Arts & Culture
Explore the Arts & Culture programme at the EFA25
With “Recharge Europe”, the EFA25 arts and culture programme sparks new cultural energy for Europe in motion – imaginative, open-minded, and bold.
In times when Europe's core values are being tested, we need new forms of expression, exchange – and imagination. At the EFA25, art and culture create a vibrant space of resonance for the annual theme “Recharge Europe”. They offer fresh perspectives, make complex issues tangible and invite us to collectively envision a shared European future. Take part in a multi-faceted programme where Europe is not only debated, but rather experienced, questioned and reimagined.
Radikale Töchter
Since 2019, Radikale Töchter have been inspiring bold and unconventional forms of political participation through their workshops. By combining action, art and civic engagement, their practice aims to spark momentum – and to show how accessible it can be to get involved. Their goal: to ignite a critical mass of young people passionate about democracy, human rights, social justice – and the values of liberty, equality and solidarity.
As part of EFA25, Radikale Töchter will be present throughout the village with a subtle but unmistakable artistic presence. In line with the annual theme “Recharge Europe”, they create moments that invite pause, reflection and action.Radikale Töchter invite us to remain present – and to make space for the unexpected.
Workshops
In four interdisciplinary workshops, artists, experts and participants come together to explore urgent questions about the future from new perspectives and develop practical approaches. The topics – climate, democracy & the rule of law, economy & finance, and security – encounter art in all its diversity.
Artistic methods foster shifts in perspective, open up new spaces for action beyond familiar routines, and offer creative entry points to thinking about Europe’s future. The workshops serve as a laboratory for new forms of participation, cooperation and transformation – an invitation to reimagine Europe with imagination and conviction.
ART X DEM: Reimagining Democracy through Creative Practice
How can trust be rebuilt in a time of growing uncertainty? In this workshop, participants will work with the pseudo-Marxist media guerrilla Total Refusal to develop new impulses for democratic coexistence.
ART X FIN: Innovation Through Design
Together with designers and an expert in the field of Finance and Economy, this workshop will present new solution-oriented approaches to sustainable prosperity through innovation.
ART X CLI: Paths Toward a Connected Future
Whether physical or metaphorical – together with architect Fabian Lecker and writer Jana Volkmann, participants will explore ways to foster a more harmonious relationship between humans, animals and nature.
ART X SEC: Cooperation and Intercultural Dialogue
How can art become a bridge in a diverse Europe? This workshop, led by singer Golnar Shahyar and dramaturg Belenish Moreno Gil, explores new forms of communication, critical engagement with power, and global responsibility.
Performances – body, space and time
In a world shaped by uncertainty, we need new ways of understanding. The performances at EFA25 invite us not just to think about Europe, but to experience it – through body, sound, language, and space. They translate big questions into tangible moments and open artistic spaces of possibility, where social tensions, visions of the future, and collective memories are negotiated.
In Kcħψ̇ånt – a play about Alpbach – Robert Prosser and David Gschösser explore the history of the place in a wild mix of punk, dialect, and quantum physics. The performance draws on the valley’s stories and voices – from Vivienne Westwood to Erwin Schrödinger – bridging the local and the cosmic.
Sound of Entanglement brings science to life through the senses: in a unique lecture performance, musicians and visual artists respond in real-time to an actual quantum experiment. What usually happens behind lab doors becomes something we can hear, see, and feel.
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), “AI x 5” puts artificial intelligence in the spotlight. Through five short sketches, acting students explore a technology that increasingly shapes our daily lives and drives deep social change. The performance offers a fresh, creative take on one of today’s most urgent topics.
Together, the performances at EFA25 show: Europe is not just a political or economic project, but a cultural one. And only where we meet – in stories, sounds, and glances – can “Recharge Europe” come to life.
Concerts – Soundscapes for a Recharged Europe
In a time of profound change, music becomes more than performance – it becomes connection, reflection and shared experience. The concert series at the European Forum Alpbach 2025 features artists whose music blends cultural heritage with contemporary expression, revealing what holds Europe together at its core: diversity, memory, and the courage to transform.
Ernst Molden and Aliosha Biz open the concert series with poetic Viennese songs – deeply rooted in language and time, yet open to the unpredictable.
Lukas Oscar, a musician with Filipino roots, brings a voice that unites melancholy, strength, and belonging. Ësenaim. turns experiences from humanitarian missions with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) into immersive performances of electronic music, poetry, and visuals. It gives voice to resilience and unseen realities that words alone cannot express.
Finally, Anna Buchegger fuses Alpine traditions with futuristic pop – a playful mix of symbols and sounds that reveals how alive and ever-changing cultural heritage can be.
These concerts are more than performances – they are powerful sonic spaces for a Europe aware of its diversity and listening openly toward the future.
Duo Ruut
"The mythical singer Väinämöinen plays the kantele, a plucked string instrument, so beautifully that all creatures pause and cannot but listen to him.” The same thing happens when the Estonian musicians Duo Ruut play the kantele and sing along with their music. Katariina Kivi’s and Ann-Lisett Rebane’s arrestingly beautiful music captures every audience. They bring listeners together, creating a sense of community within a shared moment. We invite you to join in – listening, watching, recharging your batteries.
Popchop
In the second week, Popchop presents a curated programme of contemporary food stalls that approaches the culinary space as a site of cultural experience. At the core are questions about our future food culture, innovative forms of food production, and the social, ecological, and economic dimensions. In interaction with global influences, a vibrant culinary diversity emerges – one that appeals not only to the palate but also to social awareness. Popchop invites us to understand food both as a form of cultural expression and as a question of the future.