KONTAKTFELD Festival

VISIONS:
"Born in 2019 from a shared passion for subculture and club concerts in the Ruhr region, the DIY cultural collective Kontaktfeld is now organizing its own festival for the first time. On 22 November, the Essen-based collective invites you to the Rotunde Bochum with a diverse program of live music, a reading by Mascha Unterlehberg and a political talk (Correctiv and Salon5).

"Counter-design to male-dominated line-ups"

With a total of six live acts from the German and international underground, the festival not only serves various subgenres, but also makes a clear political statement: "Between subculture, political perspectives and musical diversity from post-punk to synth-pop, the festival sees itself as an alternative to male-dominated line-ups," says the press release. "The focus is deliberately on FLINTA and mixed-gender bands in order to promote visibility and diversity in the live music scene."

Belgian punk rock newcomers Maria Iskariot, for example, will be playing at the festival and giving a first taste of their upcoming European tour shortly before the release of their debut album "Wereldwaan" in Bochum. With her latest album "Abyss", British musician Anika has political post-punk with electronic and dub influences in her luggage; punky noise rock will also be provided by Library Card from Rotterdam. The Berlin synth and new wave scene will be represented by Güner Künier and Berliner Doom, who recently impressed with their mix of art pop and dark wave on "Notre Doom". The line-up is completed by the minimalist electro of the Munich disco-punk duo Wildes.

For more diversity and sustainability in live culture

Having already organized numerous club concerts in the Ruhr region in recent years, the DIY collective is now aiming to establish a recurring festival in order to make its own vision more visible. "Since its foundation, Kontaktfeld has stood for an open, diverse and solidary music culture," says the collective. "Since 2021, we have been organizing a variety of concert formats in Essen, Oberhausen and Bochum with the aim of diversity, low-threshold and sustainability in live music culture. With the festival, we want to show that subculture is not only about music, but also about attitude and community."

Tickets are available on the festival website from 20 euros. The price includes the checkroom and 1 euro, which will be donated to a sustainable reforestation project in Germany.