The line-up is expanding! With just over three months before the festival kicks off, Pop-Kultur 2023 is announcing more live acts, commissioned works and the first talks. Among the newly confirmed musicians, we welcome FEM*ERGY COLLECTIVE, who will welcome Pop-Kultur audiences into their utopian microcosm of respect and diversity. We are also looking forward to Hamburg rapper Kwam.E, who flips between new- and old- school, the blues-rock four-piece Fheels, who also hail from the Hanseatic city, and Estonian-American producer Umru, known for his work on hyperpop label PC Music.
Below you can find an overview of all the acts that have been revealed so far. Click here for tickets! And if you can’t make it on all three days from 30th August to 1st September, there are now also day tickets for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
The festival is about having fun, but we also want to foster discussions and look beyond our immediate sphere in our discourse programme. »What does it mean to create culture in the face of rocket attacks and the everyday horror of war?« asks festival dramaturge Christian Morin. With this in mind, he has invited a number of musicians and cultural workers from Ukraine to Pop-Kultur to present themselves and their creative work as well as to enable international dialogue in a sit-down talk.
Among other things, we will focus on the organisers of the Black Factory festival and the “clean-up raves” by the group Repair Together, where groups of young people assemble to clear rubble and repair damaged houses while playing electronic music. Even in times of war, the underground scene in Kyiv is trying to create some sense of normality and community through these events. Two exciting Ukrainian acts from this scene will also be present: the electronic duo Hungry Boys and the confrontational electro-pop-punk musician ТУЧА (TUCHA).
In addition, Ukrainian artist Mariana Sadovska contributes a commissioned work with her band project Vesna, combining traditional chants and archaic instruments with contemporary, often electronic sounds to address questions of origin, freedom and identity.
Other commissioned works also reflect this search for new forms within tried and tested musical traditions: Cyprus-born, Berlin-based artist Krista Papista launches a queer-feminist counterattack on nationalist narratives that complements her current LP »Fucklore« by poetically and aesthetically mixing up music from the Balkans and the Middle East with a good portion of punk. Gloria Endres de Oliveira, on the other hand, is interested in myths and storytelling, diving into the siren world of antiquity with »Serea.« On her dreamy, exploratory journey, she delves into different musical styles and genres, including bossa nova, fado, ancient Greek compositions and folk songs from the British Isles.
From performances to installations and musicals, Pop-Kultur team member Pamela Schlewinski is responsible for the implementation of the commissioned works. She has noticed a strong narrative tendency in this year’s pieces: »The commissioned works are exemplary with their new forms of telling stories. Many artists are consciously developing alternatives to the usual narrative forms, such as Krista Papista and Voodoo Beach & Die Wilde Jagd. Others are simply recounting experiences that, while highly personal, still have a strong potential for wider identification, such as Anika and Garagen Uwe.«
FAAM (Fashion, Art And Movement) is also coming to the festival with a new contribution. For this commissioned work, the French choreographer and designer behind the label, Stephane »Peeps« Moun, is transforming the stage, having put together a special ensemble that will set off on a musical adventure with dance and visual art.
Portrait XO is a multimodal, multimedia artist interested in the relationship between humans and machines, with a focus on artificial intelligence. In her commissioned work, she puts her two working tools – traditional instruments and deep learning – into the spotlight, stimulating an immersive conversation about the future of music production.
Furthermore, another very special premiere is on the programme at Pop-Kultur: L Twills will preview her next album »After her Destruction,« which will not be out until October. The show unfolds as a science-fiction journey through one’s own mind, featuring unreleased videos.
We look forward to Pop-Kultur 2023 with you and everyone else!
Here is an overview of the line-up known so far:
Concerts and DJ Sets
21 downbeat / Aili / Aksak Maboul / Albi X / Ansu / ARXX / ARY / Banoffee / BRKN / C’est Karma / Casey MQ / Codeine / Crack Cloud / cumgirl8 / Das Kinn / Dina Summer / Drag Syndrome / Empress Of / ERRORR / EVÎN / Fave / FEM*ERGY COLLECTIVE / Fheels / Fishbach / Free Love / Get Jealous / Indigo Sparke / J. Vague / Junior Boys / Karl Vento / Kwam.E / Lola Marsh / MADANII / Meagre Martin / mui zyu / Mulay / NAS TEA / Nashi44 / pape / Prince Emrah / Rasha Nahas / Robert Kretzschmar / Rosa Anschütz / Sam Quealy / Selin Davasse / Sofie Royer / Sophia Blenda / Sorry / Stella Sommer / Tami T / The Düsseldorf Düsterboys / Tigre Bleu / Тucha / umru / Wa22ermann / Walter Astral / Wellen.Brecher / Zainab Lax / Zustra
Commissioned works
Anika »Lost Voices« / A Song For You / FAAM / Fuffifufzich »Kontrollverlust Romantico« / Garagen Uwe / Gloria de Oliveira »Serẽa« / Krista Papista »Fucklore Bellringers« / L Twills »After her Destruction« / Mariana Sadovska – Vesna / Nichtseattle »Haus aus Papier« / Portrait XO / Voodoo Beach & Die Wilde Jagd »Kaskaden«
Talks and readings
»Die Frau mit dem Arm« (DE) (reading performance by Andreas Dorau & Gereon Klug) / »A Record Label (What is it good for?) II«: Anton Teichmann, Marc Hollander, Olga Karatzioti-B., Mod.: Christina Mohr / »Note To Self« – Artist Talk with Banoffee & Rasha Nahas moderated by Lior Neumeister / »Fabolous Drag Night Talk« – Chit Chat with Drag Syndrome and Saioa Alvarez Ruiz / »Culture In A Warzone«: Dmytro Kyrpa, Maria Tuchka, Sergey Yatsenko, Mod.: Simon Bonney