Six decades after Bitef was founded, the spirit of the avant-garde festival will continue to live on across a symbolic 60 micro-stages throughout Belgrade, the organisers announced. Under the slogan “Bitef is wherever we gather”, the second edition of non:Bitef will take place on 20 September from 12 pm to 6 pm, bringing together artists from across Europe and beyond.
The day will conclude with a gathering of all participants and the audience at 7 pm at the Centre for Cultural Decontamination, marking a joint celebration of resistance and solidarity.
This year was supposed to mark the milestone 60th edition of Bitef, a festival that served the domestic and international theatre scene as a space for artistic experimentation, critical thought, international dialogue, and freedom of expression.
“However, for two years now, together with numerous other actors on the cultural scene, Bitef has been enduring various forms of financial, programmatic, and administrative repression, becoming an example of the hijacking of a public cultural good by an arbitrary authority,” reads the press release from the organisers of non:Bitef.
It is added that non:Bitef emerged as a reaction to “last year’s censorship and the historic absence of the institutional festival; the first non:Bitef was held in December 2025 as an act of self-organisation by a large section of the cultural sector and the broader public, with immense support from students”. It continues this year as a “collective, rebellious, and freedom-loving act of civil disobedience and creativity, akin to the Užice Republic while culture is under occupation.”
This year’s edition brings a collective, horizontally organised festival of micro-stages, which will welcome visitors across the city on 20 September from 12 pm to 6 pm. Admission to all 60 locations will be free of charge.
A detailed festival programme will soon be available on the official website and Instagram profile of non:Bitef.
(eKapija, 07.09.2026)
https://www.ekapija.com/news/5662858/drugi-nebitef-na-60-lokacija-sirom-beograda