POST-WEST

For over 35 years, the Impulse Festival in North Rhine-Westphalia has gained widespread recognition as being a central platform for the independent performance, theatre and dance scenes in the German-speaking countries. Under the artistic direction of Franziska Werner, the festival introduced the programme line “Post-West” in 2025 to reflect on experiences of transformation in eastern and western Germany. In 2026 the festival will be expanding this focus to include perspectives from Eastern Europe with three guest performances from Poland, Estonia and Slovakia. The festival features a wide variety of artistic formats that explore post-socialist and post-Western experiences, reflect on authoritarian developments and forms of resistance, and imagine new models of coexistence. By offering residencies and engaging in collaboration with partner institutions, the organisers are working to build a sustainable network for artistic exchange that transcends binary East-West attributions.

Artistic direction: Franziska Werner
Participants: Dávid Koronczi, Magda Szpecht, Netti Nüganen, Julia Nitschke, Tubi Malcharzik, The Embassy and others

Dates 

3 June 2026 – 21 June 2026: Festival
FFT Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf; studiobühneköln, Cologne, | Ringlokschuppen, Mülheim an der Ruhr; Prinz Regent Theater, Bochum