Dear friends of Pop-Kultur,
It just can’t go on like this. We need to talk, and we need to talk urgently. Yes, again. Because the music side of things (with over 60 concerts by the likes of alyona alyona, Anna Calvi, CocoRosie, Die Goldenen Zitronen, Молчат Дома (Molchat Doma), Mykki Blanco, Perel, Planningtorock, Shabazz Palaces and Station 17) is already set. Same with the »Pop-Kultur Commissioned Works« 21 Downbeat & Jens Friebe, Ilgen-Nur, International Music & The Dorf, Lisa Morgenstern & Bulgarian Voices Berlin and others.
The only question now is: who’s talking at our festival from the 21st to the 23rd of August at Kulturbrauerei – and about what?
Little Annie, for example! With Max Dax. About her life. Caren Miesenberger. With the person behind the social media project Berlin Club Memes. Max Gruber aka Drangsal and Max Rieger – also performing at Pop-Kultur as Jauche – about music »and why it sounds like shit.« ANDRRA, Dacid Go8lin and Lisa Morgenstern along with Vivian Perkovic about post-migrant identity, Bad&Boujee, Isabelle Edi and Leyla Yenirce on feminist music collectives and Deutschlandfunk Kultur about Michael Jackson and whether we can still listen to him and if so, how. Just as Ben Salomo and Jens Balzer will talk about rap, anti-Semitism and responsibility in music. And four music journalists about why their work is actually needed.
Is reading the same as talking? Dirk von Lowtzow will at least read from his new book. But he’ll sing, too. And Jakob Nolte, Juno Meinecke and Leif Randt will definitely be sharing their »Tegel Media Summer Hits 2019,«, complete with visual elements. But that’s not the only visual experience at Pop-Kultur this year. The festival will be screening not only »Everybody in the Place: An Incomplete History of Britain 1984-1992« by Jeremy Deller on U.K. rave culture but also »Where Does a Body End?« about the band Swans and their mastermind Michael Gira will be celebrating its German premiere. Each film will have an intermission that includes, of course, a talk.
Talking, reading, watching – that’s what pop culture is all about. Pop-Kultur, too. That’s why we also talk about what we’ve just seen onstage. Masha Qrella will talk to Elske Rosenfeld about her commissioned work for Pop-Kultur, dealing with the work of Thomas Brasch, and in the talk launched by »Pop-Kultur lokal« alum Boris Paillard, »African Beats & Pieces«: »Auto-Tuned Africa: When Technology Meets Tradition« Max La Daron and Pamela Owusu-Brenyah investigate the aftermath of vocal pitch correction on the African continent and beyond.
By the way: as of today, tickets for the talk and film programme are available separately for each individual day. They cost 5€ per day, which includes all talks and screenings – but there is a limited number of tickets available.
There’s also been lots of talk about the »Pop-Hayat« programme. Its curator Yeşim Duman welcomes you to talks and panel discussions with DJ Ipek and Nuray Demir, Miriam Davoudvani, Lena Grehl and Ebow sowie Hengameh Yaghoobifarah, Emotional Labor Queen and Planningtorock. ractical solidarity in post-migrant and queer discourse, class consciousness and feminism, gender in all its facets: these are not only the topics presented onstage but also of »Pop-Hayat« as a whole. The exhibit »The Black Haired Bomb« by Moshtari Hilal and the installation work »T-Unlimited – die Pop-Hayat-Çaystube« by Nuray Demir and Yeşim Duman further expand this year’s focus.
All further information about our programme and the individual concerts, commissioned works, films and talks can be found here.
Talk the talk, walk the walk: they go hand in hand! But tonight, we just wanna dance: »Suck My Lips!« welcomes you to its third edition for the »Pop-Kultur lokal« series, starting at 21:00 at Griessmuehle. The entry is free, the music is awesome and the vibes even better.
See you soon,
Pop-Kultur