Floating Castle is not only a festival. It is a community, a platform connecting artists and art itself with people in everyday life. It is a place of surprises and definitely an experience that is every time special in its uniqueness, intermediality, and candidness. This feeling is created by scenographers, who co-create spaces and the atmosphere around the Snežnik Castle. One kilometer of forest and meadows is transformed into a total theater, where visitors are unknowingly invited to become a part of the performance.

Floating Castle festival brings us top concerts of ethno, jazz, electronic, and experimental music in addition to puppet shows for kids and adults, modern and tribal fusion, dance performances, circus, intermedial events, as well as street and theater performances. This year we prepared an extended programme created by over 400 artists from all over the world. Join us on 14 stages between trees, rocks and the castle!

We will host many excellent and prizewinning musicians such as Chant Electronique, Old Salt, Turfu, Tygroo and of course the Etno Histeria orchestra with 70 members. Stages that are built from scratch every year will be leaning on descriptions of the “Horse smugglers” written by the local writer Matevž Hace. The settings are varied and include sinking sculptures, a plain with a nest for intimate events, an oak where you meet the countess Greta, an old fire truck turned into a stage, and the traditional floating stage with the ethno music concept. There are also the White lady, the stage of illusions or the castle walls with the projections, where most days filled with unforgettable experiences will end.

What is more, the festival spirit will be enriched with the market, workshops, seminars, and continuous jam sessions on open stages. As a part of the Infokolpa, refugees will present their stories from the Balkan route and participants of the Kraljestvo risa workshop will prepare an outdoor exhibition. Visitors will be able to test themselves in the old village games, refresh themselves in the stream or chill on the beach. In addition, as a part of the acrobatic-vocal workshop LGL and the Cirkokrog group will co-create a performance based on the smugglers theme.

The festival is powered by volunteering, ecology, connection of environment and local themes, unexpected and unannounced events that are the base of the social and art platform of over 1000 artists from all over the world. They perform for free every year. Hence, this year we launched a system of contributions meant for artists. This way every visitor will donate half of his entrance to their favorite performers. This will be achieved by the festival coins called “Kojn”. (The name is based on the theme and means a horse and at the same time sounds similar to the English word coin.) With this intervention is the team Floating Castle establishing a space connecting culture with the social issues to spark new ideas and projects, which are not limited by the stages and theaters but invite the participants to become more active in the times of social transformations.