Visual: Yukiko
All dates and information on the network can be found on the heimaten Website.
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 takes 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.
For information about the heimaten Network and a regularly updated overview of the full programme, visit heimaten.hkw.de.