The Berlin Circus Festival will celebrate its 12th edition from August 5th to 16th, 2026, at Tempelhofer Feld. It is the largest festival for contemporary circus in Germany.
Image above: Berlin Circus Festival, Photo: © PanRay
For the 12th time, Germany’s largest festival for contemporary circus celebrates the boundless creativity of this genre. Over twelve days, the audience can expect a diverse selection of the best national and international productions, presented in three tents and on the open-air stage.
From Tuesday 11 August to Thursday 13 August, as part of the Catalan Focus, the festival will present the acrobatic highlight ‘TENET’: with breathtaking acrobatics and pulsating live music, Tenet is a fresh and vibrant show. The performers move with seamless precision and ease, showcasing playful, powerful and masterful acrobatics that explore the limits of balance and mutual support. Eight acrobats and a musician invite the audience to shift their perspective and question their worldview.
Before and after the performances, the festival site – an oasis on Tempelhofer Feld – offers a space to meet up and chat about the day’s events over drinks and pinsa by the fountain.
Since 2025, the visitors have been able to purchase an “Early Bird Ticket” for the following year during the current festival, thereby actively participating in the curatorial selection process. These participants receive exclusive insights into the program development and can cast their votes. In 2025, 115 people took advantage of this opportunity and contributed to the design of the upcoming edition.
One of the performances selected by the participants has already been announced: “Yes Person” by Based on Kimberly is a performance by the crowd-pleasers who already thrilled audiences at the festival with “Memoirs of Mud.” Inspired by the concept of “killing your darlings”—the creative act of discarding beloved but unsuitable ideas—this experimental, physical, and satirical show celebrates all those ideas that are too idiosyncratic to survive, yet too fabulous to die.
Based on Kimberly are uncompromisingly and unpretentiously committed to their vision of what circus can be, and they put their words into action. The duo utilizes available resources and artistic means that best serve their vision to create something new from a punky, playful, and politically left-leaning background. Inka and Imogen frequently incorporate themes such as feminism, freedom of speech, friendship, community, sexuality, and identity.
WHEN?
Wednesday, 5. August until Sunday, 16. August 2026
WHERE?
Tempelhofer Feld
Tempelhofer Damm
12101 Berlin
