With the sun☀️ shining gloriously over the clear skies in Bucharest these days (great weather to discover the city and its dreamy bookstores), who is not thinking of summer time festivals already? feeder’s selection of 20 European music festivals should provide you with exciting recommendations for 2017.
But what if art, design, fashion or technology spark your neurons more intensely? We’ve prepared for you a list with 13 recommendations, some of the most remarkable festivals if you want to explore the diverse world of contemporary creators and makers.
Enjoy your travels!
1 Brighton Festival
6 – 28 May 2017
Brighton, UK
website
Brighton Festival is an annual celebration of music, theatre, dance, circus, art, film, literature, debate, outdoor and family events – taking place in venues both familiar and unusual across Brighton & Hove for three weeks every May. Established in 1967, Brighton Festival has become one of the city’s most enduring symbols of inventiveness and celebration over the past half century. Brighton Festival is produced and delivered by the same team that runs the city’s leading arts venue, the Grade I listed Brighton Dome.
2. Pictoplasma
10 – 14 May 2017
Berlin, Germany
website
Pictoplasma is a network of thousands of artists from all over the globe, a large international community of creatives, designers, illustrators, animators, artists and fans, all connected by a shared love for contemporary, character-driven visual art.
The Project organizes annual festivals and conferences in Europe and the US, curates exhibitions, established the world’s first character design Academy master-class, consults companies with all their character needs and closely accompany the scene as it moves towards a completely new understanding of character.
3. Wiener FestWochen
12 May – 18 June 2017
Vienna, Austria
website
When it started in the 1950s, the Wiener Festwochen laid several important foundations for creating a new image for Vienna, both nationally and internationally. After Vienna and Austria had been isolated by Austrofasciscm and Nazism, it was necessary to reconnect with the world, to integrate the city and the country into the international discourse of art and culture, to promote life, openness, and the idea of a future.
4. La Biennale di Venezia – VIVA ARTE VIVA
13 May – 26 November 2017
Vienna, Austria
website
5. Athens Digital Arts Festival
18 – 21 May 2017
Athens, Greece
website
Athens Digital Arts Festival is an International Festival which celebrates digital culture through an annual gathering bringing together a global community of artists and audiences. Athens Digital Arts Festival aims to encourage, stimulate and promote all aspects of digital creativity by hosting local as well as international artists and communities.
6. DMY International Design Festival
June 2017
Berlin, Germany
website
The DMY International Design Festival in Berlin has established a meeting place, trend barometer, design laboratory and playground for the international design community in the last 13 years. Over a period of 4 days, young designers and renowned creatives present the newest developments in contemporary design, giving Berlin designers the opportunity to network with the international design scene.
7. SONAR+D
14 – 17 June 2017
Barcelona, Spain
website
Sónar+D is the international conference for creativity and technology, designed to promote talent and business opportunities in the digital culture.
8. Art Basel
15-18 June 2017
Basel, Switzerland
website
Since 1970, Art Basel’s goal has been to connect the world’s premier galleries and their patrons, as well serving as a meeting point for the international art world. Now, over forty years later, its three fairs – in Basel, Hong Kong and Miami Beach – rank as the premier shows of their kind, presenting 20th and 21st-century art with a strong curatorial perspective.
29 – 31 July 2017
Bristol, UK
website
350 talented artists travel from over 50 countries and all over the UK to paint live on 30,000 sqft of surfaces including a NY style subway train, skate park, buildings, theatre, camper vans and hundreds of boards with over 40,000 visitors across the weekend.
10. Museum Embankment Festival
25 – 27 August 2017
Frankfurt, Germany
website
The Museum Embankment Festival, or “Museumsufer Fest” in German, is an annually held festival on the banks of the River Main, and it attracts more than 3 million visitors every year.
It’s structured as a tribute to the museum landscape of the city, made as a unique combination of art, theater, music, dance and cuisine.
11. Bread & Butter
1-3 September 2017
Berlin, Germany
website
This September, Bread & Butter will return bigger, better and BOLDER than ever. That means more space, more fashion, more brands, more live music, more catwalk shows, more celebrity guests, more talks, more food, more interactive labs, more live streams and, above all, more people than before. As ever, Bread & Butter is dedicated to spotlighting What’s Hot Now in fashion, music, food and contemporary culture, but for 2017 we’ve chosen a theme that goes further…This year, Bread & Butter is dedicating itself to all things BOLD.
7 – 11 September 2017
Linz, Austria
Art, technology, society. Since 1979, Ars Electronica has sought out interlinkages and congruities, causes and effects. The ideas circulating here are innovative, radical, eccentric in the best sense of that term. They influence our everyday life—our lifestyle, our way of life, every single day.
Been there, liked that: Ars Electronica 2016
December 2017
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
website
Amsterdam Light Festival is a light art festival for all. For about fifty days, the historical center of Amsterdam will present a unique décor for this international light and water festival. The boat tour, Water Colors, exhibit artworks along and above the Amstel River, while the walking route, Illuminade, will take place in the center of the city. The festival emanates light during the darkest period of the year and ‘enlightens’ the audience with colorful and engaging artworks.
Where are you heading for inspiration this summer?
The list is open and you can share your favourite art festivals in the comments area.
Words: Vlad Dumitrescu
