What is Pop-Kultur?

Pop-Kultur is a hyphen between the perspectives of artists and the society they engage with. Launched in 2015, the festival returns this year with a mix of outdoor and indoor concerts as well as an online presence. In addition to the live shows, commissioned works premiering at the festival, the Nachwuchs programme, the Goethe Talents programme and residency programmes, the programme also includes talks, readings and films. Just as pop culture couldn’t develop without discourse, Pop-Kultur as a festival wouldn’t be able to progress without it, either. The festival sees itself as a process in which the audience and artists participate alongside the team: Collective approaches, post-migrant identities, intersectional discourse, inclusive projects, diasporic narratives, queer perspectives and the breakaway from musical expectations all contribute to creating a space for mutual exchange.

Just as the accessible and pandemic-resistant approach aims to provide access and participation for everyone, other cultural creators from the city and beyond are invited to join in: Leading up to each edition of the festival, Berlin-based organisers offer  inspiration within the Pop-Kultur lokal series. In 2021, six collectives will present their work, and Studio 21, a festival-within-a-festival organised in cooperation with the RambaZamba Theater, will take place in the vaulted cellar beneath the grounds of the Kulturbrauerei, the first club in the city to be organised and run exclusively by people with disabilities. After all, that’s what hyphens are for: to make connections where there are still too many exclusions.