Just about six weeks to go now before the 16th Reeperbahn Festival finally kicks off.  Of course, there will also be our Arts, Word and Film programme and this year, we have put together a unique selection of programme highlights, that focus on the connections between other creative disciplines and music. Artistic interpretations from creative fields such as photography, silkscreen art, theatre and dance performances, readings, live podcasts and independent films, give you plenty of food for thought on topical socia-political issues, portray future-based models of human coexistense, but will also be absolute eye and ear catchers. Our programme events will again be showing you how closely linked current issues such as diversity and sustainability are with the topic of music. They include: the exhibition including lightinstallation (IN)BETWEEN Musik & Graphics; Sibylle Berg’s musical social critique, GRM Brainfuck, Reeperbahn Festival’s collaboration with PHOTOPIA Hamburg, readings on the future of literary forms of our time; 31 + 1 declarations of love for live club culture, and the German premiere of The Sparks Brothers by director Edgar Wright. 

Find all information about our Arts, Word & Film programme here.

Arts programme

The multi-digital exhibition (IN)BETWEEN | Music & Graphics at the Arts Playground in the Festival Village will take you on an interactive journey between the worlds of graphics and music. Concert posters by international designers (including from this year’s partner country this year South Korea and the US, UK, Australia, Estonia) and insights into the colourful world of vinyl records will be on display in several sea containers. The exhibition will be staged via a lighting installation specially created for Reeperbahn Festival by the acclaimed collective Lichtgestalten, who have worked with Jan Delay, HONNE and many more.  

At the Thalia Theater, Sybille Berg’s social portrayal, Thalia Theater | GRM Brainfuck, turns an angry lens on the progressive, inhumane neo-liberal marketisation of all spheres of life, among other things. The soundtrack to all this is grime, or GRM for short, the logical choice - a style dubbed by some the greatest musical revolution since punk and performed live on stage by London grime collective Ruff Sqwad Arts Foundation. As a Reeperbahn Festival visitor you can reserve tickets for the performances for free. 

At the Hamburg exhibition grounds, just a few minutes’ walk from the Reeperbahn Festival Village, you will get free admission to PHOTOPIA Hamburg | Share your Vision. Young and established artists from the digital imaging scene will be appearing, using two stages and a hall design with 350 sea containers offering ample space for installations, hidden galleries, keynote addresses and workshops for all photo enthusiasts among you.  

A run-down of all other Arts programme events can be found here.

Word programme

This year’s Word programme features the perfect event in the shape of the inaugural reading for the book release of Potzblitz | 31 + 1 Liebeserklärungen an meinen Liveclub (31 + 1 declarations of love for my live club): Ben Hartmann (Milliarden), Heinz Ratz (Strom & Wasser) and Ina Bredehorn (Deine Cousine), along with initiators Sebastian Schwaigert and Marc Huttenlocher, will present exclusive texts on their individual defining moments in live clubs.  

At the talk event Zukunft Schreiben | Wie klingt die Gegenwartsliteratur Next.0 (Writing the Future | What Does Contemporary Literature Next.0 Sound Like), put on in collaboration with Missy Magazine, debut authors Hengameh Yaghoobifarah, Lisa Krusche and Ronya Othmann talk to Missy editor Jennifer Beck about the hurdles faced by newcomers to the traditional literary business and the changing forms of literature in these current times. Journalist (for taz, ZEIT ONLINE) and presenter Şeyda Kurt | Radikale Zärtlichkeit - Warum Liebe politisch ist (Radical Tenderness - Why Love is Political) dissects common love paradigms in the context of patriarchy, racism and capitalism and asks what a new concept of love for our age might look like.  

All other items on the Word agenda are listed here.

Film programme  

At the Zeise Kinos we present a curated selection of current international independent films with a special focus on diversity and identity issues.

At the Hamburg premiere of Nico (DEU, 2021), a film about a Persian-German nurse who fights her way back into life after a racist attack, director Eline Gehring as well as the multi-award-winning leading actress, co-screenwriter and producer Sara Fazilat, offer insights into the background and making of this moving work. 

The German premiere of the documentary The Sparks Brothers (USA, 2021) by Edgar Wright (Baby Driver, Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, among others) provides insights into the stylistically eclectic and enduring musical career of the brother duo Ron and Joel Mael.  

In No Ordinary Man (CAN, 2020), directing duo Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt accomplish not only a groundbreakingly different look at US jazz musician and transcultural icon Billy Tipton, but more so, a moving legacy of a special figure.  

The schedule of other screenings in the film programme is here.