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CLUB OF THE REPUBLIC

The Rote Bar and the Weißer Salon at Volkstheater will be the place for all revellers to meet at night when they have still not had enough of the festival events and want to continue celebrating the community, life, the evening. This is where artists and audience will meet at concerts, performances and unbridled parties.

 Volkstheater, Rote Bar and Weißer Salon

 from 18 May, Tue to Sat, from 10pm

 Admission free

 limited capacity, first come, first served!

WEEK 1, 23 - 25 May

During the first week of the festival, while Democracy v. Control are debated in the House of the Republic and the Council of the Republic calls their first meeting, KDM Königin der Macht together with The Royal Squad against Toxic Masculinity will remind us on Thursday that obsolete mindsets and exclusive practices have absolutely no place there. On Friday, Hase (‘dangerous d-punk-fast-80ies-hardcore-weirdo-showdown-group from’), Eberdreck (‘dilettante theatre punk’) and Topsy Turvy (‘rebel, don’t resign’) will add anarchic punk vibes to the mix. For Saturday, Seba Kayan put together an oriental-futurist electro evening for our guests from Rojava and everyone else in a mood for a party.

WEEK 2, 30 May – 1 June

Inspired by the hearing topic Art, Culture and Power KDM has invited Marlene Engelhorn to the performance at Rote Bar in order to put the millionaire heir to the test as self-declared wealth researcher. The fear that the deep hole inside cannot be filled – not even with money –, is what Low Life Rich Kids sing about at their EP release concert at the ProtestSongFest (in collaboration with Fm4). They are accompanied by last year’s winner KüR, now KüRAMU, who join hands as a duo to tell their very own stories in the jungle of the current crises, and a protest song mashup DJ set by Fm4 editor Kathi Seidler. And of course, Pride is taking place on 1 June … if we’re going to appropriate capitalist formats, why not do it properly: who will be Miss*ter Vienna Pride?

WEEK 3, 6 - 8 June

Week 3 – and the topics don’t let up. Pressure to commit and the need to take a position dominate the world on- and offline, and also the discussions in the Council. Solidarity or Cancelling? KDM and the queer-feminist Last Glee Club advocate radical solidarity with song, clamour, sound and rap. The evening after, Femme DMC bring Hip Hop, Dancehall and RnB from London to Vienna in their line-up with a focus on shared self-empowerment. The Saturday programme was devised upon recommendation of the composers at the Academy Second Modernity. Following the Academy’s first day of debate on strategies for improved visibility, all participants are invited to let go of conflict and contention on the dancefloor – accompanied by music by Çağdaş Onaran from Graz, Nesa Azadikhah from Tehran and Shiva Feshareki from London, we are so looking forward!

WEEK 4, 13 - 15 June

In Week 4, the Council will be working on bringing highbrow and popular culture closer, KDM Königin der Macht, Zed Zeldich Zed, first Balkan drag king, and Grave Palmieri Jones take care of love and look at how far we might go without binarisms and in breach of the conventional canon. On Friday, Euroteuro will sing about Autogrill, Tagada and dismissals: Vienna’s popular electro hits are rounded off by DJ Fritz Ostermayer, whose set will add new highs and sounds to the topic of the week. The closing party after the last showing of Sancta, the opera performance by Florentina Holzinger, who always has surprising solutions in store for highbrow culture, will bring the week to a close in style.

WOCHE 5, 20 - 22 June

Final week, final topic. Finally, the question of ecology. Together with The Royal Squad against Toxic Masculinity, KDM Königin der Macht will put the festival as a whole to the test, including an investigation into its foot- and fingerprint. Mzamo Nondlwana and the ensemble of The Gospel According to the Other Mary will weave together music, procession, dance and communal practices in order to open up space for utopias: how can we find solace and care in a rough landscape? They will prepare the ground for all remaining energies being set free the evening after: from the execution of the combustion engine to an ecstatic freedom dance, when Kris Verdonck and 4lthangrund throw the final party at Club of the Republic.

For the Club der Republic, Ruth Erharter, Elias Geißler, Sophie Glaser, Marc Pierre and Roman Berleth (stage design class at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna) have transformed the Volkstheater’s Rote Bar into a constantly evolving space.