26.9.–29.11.2026
Many venues, many partners—one collective festival: The second edition of the heimaten Festival for Plural Democracy takes place in 2026, with cultural institutions and civil society initiatives in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland coming together to present an extensive programme from September to November.
Spanning locations from Greifswald, Neumünster, Berlin, and Werdau to Halle, Cologne, Munich, Vienna, Graz, and Zurich, the heimaten Festival, initiated by Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) and supported by the heimaten Network, brings together diverse perspectives on belonging and democratic participation.
For information about the heimaten Network and a regularly updated overview of the full programme, visit heimaten.hkw.de.
Concept and Meaning
heimaten means opening spaces, creating a home for oneself, and insisting that this home has always been shaped collectively by many people. heimaten stands for the idea that a society draws strength from its plurality; that commitment, vitality, art, and culture arise from a diversity of voices; and that this also encompasses debate, criticism, and dialogue.
Numerous protagonists who have committed themselves to this ethos and who, in the face of current political developments, collectively claim visibility, organize the second edition of the heimaten Festival for Plural Democracy in autumn 2026. The festival takes place over a period of several weeks, primarily in October, at various venues across the German-speaking world. It is initiated by HKW as part of its multi-year heimaten programme and supported by the heimaten Network, an alliance of civil society initiatives and cultural institutions in the German federal states, Austria, and Switzerland that has been active since 2024.
The project is based on the premise that the notion of a singular, unchanging ‘home’ is an illusion. It uses the German term Heimat (home, homeland) in the plural and, at the same time, understands it as a continuous process that affects a society as a whole. Taking a critical look at the conditions for belonging and the possibilities for participation, the festival programme focuses on the lived reality of plural ‘homes’.
Among other things, it explores decolonization and the culture of remembrance, processes of radicalization in the digital sphere, as well as the history and present-day reality of migration in European cities, and features exhibitions, performances, readings and film screenings, conferences and workshops, as well as music, dance, and communal dining.
heimaten Festival for Plural Democracy 2026, featuring:
- ausARTen – Perspektivwechsel durch Kunst
- Black Visual Grammar
- Brunnenpassage
- Common Voices Radio
- Decolonize Berlin e. V.
- DialoguePerspectives e. V. & Coalition for Pluralistic Public Discourse
- Each One Teach One (EOTO) e. V.
- fluctoplasma
- Forum Stadtpark
- FWT: Köln
- globale° – Festival für grenzüberschreitende Literatur
- glokal e. V.
- Haus der Kulturen der Welt
- Initiative 19. Februar Hanau
- Karlstorbahnhof Heidelberg
- Korea-Verband e. V.
- Kunstwerkstätten Greifswald
- Rechenzentrum Potsdam
- RomaTrial e. V.
- SchUM-Städte e. V.
- Sinti Union Schleswig-Holstein e. V.
- Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken
- Theaterhaus Jena
- WERTansich(t)
- W.I.R. lautstark
- zwischentext
The heimaten Festival for Plural Democracy will take place in the following cities in 2026: Berlin, Bochum, Bremen, Graz, Greifswald, Halle, Hamburg, Hanau, Heidelberg, Jena, Cologne, Munich, Neumünster, Potsdam, Saarbrücken, Stuttgart, Vienna, Werdau, Worms, Zurich
More information: heimaten.hkw.de
The project heimaten
heimaten aims to reinterpret the concept of Heimat according to the plural composition of Germany’s population and comprises a multifaceted four-year programme. In 2024 and 2025, curated by HKW in collaboration with Max Czollek and Ibou Diop, the project focused on exchanging and networking—including a conference on the topic of Deberlinization and the discussion series Heimatization, accompanied by publications and a podcast.
2026 sees the parallel series Sound Base Berlin, Common Exceptions, Plural Citizenships, and Relational Work, Relational Powertake place, which show how productive the process of making a home for oneself in the fields of music, film, literature, and discourse can be.
The decentralized heimaten Festival for Plural Democracy takes place together with numerous partner institutions, making visible this plural society as well as the work of many individuals and initiatives to date in upholding and advocating for it. It is organized by the heimaten Network, an association of civil society initiatives and cultural institutions in the sixteen German federal states as well as in Austria and Switzerland.
Partner
heimaten is supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media due to a ruling of the German Bundestag.
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