THE END OF VIOLENCE - Season-opening Focus
The focus’ events can be attended with day passes, which are valid for the full programme of the given day.
Artists and contributors: AHA Collective - Tamás Páll / Igor & Ivan Buharov - Antimilitarist Salon / Cooking Sections (UK) / Cyprien Gaillard (FR/DE) / Jelena Jureša (BE) / Péter Kárpáti & friends / Dorottya Szonja Koltay ft. Brick Choir/ LAU / Balázs Pándi & Attila Csihar / Ambrus Gönczi - Local History Collection of Ferencváros / Thought Generatorr / Diána Vonnák
Full programme →
Starting with the 2025/2026 season, Trafó’s program will include two-weekend transdisciplinary focuses that delve into important social issues or artistic questions. The six-day program brings together different genres and approaches: contemporary dance, theater, performance, visual arts, and music—often in boundary-pushing ways, even within a single production. Each day features the work of several artists, inviting audiences to discover new creators and other genres alongside familiar names. The dense program, which activates all of Trafó's spaces, may seem like a mini-festival at first glance, but sustainability is an important consideration: some of the productions will be performed several times over the two weekends, and there will also be works that will travel between Trafó's spaces in an unusual way. Not only artists, but also the audience will have the opportunity to experiment. Take advantage of it!
Is it easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of violence?*
We are starting the season with a focus on The End of Violence, which encapsulates many current urgencies, while also seeking to open up utopian perspectives. Violence is present at almost every level of our lives: in the escalating armed conflicts, the intensifying arms race across Europe, the destruction of ecosystems and the climate crisis on a planetary scale. It also affects our everyday lives through the rise of hate speech and discrimination in public discourse, while domestic violence and violence against women* remains a crucial problem. How do we relate to all this and what can we do about it? How can we overcome feelings of helplessness and hold on to hope: to the idea of a social utopia in which our coexistence—our everyday lives, global power politics, our relationship to the environment and the more-than-human world—is no longer shaped by violence?
The End of Violence is not only a utopia, but also a lot of work: we have to work our way through the multifaceted consequences and impact of violence, and come to terms with the suffered trauma, which often takes generations. Healing and regeneration, reconstruction and justice are enormous challenges, while they concurrently hold the transformative potential for social change.
We invited several artists to think together with us about these issues and share the results in the form of new works, international productions, participatory performances, urban walks, concerts, and community events.
*The central question of the focus is a paraphrase of Fredric Jameson's statement, "It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism," with which we want to highlight the urgency of the situation, but also the important role that imaginaries play in social change.
DAILY PROGRAMME
Friday, 19 September
6:00 p.m. Guided tour in Cyprien Gaillard's (FR/DE) solo exhibition - visual arts - Gallery - free access
7:30 p.m. AHA Collective - Tamás Páll: Set 4. - PREMIERE - performance installation, dance - Club - two possible time slots, due to limited capacity
8:15 p.m. Diána Vonnák: Opening speech - Main Hall
8:30 p.m. Igor & Ivan Buharov - Anti-militarist Salon: Crisistheism - PREMIERE - multimedia performance - Main Hall
10:00 p.m. AHA Collective - Tamás Páll: Set 4. - performance installation, dance - Club - two possible time slots, due to limited capacity
Ongoing Cyprien Gaillard (FR/DE) solo exhibition - visual arts - Gallery
Ongoing Dana Kavelina (UA): Taki pejzaż (Such a Landscape) - visual arts, film - Studio
Saturday, September 20
6:00 p.m. AHA Collective - Tamás Páll: Set 4. - performance installation, dance - Club - two possible time slots, due to limited capacity
7:00 p.m. Péter Kárpáti & friends: Scabby Dog - PREMIERE - theater - Main Hall
8:30 p.m. AHA Collective - Tamás Páll: Set 4.
9:30 p.m. LAU - live act - music - Main Hall
10:30 p.m. Vatsanah - DJ set - music - Main Hall
Ongoing Cyprien Gaillard (FR/DE) solo exhibition - visual arts - Gallery
Ongoing Dana Kavelina (UA): Taki pejzaż (Such a Landscape) - visual arts, film - Studio
Sunday, September 21
2:00 p.m. Thought Generator: Witch Club - outdoor event - free access
4:00 p.m. Dorottya Szonja Koltay feat. Brick Choir: BRICKS. What Fell Down by Night, Was Built Back by Dawn - performance walk in public space - meeting point: Trafó box office - outdoor event - free access
6:00 p.m. Cooking Sections (UK): Becoming CLIMAVORE - A Dinner of Drought ft. yo8vagyat, Magház, PAD, Fuzzy Earth, Farm2Fork, Trafik - lecture performance, community dinner - Main Hall
8:30 p.m. AHA Collective - Tamás Páll: Set 4. - performance installation, dance - Club
Ongoing Cyprien Gaillard (FR/DE) solo exhibition - visual arts - Gallery
Ongoing Dana Kavelina (UA): Taki pejzaż (Such a Landscape) - visual arts, film - Studio
Friday, September 26
5:30 p.m. Péter Kárpáti & friends: Scabby Dog - theater - Club - two possible time slots, due to limited capacity
7:30 p.m. Jelena Jureša (BE): APHASIA - concert performance - Main Hall
9:00 p.m. Dávid Somló: The Smallest Passage - PREMIERE - participatory performance - Main Hall
10:00 p.m. Péter Kárpáti & friends: Scabby Dog – theater – Club – two possible time slots, due to limited capacity
Ongoing Cyprien Gaillard (FR/DE) solo exhibition - visual arts - Gallery
Ongoing Dana Kavelina (UA): Taki pejzaż (Such a Landscape) - visual arts, film - Studio
Saturday, September 27
5:30 p.m. Péter Kárpáti & friends: Scabby Dog - theater - Studio
6:00 p.m. AHA Collective - Tamás Páll: Set 4. - performance installation, dance - Club - two possible time slots, due to limited capacity
7:30 p.m. Jelena Jureša (BE): APHASIA - concert-performance - Main Hall
9:00 p.m. Dávid Somló: The Smallest Passageway - participatory performance - Main Hall
10:00 p.m. AHA Collective - Tamás Páll: Set 4. - performance installation, dance - Club - two possible time slots, due to limited capacity
Ongoing Cyprien Gaillard (FR/DE) solo exhibition - visual arts - Gallery
Ongoing (from 7:30 p.m.) Dana Kavelina (UA): Taki pejzaż (Such a Landscape) - visual arts, film - Studio
Sunday, September 28 - external venue: Arzenál (1095 Budapest, Soroksári út 158/C)
4:00 p.m. Urban history walk to the former arms factory led by Ambrus Gönczi (Local History Collection of Ferencváros) - meeting point: at the corner of Kén Street and Soroksári Road
6:00 p.m. & 7:00 p.m. Lili Raubinek - Dávid Somló: The Act of Pressure - participatory performance - F-158 Martial Arts Center (in the Arzenál building) - two possible time slots, due to limited capacity
6:00 p.m. & 7:00 p.m. Bence György Pálinkás - Tímea Török: Less Lethal Weapons - participatory lecture performance - Arzenál - two possible time slots, due to limited capacity
8:00 p.m. Balázs Pándi & Attila Csihar: Hiedelem - concert - Arzenál
Cover image: Jelena Jureša (BE): APHASIA
