Zeitz is a small city in eastern Germany — but in many ways, it reflects challenges that can be seen across Europe.
Like many smaller and post-industrial cities, Zeitz has gone through decades of economic transformation, population decline, and the gradual loss of younger generations moving elsewhere in search of opportunities.
At the same time, in many small and medium-sized towns across eastern Germany and also Europe, social polarization and support for far-right political narratives have grown in recent years. This makes the creation of shared spaces for encounter, dialogue, and imagination not simply a cultural task, but a democratic one.
Zeitz matters precisely because it is not exceptional.
It represents a broader European reality: smaller cities navigating demographic change, migration, uncertainty, and questions of identity - while often having fewer cultural and civic infrastructures than larger metropolitan areas.
For Upsala-Circus, Zeitz is not just a location. The city has become both our home and our artistic laboratory - a place where we test how art, participation, and human connection can help create more open and resilient communities.
about Upsala-Circus in Zeitz: https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/gesellschaft/zirkus-upsala-in-zeitz-sie-kamen-aus-russland-und-wollen-frieden-a-5a82f013-6d16-45b3-87d8-1e51ccb3ac50
about Zeitz:
https://acore-project.eu/case-studies/germany-case-study-1-zeitz/ https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/zeitz-in-sachsen-anhalt-fast-schon-eine-geisterstadt-100.html