good on you!

At the moment, you can't stop being outraged at the world. Every time you think you've reached a new peak of outrage, someone takes it to a next level. And with every piece of news you read about the world's heads of state, it gets a little more devastating. What was ridiculed as doom and gloom a few months ago has long since been surpassed by reality.

In addition to the (very important) outrage, we think it is helpful right now to look at where things are going well, where someone is resisting by going their very own path - and to support each other in this. The phrase ‘good on you!’ epitomises this. It’s encouragement, praise, congratulations, an expression of joy, a verbal high-five, so to speak. In the programme of auawirleben 2025, we send out a ‘good on you’ to those who have made a decision for their lives and defend it against all norms.

In these times, marginalised people especially need the support of peers and allies, as they are the first to suffer from the rise of fascism. In this programme, we want to give a voice to trans people, disabled people and people with migration experiences in particular, because we can only become good allies if we listen.

This year's programme was created in a slightly different way than usual. For the first time, we have brought in two external people to co-curate the programme. Some of you may remember Dan Daw and Liz Counsell from the group Dan Daw Creative Projects from the almost legendary guest performance of «The Dan Daw Show» at aua 2023. Back then, the group and the festival instantly fell in love with each other. When the idea and opportunity arose to curate the festival together with artists, we it was clear that Daw and Counsell were our first choice. So, the two of them co-curated the programme together with the artistic director of auawirleben, Nicolette Kretz.

Another perfect match happened with the Festival Centre: «in transformation» is the name of the cultural institution at Bollwerk formerly known as Kapitel and it's not just called that, it is. We are delighted to be able to take up residence there for 12 days with our Festival Centre. Here you can meet before and after the performances, enjoy delicious drinks or a fine meal shoulder to shoulder or eye to eye with the invited artists and the aua team. And there is also a top-class supporting programme!

We are looking forward to the invited productions from the UK Portugal, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, Croatia and Ticino as well as two films from Lucerne and the UK and pixelated donkeys from Canada, who start their revolution at the end of the festival. We look forward to spending 12 intense days with you, dear audience, in the foyers, the theatres, the REX cinema and the Festival Centre. Let's come together and stick together in all of this!