What’s inside ArtCargo Festival 2026

With only a few days to go, ArtCargo reveals its performance programme that will take over downtown Nicosia from October 16 to 25. Performances on trees, on 300 wine glasses, 12 metres above the ground, and interventions that depend on audiences taking action are but a few of the events on the agenda.

As ArtCargo Festival comes to the capital for the first time, artists from Cyprus and abroad will transform public spaces with performances that defy gravity, rethink the possibilities of circus art and invite audiences to become part of the action.

With free admission to all events thanks to the festival’s supporters (Exness, BFF, Nicosia Municipality and Mellow), ArtCargo spreads throughout the old town, turning streets and squares into places of performance and encounter. Passersby become participants and spectators, while the boundaries between artist and audience, performance and everyday life begin to disappear.

The French company L’Immediat will present the participatory performance Definition of an Artwork as an Act of Confidence in an Audience on October 16 at 3.30pm and 5pm and on October 17 at 12pm and 4pm.

An unlikely stage characterises this performance: a tree. One artist, one musician and a tree create a performance where watching, holding and being held gradually become part of the same experience.

Running throughout the festival is a dance and media installation on a water screen titled Parapmetric Deep. This is ArtCargo Festival’s Signature Installation and a special co-production with Cypriot choreographer Panos Malactos. It places a dancer inside a constantly changing world of water, light, movement and algorithms. The installation is a ten-minute loop which will run every day at 7pm, except on October 19 and 20.

Next comes a street comedy show by El Goma, the stage name of Argentine-born, Germany-based performer Juan Gomez. In The Atari Show, El Goma turns failure into an art form. Everything that can go wrong, goes wrong. Armed with a suitcase and a device loaded with cinematic sounds and effects, he combines juggling, visual comedy, dance and fast-paced improvisation in a one-man variety show where everyday situations spiral into absurd chaos.

This will be presented to audiences and passersby four times; at 2pm and 6pm on October 17 and at 3pm and 5pm on October 18. Where? The exact locations of all of the performances will be revealed by the festival soon.

Juggler and handstand artist Stina Otterström and Arttu Lahtinen are a contemporary circus duet part of the Swedish company OLO. Their performance Soft Spot turns an everyday object into a partner, obstacle and threat. The two performers manipulate, stack and balance hundreds of glasses on wooden planks, creating a high-stakes game of precision, trust and balance.

Their act explores vulnerability as much as danger, with the possibility of collapse always present. Audiences can catch it, holding their breath, on October 17 at 3pm and 5pm and on October 18 at 4pm and 6pm.

A Cypriot production arrives on October 18 at 5.50pm as Evie Demetriou presents her dance performance and happening ON AIR. Set in a public place, the performance questions what it means to be ‘on air’ in a world where everything is already being broadcast.

The performers move through the city like signals, while pedestrians are drawn in, intentionally or accidentally, into a live and constantly changing performance. Conceived and directed by Evie Demetriou, ON AIR is created and performed by Rania Glymitsa, Katerina Tylliridou, Chris Mills and Diamanto Hadjizacharia.

Sabrina Gargano and Rafa Jagat from Catalonia’s Elelei company will bring the performance Blindly to Nicosia on October 22 and October 23 at 6.30pm and 8pm. Combining physical theatre, acrobatics and dance, Blindly transforms a familiar childhood game into an exploration of trust, vulnerability and perception.

The performers play with the simple experience of being blindfolded and trying to recognise the person touching you. The result combines humorous dance sequences, demanding partner acrobatics and theatrical imagery, exploring what remains when sight is taken away.

Another performance from Catalonia, Spain sees artist Joan Català brings his Pelat performance – a new circus happening that demands the audience build the performance. Pelat brings together one man, an enormous wooden pole and an audience. Blending dance, circus and physical theatre, the performance develops through balance, physical effort, trust and cooperation. Nicosia will experience it twice, on October 23 at 5pm and October 24 at 4pm.

For the festival’s Youth Programme, VF Foundation and the Embassy of Japan welcome 11-year-old slackline champion Kanon Ito. Her performances on October 24 (2pm and 6pm) and October (5pm) will introduce young audiences to an activity that sits somewhere between sport, circus and street culture.

An International Gibbon Pro Rider, she has competed at major events in Europe, Mexico and the United States. This October she will show Nicosia how she achieves her jumps, rotations, aerial tricks and complex combinations above the line before landing on a surface only a few centimetres wide.

One more production by Elelei arrives on October 24 and 25 all about when love and care cross limits. Too Much uses dance, theatre and acrobatics to explore how control and affection can turn into obsession, and good intentions can go too far. Three performers push tenderness, chaos and physical dependence to their limits, inspired by the Catalan saying “De tant que et vull et trec un ull” — roughly, “I love you so much I could poke your eye out.”

The grand finale of ArtCargo 2026, Soka Tira Osoa is a spectacular participatory performance that brings together high-wire acrobatics, live rock music and collective action. The title refers to pulling a rope, evoking the traditional game of tug-of-war. Basinga transforms this idea of opposing forces into an act of collaboration, with up to 60 local participants helping to prepare the crossing.

Beyond the main programme, more activities and the locations will be announced soon.

ArtCargo Performing Arts Festival

Public street perfomances from local and international artists, installations and workshops. October 16-25. Throughout Nicosia.www.artcargofest.com