Paranoia Festival

Talking about mental health in a new way

Paranoia Festival was born with a precise objective: to address the issue of mental well-being, particularly that of young people in Generation Z, with a direct, contemporary, and stereotype-free language. The event combines talks, workshops, and music to create a space for authentic dialogue, where emotions, identity, and fragility can be discussed without fear of judgment.

All This Nothing

The theme of the 2026 season, All This Nothing, is a manifesto against the tyranny of appearance. The festival investigates the construction of identity in the space of friction between the authentic perception of oneself and the imagined judgment of others—a particularly relevant reflection in the age of social networks.

Two excellent venues in Bergamo

The Bergamo leg unfolds between two centers of excellence: gres art 671, a multidisciplinary center for contemporary art and culture, and Daste, an event space dedicated to new technologies. The festival offers talks with great contemporary storytellers, workshops—including one with Faber Castell—and a musical happening. The morning of May 8th is dedicated to schools, with over 60 students from the first years of high school involved in a discussion on identity at gres art 671.

A traveling festival

The 2026 edition is the first in a "diffused" format: after opening in Bergamo (May 8-9), the festival stops in Milan (September 11-12) and Turin (November 13-14). From a city event in the Orobic capital, Paranoia thus becomes a national cultural project, capable of engaging with young people in three major cities in Northern Italy.