Pop-Kultur curator on achieving a rare 50-50 gender balance in the festival's lineup

The Pop-Kultur festival is returning to Berlin next
month, presenting over 100 events from Aug. 15 –
17 at the Kulturbrauerei. The festival gives
musicians space to expand on the artistic currents underpinning
much of pop culture and pop music today with a program of
performances, new commissions, exhibitions, talks, and
workshops.


The festival’s organizers have assembled a line-up of both
international and Berlin-based artists. Finding balance was a
major factor when choosing musicians according to Martin
Hossbach, one-third of Pop-Kultur’s curatorial team. The lineup
features both older and younger generations of performers and
achieves a 50-50 balance between male- and female-identifying
artists.


Hossbach laments that a male majority among musicians is still
the norm at most music festivals, but rejects the idea that
finding female musicians is a challenge. On the contrary, “it was
really easy,” he says: “I get very upset when someone says there
aren’t enough female, I don’t know, ‘headline acts’…that’s just
rubbish. It usually means the person saying it is lazy.”


Produced by Marlene Melchior