Big Stage 25/26

Three years ago, Kampnagel celebrated its anniversary, ‘40 years of resistance’ and ‘40 years of State of the Arts’. The coming season will be the last Kampnagel season as we knew it - after which a major and necessary multi-year remodelling and refurbishment process will begin. By incorporating the ideas of many artists and Kampnagel employees, the vision of a production house for the next 40 years will be realised, one that retains its attitude, thinks about its own history and inscribes it into its own future, one that does not drive out the ghosts. At the same time, the remodelling is a major turning point that will make Kampnagel fit for the future and bring about significant changes and restructuring. In the words of the planning architects Lacaton & Vassal: Nothing is gonna change, everything's gonna change. This could also be the motto for the years of remodelling, during which Kampnagel will not close, but remain present in the city - same same but different in the best sense.

In the coming season, we want to make the strengthening connection between past and future tangible. To remember and value the past without conservatism. To be forward-looking without forgetting. A culture of remembrance must always also deal with the future, legends can also be told with a view to the future - and thus form the decisive difference to right-wing narratives, which in the 80th year after the end of the Second World War are more than ever persistently trying to tell a different story.