Paper short abstract:

Festivals are non-daily spaces where, for a limited period of time, supposedly utopian and more desirable ways of living can be explored and put into practice. How do (activist) participants negotiate, establish and materialise collectively aspired visions of 'a better life' during festivals?

Paper long abstract:

When constantly unachieved goals - utopias - can't be pursued in everyday life, a potentially escapist but logic consequence is to transfer them into non- daily spaces where different and unusual lifestyles, manners and forms of interactions are permitted - at festivals. But not any kind of festivals: "Tage der Utopie" ("Days of Utopia"), "Festival der Utopie" ("Festival of Utopia") or "Utopival" (a fusion of 'utopia' and 'festival') are some of the names of festivals in Germany which focus not only on negotiating but also on living utopian future drafts during the festival days. Within the framework of my PhD project with the working title "Living Utopia? On Discursive and Performative Negotiations of Alternative Life and Future Concepts at Festivals" I focus on the question, how collectively aspired visions or drafts of a better life and future are negotiated, established and materialised at utopia-themed but still quite heterogeneous festivals. The results of an exploratory field study during the festival season of 2018 suggest that these uncommercial, rural festivals are much less about music, consumption and simply having a good time, but about participants of different ages and with different backgrounds and degrees of education raising concerns, discussing and shaping aspirations of future transformations. As the festival organisers assign their events to be "grassroot movements" or "movements for living utopia" I will, inter alia, discuss whether the festivals' participants can be considered 'activists' and elaborate on how socio-cultural transformations and movements manifest themselves in festivals today.