Festival 2026
Festival 2025 is behind us and we would like to thank all the artists, visitors and supporters. It was another inspiring time full of creative discoveries in Neukölln!
The application phase for the 2026 festival will start in winter 2025/2026. As soon as the dates are finalised, we will inform you here on the website. You will then have another opportunity to apply with your artistic contributions and become part of the festival.
The theme for the 2026 edition of the festival is:
OUT/SIDE/IN
"Maps are always designs of the world. They do not show reality, but rather a bold interpretation."—Judith Schalansky, Atlas of Remote Islands
Borders are not rigid lines but rather provisional markings that shift, overlap, and take on new forms. In artistic practice, they do not appear as endpoints but as spaces in which meanings are suspended and new configurations become visible.
This is not a linear path from outside to inside as if the aim were to uncover a hidden interior. Rather, the relationship between the inside and the outside should be understood as a dynamic relationship: both sides are intertwined and marked by cultural and political inscriptions. Thus, the border proves to be not the end, but the beginning of a story. Identity does not appear as a fixed essence but as a process—a fluid formation constituted by shifts, breaks, and transitions.
Therefore, artistic practice focuses less on heroic transgression and more on tentatively circling around and dissolving opposites. Boundaries are not simply accepted, but redesigned—not as restrictions, but as open spaces of possibility. They reveal themselves as complex social and cultural landscapes in which power, imagination, and negotiation are inextricably intertwined.
Art that follows this approach understands boundaries as permeable structures—psychologically, socially, and symbolically. Their cracks reveal that the “outside” has long been inscribed within the “inside.” Artistic works make this interweaving tangible and open up spaces in which belonging, ethics, and aesthetics are not fixed but constantly renegotiated.
We are excited to see your projects and the ways in which you open up new approaches to this topic.
Take part
Apply with your perspective idea
As part of the 28th edition of our festival, which will be held in 2026 under the motto OUT/SIDE/IN, we are once again inviting you to our curated exhibition format ‘Perspectives’.
This format showcases exhibitions that engage with the festival's central theme in their own unique way, serving as a guide through the diverse artistic interpretations of the theme throughout the festival area.
The format is aimed at young curators up to the age of 35 who are interested in participating with an innovative curatorial idea and realising their own exhibition. Applications from individuals or collectives from Germany and abroad are welcome.
The full call for applications can be found here (it will be published tomorrow).
After the application deadline on 30 November 2025, a jury of experts will review all submitted exhibition ideas and decide on funding.
Apply as an official festival entry
Festival 2026 - The next round starts in winter!
Anyone can apply and participate, provided that the works are related to the festival theme and do not violate the code of a non-violent, anti-racist and anti-discriminatory attitude.
After the application deadline, all submitted projects will be reviewed by our jury and a decision on participation will be made. After that, the successful applications can be completed with the event dates.
Registration for open formats
Once again this year, we would like to offer open formats in addition to the themed part of the festival. These formats serve to strengthen and present the Neukölln art scene. They are open to professional, year-round venues focussing on art and culture. The registration deadline for open formats will be announced at the end of the year.
Artistic works, rehearsal and production spaces, such as open studios and co-working spaces, can thus be shown to a wide audience as part of 48 Stunden Neukölln. Galleries, studios, shops, associations, local residents or other diverse institutions - anyone from Neukölln can register for 48 Stunden Neukölln with a programme that does not have to be themed and become part of the festival.
All you need to do to take part is register, not apply. You must apply for any necessary permits yourself. Open formats are listed in the 48 Stunden Neukölln programme with times and address.
Registration as a venue
If you have a venue in Neukölln and would like to make it available to one or more artists as a venue, simply register as a venue.
Whether gallery, pub, bakery or supermarket. Anyone who wants to support the festival and its artists and thus be a part of 48 Stunden Neukölln is urgently needed and very welcome. All you have to do is create a venue.