The idea of asphalt – a place of art and empathy.

asphalt is a festival with a beating heart – with a charisma that reaches far beyond Düsseldorf. Every year since 2012, the ‘Summer Festival of the Arts’ has presented an intense and exciting programme of theatre, music, dance, literature and performance art in Düsseldorf.

Over the years, the festival has become a crowd-puller with wide media coverage and is recognised nationally as an important cultural platform. It is directed by theatre director Christof Seeger-Zurmühlen and composer Bojan Vuletić, who founded asphalt.

‘Out of the theatre, into the city’ is the original idea behind asphalt. Art is for everyone and must deal with what people and society are dealing with. Art is relevant and must take place – not in an ivory tower, but in the midst of life, whether on a small or large stage, indoors or outdoors. That is why, since its first edition, asphalt has presented its programme not only in established theatres and concert halls, but above all in special places that are temporarily transformed into venues for the duration of the festival, each of them bringing its own magic – including former industrial sites, museums, churches, private rooms, office buildings, streets and squares in public spaces, and even a floating stage in a park in the middle of the city. Every year we look forward to seeing where asphalt will enrich the urban environment with art.

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This is how asphalt’s heart beats

asphalt not only presents national and international guest performances, but also co-produces new artistic works. In this way, it helps artists to network and new art to emerge. The festival sees itself as a production platform that initiates and co-finances the development of new artistic works. Since 2012, almost 100 co-productions in the fields of theatre, music and dance have been created at asphalt and have since been shown in many other theatres, concert halls and at festivals. Groundbreaking asphalt co-productions in recent years include ‘TANZ’ and ‘Ophelia’s Got Talent’ by Florentina Holzinger and the play ‘Verrückt nach Trost’ with Sebastian Blomberg, André Jung, Ursina Lardi and Devid Striesow, which director Thorsten Lensing realised together with asphalt and the Salzburg Festival.

The asphalt Festival also maintains close collaborations with other cultural institutions and festivals, locally, nationally and internationally. From 2025, for example, the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus will be making its four stages on Gustaf-Gründgens-Platz available to the asphalt Festival for the next few years during the last week of its season. During this week, asphalt will present outstanding national and international co-productions, guest performances and concerts at the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus. This means that during the last week of the season, the D’haus will offer an international programme of performing arts that will appeal to an additional audience. Thanks to this cooperation, the asphalt Festival has planning security and can invite large theatre productions with several years’ lead time and present them with optimal technical conditions.

The asphalt Festival opens up spaces for artistic experiences and encounters, for new discourses and social developments. In the best sense of the word, it is a folk festival of the arts in the city, for the country and for a diverse society.