ConTempo Festival unveils 2025 program: the world stage comes closer to the audience

The international performing arts festival ConTempo, taking place in Kaunas and Kaunas district from August 2 to 9, has announced its 2025 program. According to the festival’s director, Gintarė Masteikaitė, ConTempo remains committed to its core mission: giving audiences the chance to experience high-quality performing arts up close. This year’s lineup features 18 carefully curated performances that blend experimental forms, bold themes, and striking visual language.

Spanning seven days, this year’s ConTempo program is designed to welcome both curious newcomers and devoted performing arts lovers. Audiences will be treated to a wide range of performances — from contemporary dance, object theatre, and performance art to circus and acrobatics. The venues are just as diverse as the program itself: artists from across Europe will perform in public urban spaces, theatres, sports halls, amphitheatres, and even in the unique setting of the Lampėdžiai quarry. This summer’s adventure will feature unforgettable performances by artists from France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Germany, and Lithuania. As in previous years, many of the events will be free of charge, ensuring that world-class performing arts remain accessible to all festivalgoers.

According to ConTempo’s artistic director Gintarė Masteikaitė, despite natural changes and developments, the festival’s direction and goals remain the same: to present the highest quality professional national and international contemporary performing arts productions, to promote the diversity of performing arts, and to ensure access to a rich cultural life in Kaunas and the Kaunas District.

“In its early years, this festival felt like a ‘child’ to me — carefully and tenderly nurtured, protected, and guided forward. However, in recent years, I’ve increasingly felt that I’m not the only one raising this ‘child’ anymore — a dedicated festival team is shaping and nurturing it as well. New colors, directions, and voices are emerging. This collective creativity enriches the festival and allows it to grow and evolve organically, while still preserving what matters most.

“We want everyone — regardless of where they live, their experience, or social status — to have the opportunity to experience professional performing arts up close. Not just to watch, but to engage, feel, and truly live the moment. Because we believe that art has the power not only to change a mood or a moment, but also to transform the way we think and relate to ourselves and our surroundings,” says Gintarė Masteikaitė.

This year’s main program will feature a diverse mix of genres and forms. Kaunas will welcome Panama Pictures, a Netherlands-based company renowned for expertly blending contemporary dance, circus elements, and massive stage installations. Known for their thematically rich performances, the troupe will captivate audiences with two unique shows. 

In the troupe’s performance The Weight of Water, the theatre stage transforms into a body of water. This moving, poetic, and highly relevant piece explores the pursuit of power while revealing our interdependence — both on each other and on much larger, often uncontrollable forces. In their second work, Into Thin Air, three acrobats balance on suspended staircases, probing the limits of mutual trust.

This is not the only performance in the ConTempo program that incorporates stage objects. Returning to Kaunas is the French company Le Migration, this time addressing themes of femininity and connection to the earth. At the heart of the performance are four acrobats and a musician, who use a kinetic, carousel-like structure set in a natural environment.

The program will also introduce one of the festival’s most anticipated guests — Dutch choreographer and dancer Lisa Vereertbrugghen, a member of the CAMPO arts collective, renowned for nurturing numerous creators and highly awaited at prestigious festivals. In Kaunas, she will present her well-known piece While We Are Here, which blends elements of rave and folk dance. According to Gintarė Masteikaitė, this performance could become a cornerstone in shaping a new artistic direction for the ConTempo festival.

The ConTempo festival will also feature more memorable performances — for example, the French company Les Idoles Collective will take the stage at the Kaunas City Chamber Theatre with their physical and musical exploration, Reface. Audience members will feel as if they are on a film set, watching in real time as the scenery is transformed, costumes and characters change, and makeup is applied.

Over 30 performances will take place throughout the festival. Audiences will have the chance to experience both established European professionals and emerging performing artists striving to establish themselves in the professional art scene. The festival will also feature the ConTempo OFF program — an independent experimental platform organized by Kosmos Theatre and the Kaunas City Chamber Theatre.

“What the festival will be like this year can only be known once it takes place. We are not the only ones creating it — the festival lives through its audiences, the atmosphere, and shared experiences. Above all, the festival is about experiences — personal, collective, and unexpected. Our goal remains the same: to create meaningful experiences for audiences, the city, the district, and, of course, for the participants themselves,” says Gintarė Masteikaitė.

The world stage comes closer to audiences from August 2 to 9 in Kaunas and the Kaunas District. The full festival program is available at www.contempofestival.lt

ConTempo festival is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.