The art of bodypainting is exploding all around the globe.
An art form where ballet meets Monet.
Where drama meets Dali.
Bodypainting is a modern art form springing from ancient roots that brings together painters, performers, photographers and creative people from every walk of life.

The World Bodypainting Festival, 14 - 20 July, is the meeting place for the bodypainting world. For a decade now artists from up to 40 nations have travelled to the small town of Seeboden in the South of Austria in the middle of July to be a part of this event.

The festival builds up over a week with three final main days, 18 - 20 July, hosting the World Championships as well as semi professional categories. Artists paint directly on the festival site where their living artworks are then presented on stage with spectacular shows, sometimes including the most amazing special effects. This is an outdoor event set on the romantic shores of the Lake Millstattersee with alpine mountains and the warmth of summer turning this little picturesque village into a pumping arts centre.

Around 25.000 visitors enter the festival grounds and enjoy the atmosphere of live music, international show acts, multicultural cuisine and living art.
The audience can view the bodyart, music and shows live and broadcasted over the festival TV streaming the whole day from the festival grounds. Also available onsite is a shopping area where visitors and artists can buy anything related to Bodypainting and make-up art from all of the major companies in the Bodypainting industry as well as some interesting new growing companies.

The Festival Week:  14 – 20 July

The festival week begins with workshop classes organized by the
Festival-Academy teaching bodypainting, special effects, facepainting, photography, make-up and airbrush. A full demonstration program showing the art of special effects make up will be presented.

The evenings are full of socialising in selected bars  as well as a major highlight on Wednesday the ‘Bodycircus’, a costumed fantasy ball in a 14th century castle going late into the night.  The medieval castle “Burg Sommeregg” will transform into a mystical fairy tale location with guests arriving in costume ranging from Bodypainting, body decoration and masks, to extreme make-up and fantasy fashion. There is also an astounding style presentation as well as three levels of music, international DJ’s, shows, costume prizes and entertainment. The ‘Body circus’ promises to be an evening of magic, pushing boundaries and letting imagination run free.

The festival main days start from 11.00 morning till late night from the 18th – 20th July in the open air festival grounds Klauberpark.
For the World Awards in 2008 themes are given.  The 2 themes will be “Sience – World of Wonders” and “Asia – Empires going, Empires growing”.
Several hours of extreme concentration are required from the artists, as well as a lot of patience from the models! In the late afternoon, the painted bodies will be presented to the audience and to the judges. During the presentation, spectacular shows will astonish the visitors!
There will also be the night contest in Bodypainting, the ‘World Fluoro Award’. Fluorescent colours will be used and the models will glow and shine by using ultra violet lights all around the stage. Spectacular effects and performances are guaranteed.
Because of the time the artists need during the day, the daily program for  the main days will be enlivened by a variety of show events, colour-performance, multimedia-shows, drum-sessions, fantasy fashion-shows, styling-shows, music, DJ’s, demonstration program and lots more.
The festival week finishes off with an explosive awards ceremony on Sunday night for the new World Champions, followed by massive music synchronised fireworks and an after show party supported by international DJ’s.

The “World Bodypainting Photo Award”

The festival offers photographers the best opportunity to really go wild for once, because nowhere else can provide the combination of so much living canvas and such unique settings, and all in front of the camera.
The models can only be "captured" once, before the works of art ultimately fade away. There is a restricted photo contest area, reserved for participants in the contest. Here the most fantastic photos are taken and can be sent to us after the festival.
An international photo jury judges the best works in the categories “photo print” and “digital art”. More than 1000 entries from participants of 19 nations took part last year. From the best photos, a high quality photo catalogue will be printed.
A large photo gallery can be admired on the Internet under the address "www.bodypainting-festival.com", as well as at the exhibition in the Cultural Centre in Seeboden, about a month before the festival.

The festival day ticket is available for just € 8 and includes the night program. Weekend and special tickets, VIP tickets etc. are available online.