First, the good news: Pop-Kultur is happening. Why? Because it’s needed. We’ve all been missing live culture, or any kind of social experience at all. But now to the more pressing questions.
When? We kindly request you not to schedule any Zoom meetings between the 25th and 28th of August. Thank you!
Where? A good, fair, tough question. You know just as well as we do, there’s no easy answer. But we’ll do our best to make sure that the festival can take place live on the grounds of the Kulturbrauerei in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg. Should that not be possible, we still have a few aces up our sleeves. As you may recall, last year we were able to pull off quite a lot, despite, you know, everything.
What? That’s also something we can’t really reveal at present time. But we can tell you this much: we’re going for fusion over seclusion, solidarity over solipsism. In other words, we’re focusing on networks, collectives and new concepts that allow as much interaction as possible. Putting the »party« in »participation.« That probably sounds quite vague but everything will become clear in due time. Promise.
Who? You, of course. And artists from pretty much all over the world, who will develop the usual, unusual concepts for their Commissioned Works, perform live onstage (and hopefully with an audience physically present), appearing in every conceivable (or inconceivable) way. And all of the bright minds bringing themselves and their experiences to the Pop-Kultur Nachwuchs programme.
Plus, we’ve expanded our programming team: joining Christian Morin will be Leyla Yenirce, Pamela Owusu-Brenyah and Yeşim Duman, sharing the responsibility of the festival’s content and conceptual direction, while Nadine Moser will oversee cooperation with various collectives, which will play a bigger role at Pop-Kultur 2021 than ever before.
At his own request, Martin Hossbach has decided to step down from his position as co-curator. Musicboard Berlin GmbH and Pop-Kultur would like to thank him for six years of outstandingly successful collaboration and his commitment to continuously developing the festival.
By the way, these four additions to the team aren’t newcomers by any means: they’ve each already worked in depth with Pop-Kultur. Did One Mother‘s set in 2019 get you moving? Then you already know Leyla. Did you catch last year’s talk on African Music Festivals? Then you remember Pamela. Did you stop by the »Çaystube« of Pop-Hayat? That was Yeşim’s thing. And Nadine has been taking care of the Goethe Talents for some time now. And these are just a few examples of what they’ve all contributed to the festival over the years.
So, rest assured, with our forces united, a lot of good things are coming your way. In the end, that’s our business – and it’s a pleasure.