19 September 2026, Kraftwerk Zschornewitz
Together with the "Opening Space | Promoting Encounters" project team, delegates and partners, we will visit the OSTEN-Festival at the Kraftwerk Zschornewitz festival site on 19 September.
In 2026, the third edition of the OSTEN-Festival will take place from 12 to 27 September in Bitterfeld-Wolfen under the title "Power Plant – Future" ("Kraftwerk - Zukunft").
The festival aims "to create encounters: using art as an opportunity to discover, to take action, and to connect with others and sustain those connections. It sees itself as both a marker and an amplifier of the momentum for change in a region undergoing transformation, seeking to build something new where much of the cultural infrastructure has disappeared since German reunification. OSTEN addresses the people of Bitterfeld-Wolfen by developing unusual ways of engaging with the town, while also inviting visitors from outside the region to discover the unique character of its landscape and history."
We will take part in a guided tour of the festival site at the former Kraftwerk Zschornewitz together with members of the festival team, followed by a focused discussion with representatives of the OSTEN Festival.
We will also meet Jan Stradtmann, photographer and Artistic Director of the Passage Art Residency Programme in the Dübener Heide, and Dr Insa Christiane Hennen, art historian and Chair of the Friends' Association of Hofgestüt Bleesern. Both represent the KOBRA Cultural Network in the Wittenberg district, which is funded through the federal programme Aller.Land until 2030. KOBRA seeks to make visible the continuities, ruptures and future perspectives within the cultural landscape of the Wittenberg region.
We would like to share experiences from artistic practice in both urban and rural contexts and discuss the challenges and rewarding moments of socially engaged artistic work. What opportunities do interdisciplinary, cross-disciplinary and socially engaged artistic practices offer? Which approaches and models have proven successful? And how can artists and cultural practitioners develop practical strategies for strengthening civic resilience through collaboration?
We see this excursion as a research visit and an opportunity for exchange within the framework of the "Opening Space | Promoting Encounters" project. It also offers artists from different regions of Germany—particularly the eastern federal states—the opportunity to come together informally and exchange ideas on current artistic and social issues, especially those affecting rural areas.
Since 2025, IGBK's "Opening Space | Promoting Encounters" project has focused on regional artistic initiatives that create spaces for encounter through their work, often operate across or between artistic disciplines, and pursue socially engaged approaches. As part of the project, IGBK organises public events and audio interviews, including with international partners, in order to document diverse perspectives, strengthen cross-border solidarity and, ideally, contribute to the development of new networks (more information on the 2025/ 2026 program can be found here). The OSTEN Festival is an important example of this kind of artistic practice.
More information about the festival (in German)