The third edition of the Split Calling Festival of Contemporary Circus and Outdoor Art will take place from October 23 to 25, 2025, with a pre-program running from October 19 to 22. For five days, the city’s streets and squares will once again become a stage where art and community meet. Organized by Cirkus Kolektiv, the Split Calling Festival once again presents a diverse international program exploring the relationship between the city and its inhabitants through contemporary circus, physical theatre, performance, film, and music.

“This year’s program features diverse formats that respond to changes in both space and people. The performances emerge directly from the places where they are staged, gaining new meanings through their surroundings. Through performance art, we create a space for dialogue and shared experience, while drawing attention back to public spaces that have, in recent years, lost their everyday function. It’s important to us that Split’s city center is not seen merely as a tourist backdrop, but as a place where the local community reconnects,” said Dora Komenda, one of the festival’s organizers.

Pre-Program – Workshops, Research, and a Performative Walk

The festival begins with a pre-program from October 19 to 22, featuring workshops, artistic research, and public encounters. A highlight is the street theatre masterclass led by world-renowned director Adrian Schvarzstein, bringing together artists from Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, and Austria. The workshop will culminate in a performative walk titled “Bringing Joy to the City” a collaborative work by the participants that will be presented as part of the official program.

During the pre-program, the French collective Laurent Boijeot, Valia Kardi, Clément Martin, and Jean Chauvelot will perform “Odyssey” a moving urban intervention in which the artists “inhabit” Split’s public spaces for 72 hours, connecting with the local community through their presence and interaction.

Main Program – Performances Connecting Art and the City

From Thursday to Saturday, Split Calling presents performances that explore the relationship between the city, its people, and public spaces through contemporary circus and physical theatre. Theatre director Adrian Schvarzstein, together with Juraté Sirvyte Rukstele, will perform “Arrived” a humorous street performance that draws audiences into a series of absurd and surreal situations in the city center.

The audience can also look forward to “Lone” by Dutch artist Luuk Brantjes, a poetic piece about loneliness and connection featuring the circus discipline of the teeterboard, and “City Crow” by the Croatian duo T.O.A., a performance blending music, movement, and visual art into an introspective story of being an outsider.

Italian artist Davide Visintini presents “Fragile” a site-specific performance that transforms with each location and audience, while French author Tilla Giro invites citizens to participate in “Awakening Memories,” a project on Split’s Green Market where people are encouraged to share personal recollections of the city.

Film “Different Split” and the Gdinjko Concert

Art at the festival extends beyond live performance through the film program “Tourism on Film” featuring works by Tonči Gaćina, Boris Poljak, and Lucija Bužančić. With humor, critique, and a touch of nostalgia, their films explore the absurdities of tourism and its effects on the city. Also part of the program is “Different Split” a “tourist tour for locals” that reveals the city’s hidden and forgotten layers.

The festival concludes on Saturday, October 25, at the Old Green Market, with a screen-printing workshop in collaboration with Društvena tiskara Split and Queeranarchive, followed by a concert by the Split band Gdinjko, whose sound fuses psychedelic rock with Mediterranean influences.

The City as a Stage, the Community as an Audience

Through performances created in the city’s streets and squares, Split Calling returns the city to its people—reminding them, amid the surge of tourism and commercial content, how essential public spaces are to community life. The organizers emphasize that the festival is not intended as another tourist event but as an open invitation for residents to participate, reconnect, and rediscover how art can restore a sense of belonging and togetherness.