Centrale Fies Festival

The Centrale Fies Festival unfolds across three distinct chapters, conceived as complementary moments of research, experimentation and sharing, capable of weaving together performative practices, music and critical thinking within an international perspective. A multifaceted journey that brings artists, curators and audiences into dialogue around the most vibrant forms of contemporary creation.

• From June 17 to 21, 2026, the festival opens with AEROPONIC, developed in collaboration with the Dutch Art Institute of Arnhem. The project brings to Centrale Fies an intense programme of performances created by artists from the academy, alongside a rich schedule of free public events involving students, curators and international mentors. The title refers to aeroponics, a soil-free cultivation technique that becomes a metaphor for suspended and interconnected artistic practices, nourished by exchanges, relationships and shared imaginaries. During the five opening days, the public will be able to attend 20 performances and take part in 10 open events including talks, performative actions and moments of reflection.
   
• From July 16 to 26, 2026, Centrale Fies opens to the public for ten consecutive days to present the outcomes of its annual projects and the main research trajectories developed.
  The 2026 summer programme unfolds through exhibitions, lectures, performative practices, research devices, convivial moments and public activations, shaping a heterogeneous and constantly evolving cultural landscape.
  Centrale Fies structures its programme around moments of public presentation linked to different projects, starting with LIVE WORKS SUMMIT + Agitu Ideo Gudeta Fellowship (July 17–19), followed by The Sparks Return (July 22).
  During the first weekend, from July 16 to 19, for LIVE WORKS SUMMIT, Centrale Fies presents the final performances of the 2025 edition of Live Works, one of the longest-running Italian calls with a decolonial curatorial approach, alongside the project selected within the Agitu Ideo Gudeta Fellowship, now in its fifth edition, a research grant dedicated to racialised artists with Italian citizenship.
  LIVE WORKS represents a concrete support platform for emerging artists, also thanks to a consolidated network of institutional partners such as Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Palazzo Grassi, Tanzfabrik Berlin, Hangar Barcelona and Operaestate Festival, facilitating encounters and dialogue between artists and the national and international cultural system.
  The festival audience thus has the opportunity to witness the national debut of a new generation of artists from all over the world.
  An entire evening, on July 22, is dedicated to The Sparks Return, curated by Stefania Santoni, Pierangelo Giacomuzzi and P. Parenti. A project by Virginia Sommadossi and Elisa Di Liberato, winner of the Laboratorio di Creatività Contemporanea call promoted by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture. Here, a network of young cultural activists operating in the valleys of Trentino explores new forms of shared curatorship, investigating the relationship between culture, landscape, belonging and social transformation through assemblies, working groups, talks and a shared dinner, where everything is open to public participation.
   
• From July 23 to 26, 2026, the festival concludes with LOVE IS POLITICAL, the summer chapter of Centrale Fies dedicated to relationships and their ability to transform over time.
  Artists such as Anagoor, Annamaria Ajmone, Chiara Bersani with Lemmo, Dewey Dell, Francesca Pennini with CollettivO CineticO, Industria Indipendente, Laura Tripaldi, LIMINAL, Mali Weil, Michele Bertolino, MOTUS, OPEN GROUP, Rifugio Amore, Sofia Baldi Pighi, Violetta Cottini and Wissal Houbabi create a programme that intertwines different languages and practices.
  Following the chapters Enduring Love, Evolving Love and Radical Love, the 2026 edition focuses on the political dimension of relationships, starting from the idea that what happens between people never remains confined to the private sphere, but contributes to generating visions, possibilities and new forms of coexistence.
  The festival unfolds as an ecosystem of exhibitions, performances, installations and moments of exchange, where ongoing paths intersect with new research. Some artists return to Centrale Fies bringing shared experiences, while others present processes still in progress, creating an open space for dialogue between audience, territory and contemporary practices.
  A project that places encounter and relationship at its core as tools for research and transformation, shaping a dynamic context in which different languages coexist and influence each other.

Centrale Fies Festival is a thoughtful event, as it builds a structured cultural path based on research, experimentation and international exchange, enhancing contemporary performance as a space for dialogue between artists, curators and audiences.