What is Pop-Kultur?

Pop-Kultur Festival 2023
30.8 – 1.9.2023

Kulturbrauerei Berlin
Schönhauser Allee 36
10435 Berlin

Pop-Kultur is a hyphen between artists’ perspectives and the society they engage with. The festival, first launched in 2015, is back for 2023 in a fully live edition on the grounds of the Kulturbrauerei in 2023. Here, up-and-coming talents from Berlin will perform alongside musicians from countries that are often outside of our Eurocentric focus. Through Commissioned Works receiving their premiere, we engage in dialogue with artists in unconventional ways, allowing ourselves to be confronted or even provoked, but above all, let ourselves be moved. In the midst of the vibrant festival action, the Çaystube is a performative installation offering experience and relaxation – a safer space with its own stage.

In addition to the Nachwuchs and Goethe Talent programmes as well as residency programmes, the programme includes talks, readings and films. In the course of the Pop-Kultur Diskurs programme, we take a critical look at the current state of the music scene, learning from the past and thinking about a better future.
Because just as pop culture would remain at a standstill without discourse, Pop-Kultur as a festival could not continue to develop without it. Topics like gender equity and social criticism, accessibility and awareness, inclusion and integration are not only discursive issues that we want to discuss but also experience them directly on site.

The festival sees itself as a process in which the audience and artists participate along with the team: Collective approaches, post-migrant identities, intersectional discourse, inclusive projects, diasporic narratives, queer perspectives and the departure from musical expectations all contribute to the creation of a space for mutual exchange.
Just as the accessible and pandemic-ready implementation aims to provide true access and participation for everyone, other creatives from the city’s diverse cultural sector and beyond are encouraged to connect: Leading up to each festival edition, Berlin organisers provide important local inspiration as part of the series Pop-Kultur lokal.

Self-Conception
Pop-Kultur is a space for everyone!
We promote and hope that many different cultural identities meet at Pop-Kultur and that no one is excluded from our offerings.
By employing a diverse awareness team of experts in their respective fields and an accessible infrastructure, we strive to create a receptive and safe environment for all visitors.

We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind or its relativisation. We are of the view what constitutes a boundary violation is defined by the person whose boundary has been violated. With this in mind, Pop-Kultur is committed to representing the interests of all guests.

Through our intersectional approach, we are particularly concerned with promoting the cultural participation of people with disabilities. We understand inclusion as a process and a mark of quality for a good festival. We place great value on the active involvement of protagonists with disabilities – on the stage, in the audience and behind the scenes. Year after year, we develop accessibility measures together with experts in their own fields in order to support the visibility and self-determination of people with disabilities.

Below you will find an overview of our services for visitors with disabilities:
https://www.pop-kultur.berlin/en/awareness/