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Forestival 2026 – Open Call for Artists

We’re looking for your artistic practice.

Application Deadline: April 12, 2026

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Why Forestival?

Forestival is more than a festival – it’s a living organism where art is not merely presented, but rethought in exchange with nature, community, and process.

Since 2021, we’ve opened Süßgrund in Lahnstein annually as a space for radical artistic experiments. From June 13–21, 2026, over 80 artists from 30+ countries transform the forest into a laboratory for site-specific work, collective processes, and sustainable creation.

This is not about isolated gestures, but about art as a living process – shared, discussed, developed further. A place where your practice finds resonance: with nature, with other artists, with an audience that truly looks.

What We Offer

Exhibition in Natural Space Your work enters dialogue with the topography of Süßgrund – not a white cube, but an open field for site-specific interventions. The landscape becomes curator: slopes guide sight lines, clearings create spaces of encounter, trees and paths define reception. You determine where and how your work is presented – whether temporary installation, participatory action, or subtle trace. Art emerges here in the tension between nature, material, and concept.

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Artistic Process Support Forestival understands itself as a laboratory for continuous practice. Your work develops not in isolation, but in exchange with the festival’s ecosystem – through spontaneous collaborations, critical conversations, or friction with the unexpected. We offer infrastructure for experiment: open studio spaces, access to local materials, and a network that offers impulses without prescribing. Your process is central – whether performative, object-based, or discursive.

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Residency as Open Format A temporary camp as both retreat and production space: living in tents or simple accommodations, shared kitchen with regional food, flexible work spaces between forest and meadow. No rigid program, but a framework for self-organized formats – from open studios to skill-sharing to informal discourse. The residency thrives on the dynamic of its participants: use it for focused work, network-building, or collective projects. The focus is on autonomy and sustainable production – both ecologically and artistically.

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Art in Nature – A Central Theme

At the heart of Forestival stands the direct encounter between art and nature. Süßgrund in Lahnstein becomes an experimental field: Your work can emerge in harmony with the ecosystem – or deliberately stand against it, question it, disturb it, exaggerate it.

Whether symbiotic, provocative, or ambivalent – we seek works that understand the forest not merely as backdrop, but as partner, adversary, or mirror. Land art, sculpture, performance, digital interventions: everything is possible as long as it reinterprets the place.

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Optional Annual Motto: „The Golden Twenties“

The motto of the Kultursommer Rheinland-Pfalz 2026 is an invitation, not a mandate. It references the cultural explosion of the 1920s – a time of experimentation, social upheaval, and artistic radicality. Süßgrund itself was once home to avant-gardists (including at Haus Jungfried) who developed their ideas here.

Possible references for your work:

• Historical friction: How does the spirit of Dada, Expressionism, or New Objectivity translate into our present?
• Nature as utopia: The 1920s dreamed of a new world – what’s your vision, 100 years later in the middle of the forest?
• Society in flux: Climate crisis, digital revolution – where do you find parallels or breaks with the upheavals of the Twenties?

But: The motto is not a straitjacket. If your practice goes other ways, that’s explicitly welcome. What matters is how your work touches the place, the community, and the time.

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What We’re Looking For

We’re looking for artists whose practice has depth.

Your artistic thinking: You’re an artist with a clear position. Your work should be realizable in 9 days in the forest – whether it dialogues with nature, critiques it, contrasts with it, or exists independently of it. The forest is space & resonance. We’re interested in your approach. Not in a specific format, aesthetic, or style.

Professional artistic practice: You show a portfolio and have a clear artistic position. Your project idea should be realizable in 9 days in the forest – but it can come from anywhere. We seek your practice, not the servicing of a theme.

Feasibility & courage: Your project can be implemented on-site. You bring experimental enthusiasm, respect for the ecosystem and other artists.

Engagement: You want to exchange. At least 1–2 days of on-site presence, openness to conversations with visitors and other artists.

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How It Works

Timeline

When	What
April 12	Application deadline
May 1	Acceptances & rejections sent
June 10–12	Setup & installation dates
June 13, 6 PM	Opening vernissage
June 13–21	Festival
June 20, 6 PM	Closing finissage
June 21	Artist Family Gathering (longest day of the year)

How to Apply

1. Check out the map: https://forestival.de/karte-2025 Understand the landscape & previous hotspots.
2. Your theme: Forest? Nature? „The Golden Twenties“? None of the above?
3. Fill out the form:
   • Portfolio (website or PDF)
   • Project idea & nature connection
   • Availability & interests (residency, workshops, etc.)

[APPLY NOW → https://nc2.forestival.de/apps/forms/s/8NAfzdTjKpFP3JESJnTKQMaP]

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Questions?

Email: artist-request@forestival.de

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Ready?

[APPLY NOW → https://nc2.forestival.de/apps/forms/s/8NAfzdTjKpFP3JESJnTKQMaP]

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Forestival – Art in Dialogue with Nature A platform for artists who work seriously.