POPFEST WIEN returns to Karlsplatz at the end of July (28th – 31st) with fresh and timely perspectives, new locations and formats, and with over 50 acts. Opening the mainstage on Thursday will be KEROSIN95, EUROTEURO, FRIEDBERG and W1ZE. To discover more about the program, the artists and the curators, keep scrolling!
“After two years, to come together again in the usual form at Karlsplatz and to be able to celebrate and experience together the diversity of the great Austrian pop culture scene, pleases me very much. Especially in economically difficult times, it is important for all Viennese to offer culture with free admission and the Popfest joins the diverse offer in this city with great artistic expressiveness,” says City Councillor for Culture Veronica Kaup-Hasler (note: translated from German original).
After two reduced editions due to the pandemic, Popfest is returning to its roots on Vienna’s central and meaningful gathering space: Karlsplatz. The pop music cards have been reshuffled for the 2022 edition by this year’s curators, music journalist and DJ, Dalia Ahmed (FM4) and musician and author, Andreas Spechtl (Ja, Panik).
EXCITING blends OF diverse, contemporary POP
Ahmed and Spechtl position their program “in the gap between representation and agitation”, as they say, and present an exciting genre-mix through current and diverse domestic pop. The fresh line-up ranges from hyperpop (ANTHEA, FARCE), R&B (Aze, W1ZE, XING, Adaolisa), rap (Ebow, Kamp, Kerosin95, Crack Ignaz), indie (DIVES, Friedberg, Earl Mobley, Euroteuro, ZINN), punk (Bipolar Feminin, Schapka), dance music and electronica (salute, Conny Frischauf, Brenk Sinatra, Cid Rim), singer-songwriters (doppelfinger, Liz Metta, Gina Disobey) to experimental projects beyond the fringe of art (Abu Gabi, Jung An Tagen, Kenji Araki, Rojin Sharafi, Voyage Futur). This is just a selection of names from this year’s Popfest program, which shows how far the concept of pop has opened up and expanded in this city in the 12 years of this festival’s existence.
THE PROGRAM AT A GLANCE
Thursday, July 28
17.00 – 22.00 Open Air Soundsystem: Lituation
18.00 – 18.30 Ambient Pop-Up: Voyage Futur I
18.30 – 23.00 Lake stage: Kerosin95 – Euroteuro – Friedberg – W1ZE
18.30 – 22.00 Künstlerhaus Factory / Vinylograph Live Cutting Sessions: STKS feat. Ernst Lima, KeKe, SOIA, BEX, Skofi & Skyfarmer
23.00 – 02.00 TU Prechtlsaal: Gina Disobey – Adaolisa – Brenk Sinatra
from 23.00 Club U: Sonic Resistance
Friday, July 29
16.00 – 22.00 Open Air Soundsystem: 3gga
17.00 – 23.00 Lake stage: XING – Kamp – Crack Ignaz – Ebow – salute
18.00 – 18.30 Ambient Pop-Up: Voyage Futur II
18.30 – 22.00 Künstlerhaus Factory / Vinylograph Live Cutting Sessions: FARCE feat. Sakura & ANTHEA
22.00 – 02.00 TU Prechtlsaal: Conny Frischauf – Abu Gabi – Jung An Tagen – Tina 303
22.30 – 02.30 TU Ella Briggs Saal: Earl Mobley – Liz Metta – Radian – ZINN
from 23.00 Club U: A Party Called Jack
Saturday, July 30
16.00 – 22.00 Open Air Soundsystem: Femme DMC
17.00 – 23.00 Lake stage: double fingers – Aze – DIVES – Clara Luzia – FARCE
18.00 – 18.30 Ambient Pop-Up: Voyage Futur III
18.30 – 22.00 Künstlerhaus Factory / Vinylograph Live Cutting Sessions:
Katharina Ernst feat. Alen & Nenad Sinkauz
23.00 – 02.00 TU-Prechtlsaal: Zion Flex – ANTHEA – Kenji Araki
23.30 – 02.30 TU-Ella Briggs Saal: Lan Rex – Bipolar Feminin – Schapka
from 23.00 Club U: Rhinoplasty
Sunday, July 31
17.00 – 20.00 Karlsgarten: Tony Renaissance – Mala Herba
21.00 – 00.00 Karlskirche: Sophia Blenda – Rojin Sharafi&Dagmar Schürrer – Cid Rim
Supporting program in cooperation with mica – music austria, presented by Wirtschaftsagentur Wien
Thu 28.7. – Sat 30.7. Club U, “To Speak and To Thrive and To Live” (Tonica Hunter, Installation); Opening Thu 16.00
Fri 29.7. 13.00-17.00 Club U: Synthesizer workshop
Fri 29.7. 13.00-17.00 TU Ella Briggs Hall: workshop sound engineering
Sat 30.7. 15.00-17.00 Club U: Afternoon w/Missy Magazine (Lecture & Panel)
Popfest Artists 2022
And more: MAINSTAGE, NEW LOCATIONS AND FORMATs
In addition to the return of the “Seebühne” (Mainstage – “Lake Stage”) in the pond, the traditional centerpiece of the festival with 14 large concerts, Ahmed and Spechtl also want to make Karlsplatz a new experience as a festival area, or create new experiential spaces in a hierarchy-free way: “We want to surprise everyone with this program, and on very different levels. We will all have a great hunger for gripping live shows. And it is precisely this hunger that we want to pacify, in both large and intimate settings.” This time, the Seebühne will be framed, both in terms of location and time, by an outdoor sound system behind the Main Stage that has been specially designed for Popfest, as well as an atmospheric ambient pop-up in the park.
Popfest 2022 is also breaking new ground indoors. The Wien Museum, a classic location from the very beginning, will be closed this year due to renovations, but the Künstlerhaus will open its doors for the “Vinylograph Live Cutting Sessions”. Here, the public can experience the artistic-creative production processes of sound carriers in real time and also purchase the freshly pressed unique copies. On the campus of the Vienna University of Technology, the Prechtlsaal will be transformed into a completely new, inviting art-pop space. For the first time this year, Popfest will also be staging concerts and a workshop in the Ella Briggs ‘Saal in Hof 2’.
On the opposite side of Resselpark, from Thursday to Saturday, Club U will for the first time become the nightly Popfest club location for selected sound collectives. During the day, supporting programs will take place here in cooperation with mica – music austria (installation, workshops, talks).
The festival finale will once again take place in two tried and tested locations: After a Sunday sound picnic in the Karlsgarten near the Kunsthalle Wien, Popfest will stage and celebrate its finale in the baroque Karlskirche.