Every two years, the Cultural Office of the City of Mannheim (Kulturamt) presents current artistic approaches and forms of expression arising out of the regional independent art scene in its theatre festival Schwindelfrei.
The Schwindelfrei Festival is conceived of as a network and presentation platform for independent performing artists in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region. The Festival makes spaces available for experimental formations, initiates exchange between the local and (inter)national scenes, seeks contact with the neighbourhood and to the public in Mannheim. The Festival has been organized by the Cultural Office of the City of Mannheim since 2009 and is taking place for the 10th time in 2026.
The thematic focus and the selection of artist groups are the responsibility of a festival curator or curatorial team. The festival works in partnership with venues in Mannheim’s independent arts scene.
The Cultural Affairs Office of the City of Mannheim, as the organizer of the Schwindelfrei Festival, shares the vision set forth in the “Mannheimer Erklärung für ein Zusammenleben in Vielfalt”.
Schwindelfrei has been awarded the EFFEA Label for 2024 and 2026, Europe’s seal of quality for outstanding arts festivals.
Schwindefrei Festival 2026
The artistic directors and curators are Melanie Mohren and Bernhard Herbordt.
Artists are invited to explore the theme “Staying Here – Spaces and Practices of a New Coexistence” as part of the residencies. Through this, the Schwindelfrei Festival 2026 seeks out places, working methods, and encounters that invite people to stay, to make a fresh start, and to engage in shared dialogue. The festival focuses on connections between the arts, institutions, and neighborhoods; places of conversation, remembrance, and the imagination of a different future.
The festival audience will gain insights into the work of the residency artists. A guest performance, a showcase of artistic exchange, an evolving exhibition, concerts, workshops, discussions, and other formats compleats the program.
The Schwindelfrei Festival is a project of the City of Mannheim’s Department of Cultural Affairs. The festival’s partner venues are EinTanzHaus, Theaterhaus G 7, Theater Felina-Areal, zeitraumexit, Community Art Center, laboratorio17, and Galerie Maquis Mami Wata.
Schwindelfrei 2026 will take place in Mannheim from July 9 to 12, 2026
Wellcome
The Schwindelfrei Festival celebrates the independent performing arts in Mannheim and the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region - and this marks the 10th time in the 2026 anniversary edition! As it is not embedded within established theater structures, the independent scene is known for experimental and collaborative working methods, critical reflection on existing frameworks, and a diversity of voices – and now, this year’s artists are inviting the public to rethink the present together.
This is needed more than ever today!
In these times, we are under pressure: global and local crises are undermining our social diversity – in terms of perspectives, issues, bodies, ecosystems and the arts. What can art do in times like these? Under the working title “Staying here – Spaces and Practices for a new Coexistence,”
this year’s festival will bring together artistic positions that take a clear stance on a world that is riddled with crises and will explore new forms of solidarity, dialog and collaboration – between the arts, institutions and neighborhoods.
Artists participating in the festival will visit, create and envision spaces that will make it worth staying here for. Through creating places of conversation, remembrance and imagination, the artists can establish conditions under which it will once more possible to think about the future, and to stay in the present – on stages, theaters, neighborhood meetings, streets and plazas.
The Schwindelfrei Festival is a festival in progress. At its core are six residencies that focus on interdisciplinary methods of working and collaborating between those active in artistic fields and those coming from outside the arts. This is an open-ended approach that provides the artists with space to research their positions in preparation for the festival. During the festival, these experimental work processes will be made visible to the public and project results / interim results will be presented in theaters, community centers, storefronts and along the paths connecting these spaces. Here, it is not so much about producing a final presentation, but more about the question of how artistic processes can be shared and exchanged. This is a unique chance for the public to engage with the artworks while they are still in the process of being created. For the artists, this affords an opportunity to learn about how their colleagues approach their work and to forge future alliances.
The final phase of the residencies and the festival itself will be guided by the choreographer and practice-based researcher Saghar Hosseinpour, as well as the choreographer and philosopher Michael Turinsky. Both will lend their unique expertise to support the residencies. In addition, they will engage with audience members and other artists in one-on-one discussions, intervene throughout the course of the festival and present some of their own work.
The entire festival program reflects a shared quest to discover: what is worth staying here for and why? What remains after a festival like Schwindelfrei is over?
At the end, all the experiences and strategies of staying in the present will be condensed and shared at a conference in the form of a performative dictionary (from “a” for “arrest” to “z” for “zeitgeist”) as a review of the exchanges – a celebration of dialog.
Even in the days preceding the festival start, various places to meet and exchange ideas with the festival organizers, artists, participating institutions, audience members, and many others will be available – providing opportunities to come early and to stay longer. Whether it is just eating ice cream together, attending a networking event, participating in a one-on-one discussion, at anniversary celebrations, in workshops, on the radio or at the growing archive of the independent performing arts in Mannheim, we invite you to stay here with us. In this way, staying here, connecting and networking, learning from one another and caring for each other can become a collective superpower!
We look forward to seeing you here!
Melanie Mohren and Bernhard Herbordt