Next Level – Festival for Games

Since 2010, the "Next Level - Festival for Games" has been showcasing interactive and participatory models of digital games culture and illuminating their potential and perspectives. The multi-day event of the NRW KULTURsekretariat has long since established itself as a unique nationwide resonance space for the focussed examination of the art and culture of digital games. The format mix of art, culture, socio-political discourse and experimental gaming fun makes the festival unique and thus one of the most important programme items in the calendar of games and art enthusiasts.

After cycles lasting several years in Cologne, Dortmund, Düsseldorf and most recently at Zollverein in Essen, "Next Level" will return to Dortmund in 2024. The organiser is the City of Dortmund with numerous partners such as the Dortmunder U, the Akademie für Theater und Digitalität, the Hartware MedienKunstVerein and the Technical University of Dortmund. In addition to the originator and long-standing organiser NRW KULTURsekretariat, the NRW Ministry of Culture is once again providing significant support for the festival. The festival edition from 14 to 17 November 2024 once again promises a varied programme with ambitious games, interactive performances, media education workshops and discussion formats for interested specialist audiences. The artistic director is the Swiss digital dramaturge and curator Yves Regenass. He is supported by media artist and curator Lex Rütten, who works at the Dortmund Künstlerhaus. Media artist Viviane Lennert is responsible for production management.

At the centre of the last "Next Level" edition, which was attended by more than 2,300 enthusiastic gamers, was an extensive curated games parcours, which was supplemented by interactive works from the London festival "Now play this". Interactive art performances revealed new aesthetic dimensions and invited visitors to join in.

The first interactive music theatre video game "opera - a future game" by Michael v. zur Mühlen, with texts by Thomas Köck and music by Eloain Lovis Hübner, provided a unique combination of music theatre and game. Since 2023, this work initiated by the NRWKS has been continued in cooperation with the European Centre for the Arts Hellerau, where it was shown in May 2023. Subsequently, performances were given at the A MAZE festival in Berlin, where the production was nominated for the Explorer Award for Playful Media. Further presentations took place at the Leipzig ZIMMT Festival, at the Munich Kammerspiele, at ImPulsTanz Vienna, at Burg Hülshoff - Center for Literature, at the eCommemoration of the Körber Foundation in Hamburg and at the Staatstheater Karlsruhe. Further dates are being planned. In autumn 2023, "opera - a future game" was awarded the German Theatre Prize DER FAUST 2023 in the "Sound and Media" category.