A Festival for Everyone

The next Thalwil Cultural Days will take place from 11th to 27th June 2027, under the motto “StattStadt”. Over 40 projects spanning all artistic disciplines ensure a multifaceted and spectacular program. The exhibitions, concerts, public installations, theater productions, dance performances, and more will be developed collaboratively by cultural artists from Thalwil and the city of Zurich.

A wide variety of forms of expression and transdisciplinary projects by both professionals and amateurs enrich one another. Accessible formats invite a diverse range of people to engage with art, culture, society, and the environment. The festival creates an open space that appeals to the general public as well as the cultural scene.

About the motto “StattStadt”

“StattStadt” is a play on words that combines statt – “instead of” and Stadt – “city”.

 Thalwil is shaped by several, sometimes contradictory, social developments: statistically it is a city, politically a municipality, and in the minds of many, a village. Although Thalwil has become more urban, traces of village life remain visible. The municipality is growing and densifying, while at the same time the population is aging. Thalwil is long since part of the Zurich agglomeration, has become a suburb, yet still preserves its character.

 Fact is: Zurich is very close. The train ride through the tunnel to the “City” takes nine minutes—whether for work, restaurants, shopping, theatre, museums, or concerts. Zurich’s cultural radiance casts both light and shadow across the region. Its diverse range of activities attracts artists and audiences alike, and many young people prefer spending leisure time on Langstrasse rather than Landstrasse. Yet there is also a counter-movement, even displacement, from the world’s most expensive city to the suburbs and countryside. Despite greater social diversity, mutual perceptions remain ambivalent: many city dwellers, consider the “Agglo” as culturally of little relevance; conversely, the urban cultural scene is sometimes perceived as aloof.

“StattStadt” invites to reflect on urban–rural topics. The artistic projects: question the relationship between urbanization and proximity to nature, “density stress” and commuter towns, attribution and self-perception, identities and opportunities for identification. This includes reflections on the interplay between traditional and progressive art forms, as well as between professional and amateur culture.

“StattStadt” shifts the focus from the real political and perceived cultural urban-rural divide between to an in-between, an instead of, perhaps a neither-nor. “Stadt” as a common point of reference, “Statt” as a space of possibility.

About the Organization

Overall Responsibility: Gemeinde Thalwil, DLZ Gesellschaft und Sicherheit
Festival Director: Urs Küenzi, Head of Culture, Fachstelle Kultur, DLZ Gesellschaft und Sicherheit
Communications: Mirjam Panzer, Head of Communications, Fachstelle Kommunikation, Präsidiales
Graphic Design: KlingGrafik GmbH, Thalwil
Technical Director: Peter Hauser, Set Designer and Technician, Thalwil
Editing and Proofreading: Fabienne Scholz, ScholzKaiserCommunication, Thalwil

 

 

The project leaders

  • developed a project in accordance with the thematic call for proposals

  • implement the project under their own artistic, organizational, and financial responsibility

The Gemeinde Thalwil, Fachstelle Kultur, DLZ Gesellschaft und Sicherheit

  • has overall organizational responsibility  

  • initiates the development process

  • selects the projects and compiles the program

  • provides financial support to the projects

  • advises and supports the projects in terms of content and organization