15.05.2026 – 21.06.2026
In 2026, the Vienna Festival will celebrate its 75th anniversary.
The Free Republic of Vienna becomes the Republic of Gods. Which ancient myths – from the *Iliad* to the *Nibelungenlied*, from the Arabic *Banū Hilāl* epic to Wagner’s *Parsifal* – still speak to us today? Are Allah, Yahweh, Thor and the like still relevant at all? Which new gods and goddesses must we invent together?
In 2026 – to mark the 75th anniversary of the Vienna Festival – the Republic of Gods is proclaiming a ‘Holy Spring’: a mythical celebration of criticism of the gods and a longing for them. At the heart of the Republic of Gods in 2026, however, lies a very special myth: that of the Festival itself. For five and a half weeks, we will follow the winding paths of Europe’s largest crossover festival – from its founding in 1951, through the renewal movements of the 1960s and 1980s, right up to the Free Republic of Vienna. We provide access to a comprehensive online archive and open a Republic Cinema featuring films and recordings from 75 years of the Festwochen. The whole experience is rounded off by a poster exhibition and a brand-new documentary film about the Festwochen – and something else is making a comeback: the mythical Festwochen W, updated in a global and syncretic style for the Republic of Gods! But that’s by no means all, for in 2026 the Festival will once again become the discursive hotspot of the season! Be it through the discourse (Holy Spring) and performance series (Mythical Ark) on the Badeschiff (House and Club of the Republic), where religious extremists and prophets of the right and left, end-times preachers and seekers of God pass the microphone between them – and the Festwochen band Gods Republic is staging no fewer than five concerts, ranging from death metal to spiritual folk.
Wiener Festwochen 2026
15.05.2026 – 21.06.2026
Vienna, various locations
www.festwochen.at
