How Pop-Kultur is pushing the boundaries of music even further in 2025

Expanding to six days across the Wedding district in Mitte, the event will transform silent green Kulturquartier, the Kulturbrauerei, and a host of clubs and venues into space for music and performance.

"With six festival days instead of three, we’re giving the programme more room to breathe by making a full week of musical and pop-cultural diversity accessible across Berlin," Pop-Kultur's Marie von der Heydt explains. "In addition to international high-caliber artists, we’re especially excited to present many Berlin-based acts and new talents this year."

The festival continues to occupy a unique space among Europe’s experimental arts scene, with a series of commissioned works created especially for the festival – among them Kein Beileid (“No condolence”) by German-Ghanaian performer, musician and composer FAYIM. Exploring different forms of grieving – an emotional state that fluctuates in intensity and is deeply shaped by geographic and cultural contexts – the specially commissioned work for Pop-Kultur invites the audience to feel, reflect, and sing along – creating a space for collective engagement with loss, memory, and hope.

A discussion of the tension between art and commerce, especially when it comes to cultural responsibility, will kick off Pop-Kultur Talks. Anne Haffmans (Domino Records), Dieter Gorny, Marie von der Heydt (Musicboard Berlin), Olaf Kretschmar (Berlin Music Commission) and Tobi Müller (moderator) will come together to talk about how these competing demands might meaningfully align and what role should the state play in supporting music as both a cultural asset and an economic driver. Across two evenings – on 25 and 26 August – at silent green Kulturquartier, this and other ideas and questions will be explored, including sustainability in the music industry, how music management, club culture and creativity is evolving with social media and AI, as well as a deep dive into the music scenes in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

Alongside the main event, the festival is also helping a new generation build and sustain a career in pop music. Pop-Kultur Nachwuchs connects 150 emerging talents from around the world with artists from Pop-Kultur’s live programme and professionals across the music industry, politics, and creative economy. The programme creates meaningful exchanges and real connections between young musicians, producers, DJs, and creatives in all fields of pop culture – from management, booking, and labels. This year, the first two days of Pop-Kultur will see the silent green in Berlin-Wedding turned into a space for over 40 workshops and networking sessions offered in German or English, led by artists from the festival programme and key voices from Berlin’s vibrant music scene.

With a spotlight closer to home the Pop-Kultur Lokal programme aims to support exciting Berlin-based spaces and networks in how they are represented. Taking place every year since 2018, four event slots will run on 26 August and are supported by a grant of €1,500. Lokal focus on performances by musicians based in Berlin, as well as combinations with DJ sets and talks. Among this year’s selections are Liminal, an experimental format at the threshold between sound and movement that sees three duos – each made up of one dancer and one musician – meet for the first time in 20- to 30-minute improvisations. There’s also Babycakes, which was born during the pandemic and riven by a desire to bring something fresh and playful into the club scene; the format blends different communities and styles of underground electronic music with performative interventions into one rich mix.

Looking deep into festival's programming, here's our own highlights that justify Pop-Kultur's reputation as curator and envelope-pusher.