29th FAKI | Otvoreni poziv / open call 2026

About the Open Call

Poetics and politics of failure If failing is an obligatory step, does it go forward or backward? If we all agree that success is driving a Ferrari, are you a failure for driving your grandma’s bicycle? Can you fail with style? Why did you keep on playing chess against someone that was obviously going to beat you? Have you ever felt proud of failing? Have you ever failed so much that it became kind of fun? Is there joy in failing? Can we learn to fail? Can we learn from failing? Can we fail better? If failing is defined by a predetermined notion of success, can failing be an act of resistance? We can overcome the fear of failure through play. By playing, we obstruct the focus on outcomes so that we can live in the pure moment of the present: we allow ourselves to make mistakes and to indulge the pleasures of simply having fun. To tolerate, or rather to actively seek failures and to derive enjoyment from them is a key component of the creative process and an incredibly stimulating tool for imagination. Failure is revolutionary! Let’s embrace and celebrate mistakes! Losers always have a good time! Failure as a critique of capitalism A capitalist society intrinsically calls for a preconstructed notion of success for which the main indicator is the accumulation of wealth. This hegemonic ideology creates a single value system that presupposes certain expectations and standards of life, including in culture and art. Failure, in this case, is about opening up a space for alternative and critical articulation, a space for reshaping and questioning conventional standards of virtuosity and methods of artistic practice. Failure operates on the principle of diversity and permission, that is to say that it allows us to loosen the boundaries of the determined and thus surrender to creation outside the circle of what is expected. By failing together, we will surely and collectively come across something else that is valuable. Failure as an engine of imagination The unexpected, the spontaneous and the surprising elements of creation force us to never be satisfied with what is predicted. They lead us to constantly search for new formulas and solutions within different performance forms. Failure or error can serve as a method of the creative process. In moments of improvisation the practice of breaking expectations and patterns of behavior can almost bring us to a state of delirium; to a state of climax. They lead us to opening doors that we did not even know existed. Enter, without fear, without shame, you will certainly make a mistake! Failure as a contradiction Performing arts are different from other types of art when it comes to the final product or form of the ‘product’. A performance is lived in the moment and each representation positions both the audience and the performers as witnesses of a unique instant that takes place here and now. After the performance, no physical object remains (if we make abstraction of the set design and of the technical equipment), only the pure impressions of the experience subsist. Because of its ephemeral nature, a performance is subject to changes, to unexpected twists and turns. Therefore, performing arts tolerate mistakes that the audience will gladly forgive because it is understood that the given framework implies a margin of error. On the other hand, mistakes or failures are not always unchoreographed or unplanned, accidental or improvised, unrepeatable or original. They are used as well-strategized gags, often with the purpose of surpassing themselves: in order to survive failure, it is necessary to demystify it. Failure is our very funny friend. Within the idea of failure exists the presupposed criteria of perceived success. To fail is to resist it. To fail is to progress in a self-defined way. To talk about failure is to talk about impossible, unauthorized and inaccessible resources to which we often do not have access due to our socio-economic and cultural affiliation. We have not even started playing and we already know that we are losing. We are celebrating a predetermined defeat. We might as well make it fun because they say that there’s no revolution without dancing! FAKI is an anti-discrimination festival, which supports and implements radical social change through performing arts. Festival of Alternative Theatrical Expression – FAKI, was created in 1998 as a response to elitism, but also the commercialization of the institutional cultural environment whose political and artistic one-sidedness was a handicap to independent, avant-garde, subversive and experimental work of theater and performing artists. Avant-garde performance research, innovative conclusions and original procedures, the political and personal self-awareness of authors, and the humanity of ideas and messages – are the backbone of selection criteria that seeks to detect links between artistic practices for the artistic festival structure.

What is Offered

FAKI Festival will pay all reasonable costs for the presentation of accepted works: – Travel costs up to 200 € for individuals and up to 500 € for groups, with preference given to sustainable means of transport (bus, train, shared car) – Shared accommodation on-site at AKC Medika and healthy vegan lunches and dinners during the festival – Basic technical support (light, sound, and other wonders) – Photo and video documentation of the performances – Public relations and media presence via the festival network – Rehearsal space / residency (if needed) – Dramaturgy support and/or feedback (if needed)

Requirements

We call upon all creators to reflect on failure – its meaning in a world obsessed with success, its power as a tool of imagination, the political charge of mistakes, and how art can celebrate what is usually hidden. To embrace failure in capitalism is to resist its rules. Call for artists, activists, researches and theatre critics.

How to Apply

Apply here:[OPEN CALL FORM 2026](https://forms.gle/Q8USMnWCtc3PTLUC7)