XPLORE 2026 / zur rechten Zeit – when the time is right

CONCEPT

xplore always took great pride in being conceptual, experimental and avantgarde. Creating the almost-sometimes- often- so-called magical space is always a struggle. You need to provide a certain amount of structure and guidance for people to feel safe to xplore & xpress, you need to install a space of awareness, a collective code of behaviour, a common agreement to preserve, respect and celebrate specific qualities while interacting with others: presence, clarity and determination, honesty and empathy, kindness and humor. Creativity and communication skills are necessary, knowing how to establish consent and practicing good communication is a must. And who is perfect with all of that??

This embodied knowledge is the absolute prerequisite to support free expression and emotional vulnerability, for sexual permission and acceptance to happen – to let the magic happen.

Organizing the last two editions of xplore I had decided for two days with a very structured and focused program completed by one day of non structured open space.

This year will be challenging again – allowing more freedom and choice and demanding more responsibility and (self) discipline:

There will be no schedule, no time table at all.

No workshop lists and announcements. We wish to surprise you, to let you find out, to slow you down, even to mislead you. We invite you to fight FOMO, ignore past and future, refuse dates and deadlines and enter a time labyrinth, just guided by the big NOW.

Everything will happen when the time is right.

All workshop and play spaces will be permanently open and allow free circulation. Some spaces will be dedicated to spontaneous open play, others will propose loosely structured environments where various facilitators will propose waves of collective activities.

There will be about 20 artists, kink educators and other originals invited to share their work: experimental spaces, participatory concepts, play scores and scenarios, collective creations and installations, fantasy worlds and more…

In order to establish and reinforce the overall principle of consent, it is the responsibility of each individual to understand when an activity allows active participation, when it is more appropriate to just remain an observer and when it is the right time to join an already ongoing process. While traveling through the different environments, you have to find out the rules of the game, before you get involved in a play.

The concept also refers to the instability and unpredictability of the times we live in. It is an invitation to let go of hope that things will get better, to let go of control and desire, to simply try to make the best out of what is already there…

Be water, my friend….

Felix Ruckert, February 2026