CLASSE is a project of transmission, compromise, blending and mixing, invented pedagogies and radical imagination. CLASSE is a space for words and thoughts that combines a public programme with the creation of an ongoing working group, moving through the Short Theatre 2026’s programme and beyond.
Every day for 10 days, artists, poets, activists, philosophers and researchers are invited to give a short talk starting from a specific word / issue / practice. Discover all the other appointments that constitute the public programme of CLASSE.
How can poetic resistance and the act of creating memory open up imaginings of more inclusive futures in the face of historical erasure? Eszter Salamon suggests reflecting on connecting artistic research and practice linked to speculative history making with feminist and cinematic forms of storytelling. The artist discusses their ongoing research exploring transnational relationships across time, which confronts historical and contemporary fascism.
Sommerspiele (2023) is a cinematic exploration of history and memory, centred on the life and work of German avant-garde dancer and artist Valeska Gert, within the context of the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Set against the backdrop of Nazi architecture and echoing Gert’s use of the grotesque, the film exposes the failures of collective memory. Blending autobiography, historical fact, and art-historical reference and speculation, Sommerspiele embraces the potential of performance and cinema to evoke poetic and political empathy beyond time. Through a transnational and feminist lens on both past and present, the film reflects on the resurgence of fascism.
Eszter Salamon is also present at Short Theatre 2026 with the performance Dance for Nothing (revisited), on September 5 at La Pelanda.
Eszter Salamon is a choreographer, filmmaker, artist and performer. She lives and works in Berlin and Paris. In 2019, she won the Evens Art Prize. She won the La Vie Bonne call for projects organised by the National Centre for Plastic Arts (FR) and Aware: Archive of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions in 2020. In 2023, she received the prestigious Hedda Prize in the Best Scenography and Costume category for her costume design for MONUMENT 0.10: The Living Monument, created in collaboration with Carte Blanche. In 2025, she was appointed a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture.
Salamon uses choreography to combine and structure a variety of media, including images, sounds, music, texts, voices and bodily movements and actions. Since 2001, she has created solo performances, large-scale projects, performative installations, and films, showcasing her works at performing arts venues and museums worldwide including Centre Pompidou Paris (FR), Centre Pompidou Metz (FR), Festival d’Automne (FR), Avignon Festival (FR), Ruhrtriennale (DE), Holland Festival (NL), The Kitchen New York (US), HAU Hebbel am Ufer Berlin (DE), Berlin Documentary Forum (DE), PACT Zollverein (DE), Kunstenfestivaldesarts (BE), Kaaitheater (BE), Tanzquartier Wien (AT), Kampnagel Hamburg (DE), steirischer herbst (AT), Manchester International Festival (UK), Nanterre-Amandiers (FR), FTA Montreal (CA), Dance Triennale Tokyo (JP), TheatreWorks Singapore (SG), Panorama Festival Rio de Janeiro (BR), Movimiento Sur Valparaiso (CL).
She is frequently invited to present her work in museums, including MoMA (USA), Museo Reina Sofía Madrid (ES), Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (ES), Serralves Foundation (PT), Akademie der Künste Berlin (DE), mumok (AT), 15th Baltic Triennial CAC Vilnius (LT), Kunstnernes Hus Oslo (NO), BHM Kiscelli Museum Budapest (HU), Cité international des arts, Paris (FR), Collection Lambert, Avignon (FR), Museum der Moderne Salzburg (AT), Villa Empain – Boghossian Foundation (BE), ING Art Center (BE), KINDL (DE), Kunstinstituut Melly (formerly known as Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art) (NL), Museo Centro Gaiás, Santiago de Compostela (ES).
Her exhibition, Eszter Salamon 1949, was presented at Jeu de Paume (F) in 2014 as part of Satellite, curated by Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez. Her large-scale performative installation, Study for the Valeska Gert Pavilion, was presented at the 16th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art 2022. Following her films Reappearance (2022) and Sommerspiele (2023), her film installation Landscaping (2025) was shown for the first time at the 21st Biennale de la Danse in Lyon, and later at IRCAM in Paris as part of the Centre Pompidou’s Constellation projects. RED, a multilayered homage to Valeska Gert, will premiere in August 2026 at the Internationales Sommerfestival Kampnagel, Hamburg.
part of CLASSE, project by AREA06 promoted by Roma Capitale – Assessorato alla Cultura, winner of the Avviso Pubblico Roma Creativa 365. Cultura tutto l’anno in collaboration with Zètema Progetto Cultura
with the support of Goethe-Institut a Roma
ph. Eszter Salamon in Sommerspiele (2023), short film directed by Eszter Salamon, Film Still © Marie Zahir