Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and Slovakia. Festival highlights have included cross-disciplinary projects involving collaborators from Balkan collectives, adaptations of texts by Anton Chekhov, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Bertolt Brecht, and contemporary writers such as Svetlana Alexievich and Olga Tokarczuk, as well as debates, panels, and masterclasses featuring figures from institutions like the Royal Court Theatre, Schaubühne, National Theatre (Prague), and the National Theatre (Warsaw). Retrospectives have mapped the oeuvres of filmmakers linked to festivals such as the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, and have included co-productions with broadcasters like ARTE and Deutsche Welle.

Venues and Locations

Performances take place across venues in Wiesbaden including repertory stages at the Staatstheater Wiesbaden, cabaret and experimental spaces, film screenings in cinemas affiliated with the German Cinematheque network, and site-specific events staged at cultural landmarks such as the Kurhaus Wiesbaden, the Nerobergbahn area, and municipal museums with ties to collections from the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and regional archives. The festival has extended occasional programming to partner cities and institutions such as the Deutsches Theater (Berlin), Sophiensaele, Kunsthalle, and university auditoria including those of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main.

Participating Artists and Companies

Participants have ranged from leading directors and companies of Central Europe and Eastern Europe: ensembles linked to Grotowski Institute, groups associated with choreographers influenced by Pina Bausch and Magdalena Abakanowicz; directors and playwrights like Krzysztof Warlikowski, Oskaras Korsunovas, Jan Klata, Yevgeny Grishkovets, and Vaclav Havel-era dramatists. Dance companies and contemporary collectives from Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia have appeared alongside filmmakers and screenwriters from the Baltic states and the Caucasus. International curators and critics from publications and institutions such as Theatre Journal, Cahiers du Cinéma, Sight & Sound, European Theatre Convention, and the International Theatre Institute have contributed to programming and discourse.

Organization and Funding

The festival is organized by municipal cultural offices in collaboration with institutions including the Hessisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst and cultural foundations such as the Kulturstiftung des Bundes, the Goethe-Institut, and private patrons linked to regional companies and banks such as Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen. Funding mixes public subsidies from city and state cultural budgets, project grants from European mechanisms like the Creative Europe programme, and sponsorship from media partners like ZDF and SWR. Administrative and curatorial decisions often involve advisory boards composed of representatives from partner institutions including the Bundeskulturstiftung and university departments of performing arts at institutions like the University of Cologne and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.

Reception and Impact

Critical reception in outlets such as Die Zeit, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Der Tagesspiegel, The Guardian, and specialist journals has highlighted the festival’s role in promoting intercultural exchange and advancing careers of artists from post-socialist contexts. The festival has influenced programming at other European festivals—Venice Biennale, Salzburg Festival, Florence Theatre Festival—and contributed to co-productions that toured to venues including the Komische Oper Berlin, Teatro Nacional Dona Maria II, and the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Beijing). Evaluations by cultural policy researchers at institutes such as the European Cultural Foundation and university research centers have cited the festival as a case study in regional cultural networks and arts diplomacy.

Category:Festivals in Germany Category:Performing arts festivals