Red Flags program

Today’s society is obsessed with “red flags,” these bad omens we detect everywhere. And yet, while we’ve been taking note of even minor deviations in our everyday lives, have we ignored the warning signs in politics—global and local—for too long? steirischer herbst addresses this question in newly commissioned performances, a group exhibition, discussions, and more. Its upcoming edition, Red Flags, delves into culture wars and real wars and explores how “red” causes such as egalitarianism have themselves become flagged as dangerous ideas in a world increasingly leaning toward authoritarianism.

The 59th edition of the festival opens on September 24 with a musical performance by Julian Warner, whose Kulturkampf-centered piece takes the form of a wrestling match at a public square. The opening day concludes with the premiere of Alex Baczyński-Jenkins’s new choreography, which explores the political and utopian potential inherent in the figure of the angel.

Further performances punctuate the three-and-a-half-week festival: Franz von Strolchen imagines the fragile future of remembrance culture; Daniel Dominguez Teruel hosts an absurd ceremony at a popular leisure spot; Lukas Michelitsch reconstructs Austrian partisan history; Lennart Boyd Schürmann revives Romain Rolland to navigate modern illusions; Die Rabtaldirndln dissect the misogyny in Styria’s cultural heritage; Stina Fors links her body and voice to the architecture of a small Baroque church; Francesca Grilli’s choral piece shows a young generation caught between seclusion and exposure; Azade Shahmiri creates a living archive of voices from Iran; and Lina Majdalanie & Rabih Mroué present their award-winning piece about Bertolt Brecht’s anticommunist hearing.

The steirischer herbst ’26 exhibition occupies a 17th-century building that last housed a folkloristic schnitzel restaurant. It is located in Gries, Graz’s most diverse district, which has recently become a political battleground. Inside the former tavern, artists—including Rawan Almukhtar, Josefin Arnell, Vanessa Baird, Leila Hekmat, Max Höfler and Andreas Unterweger, Nikolay Karabinovych, Gabriele Edlbauer and Julia S. Goodman, Alexa Karolinski and Ingo Niermann, Alina Kleytman, Heather Phillipson, and Jaro Varga—construct a labyrinth of fractured narratives, unfolding as a microcosm of domestic life in a danger zone. Each room tells a different story, populated by a cast of contemporary archetypes and marginalized figures: detectives, tradwives, cult members, cam girls, and vampires. In a time when the far right aggressively instrumentalizes the public sphere, the exhibition retreats into the domestic interior only to reveal that there is no safe haven. The exhibition opens on September 25, with a dance performance by Xenia Koghilaki that brings the mosh pit to the stage. It runs through November 15, and its closing is marked by a two-day symposium on The End of Contemporary Art? (November 13–14), featuring a keynote by Peter Osborne.

In three double bills, this year’s herbst cabaret presents deadpan, playful, and acerbic takes on political and personal red flags in new shows by Hendrik Quast, Carmen Chraim, Krõõt Juurak, Csaba Molnár / Nicole Clore, Hanik Soleimani, and Naya de Souza.

Oxana Timofeeva kicks off steirischer herbst’s discursive program, which sees the return of the herbst deathmatches, debates with audience voting. This year’s matchups are Robert Misik vs. Emilia Roig, Florian Klenk vs. Konrad Paul Liessmann, and Paul Feigelfeld vs. Orit Halpern. A roundtable discussion on Austria’s questionable antifascist legacy with Ruth Beckermann, Heimo Halbrainer, and Erich Klein is also part of the program.

Participating artists include Rawan Almukhtar, Josefin Arnell, Alex Baczyński-Jenkins, Vanessa Baird, Carmen Chraim, Daniel Dominguez Teruel, Gabriele Edlbauer and Julia S. Goodman, Stina Fors, Francesca Grilli, Leila Hekmat, Max Höfler and Andreas Unterweger, Krõõt Juurak, Nikolay Karabinovych, Alexa Karolinski and Ingo Niermann, Alina Kleytman, Xenia Koghilaki, Lina Majdalanie & Rabih Mroué, Lukas Michelitsch, Csaba Molnár / Nicole Clore, Hendrik Quast, Heather Phillipson, Die Rabtaldirndln, Lennart Boyd Schürmann, Azade Shahmiri, Hanik Soleimani, Naya de Souza, Franz von Strolchen, Jaro Varga, and Julian Warner​

As ever, steirischer herbst embraces a varied Partner Program by local art institutions and cultural initiatives as well as its festivals-within-the-festival ORF musikprotokoll and Out of Joint, the literary festival within steirischer herbst.

steirischer herbst ’26 is curated by Ekaterina Degot, David Riff, Line Spellenberg, and Pieternel Vermoortel, supported by junior curators Beatrice Forchini and Lukas Michelitsch, with curatorial advice by Gábor Thury, and created by the festival’s whole team.

For further information or accreditation requests, please contact the press department at press@steirischerherbst.at.