On the penultimate day of Wiener Festwochen | Free Republic of Vienna 2024, the combustion engine will be led to the execution. Activists, children as judges and the population of Vienna will form a performative procession starting from the House of the Republic and ending in the Inner City of Vienna. After the ritual sacrifice, we will celebrate the great relief. The Club of the Republic will become and oasis of communal dance and movement for the last time, a delicate celebration of life. With low trance, afro beat, Brazilian, electronic cumbia and ambient electronics, DJs from around the culture centre 4LTHANGRUND will spread good vibes one last time. There will be eclecticism with Gawdesque, DJ Lucy Bacchanal will provide vibrating sounds, Grace Schella will seduce us with sci-fi electro to funk on vinyl.

To conclude their SANCTA production series in Vienna, Florentina Holzinger and her team are issuing an invitation to the confessional with spectacular MCs: inspired by the power of female, artistic prowess and unique experimental vibes, Heike Suerman as DJ Femalemacho has been blending bass, house, dark amapiano and reggaeton since 1998. Producer, sound designer and DJ Neven provides a roller-coaster ride of bass, hip hop, RnB and hybrid-experimental electronic sounds. Live piano will feature in the set by Otay:onii, a multi-faceted artist from Haining (China) who believes in echoes and in ‘solving one riddle with another riddle that cannot be seen, cannot be touched, but can be felt.’ Born in Flamez subverts gender and genre with a multitude of influences that are situated somewhere between deconstructed pop, club sounds, lo-fi, grime and classical music. The performances by Cuban-American artist Lamb fluctuate between elements of bass, noise and grime. And Vienna-based DJ Terror takes us through a wide array of sounds from techno via jungle to pop, full of references from various eras of electronic music.

Invited by the womxn composers who are presenting their works at RadioKulturhaus within the Academy Second Modernism, British-Iranian composer and turntablist Shiva Feshareki, the Graz-based Turkish DJ, composer music producer and drummer Çağdaş Onaran and Iran’s ‘most-in-demand-DJ’ Nesa Azadikhah are coming to Vienna. Blending turntablism and an experimental, immersive DJ Set, Shiva Feshareki will start the evening by bringing together genres of bass music, psychedelic Iranian and the latest London sounds. Hit the dancefloor with Çağdaş Onaran, who composes electronic music that unites a wide range of aesthetic approaches as well as music in the classical form. Nesa Azadikhah will bring the night to a joyful end with 90s techno to ambient and experimental music.

Who will be Miss*ter Vienna Pride? Following on from and concluding Vienna’s Pride Parade, Vienna Pride themselves will be staging Austria’s greatest drag contest. A prestigious jury – Metamorkid, Philisha Conditioner and Ryta Tale – are setting out to find Miss*ter Vienna Pride 2024 tonight. DJ Shane and Pandora Nox will set the mood for the great highlight of the evening: Austria’s greatest drag artists will be on the catwalk from 11:30 pm! This unique competition will be moderated by Grazia Patricia. The winner will be crowned with a crown by Riccardo Style.

The ‘grand’ Proclamation of the Free Republic of Vienna on Rathausplatz will cross over into the sounds of the ‘small’ opening at Club of the Republic at Volkstheater featuring a surprise line-up. This much we can tell: if Friday wasn’t enough, come back on Saturday!

Viennese artist and DJ Seba Kayan has invited singer Sakina Teyna, DJ Diamond and DJ Malenciaga to dedicate an evening at the Club entirely to merging Western and ‘Oriental’ sounds. Influenced by her own Kurdish musical heritage, she questions the Eurocentric parameters of electronic music and sketches out an oriental-futurist version of techno and acid. Sakina Teyna’s voice will accompany her on the night. Born into a Kurdish Alevi family in the Turkish town of Varto, Sakina Teyna did not encounter Kurdish music until she was a student. She has been making music in various constellations in Vienna since 2006, mixing traditional music with modern formats. The evening will be opened by dancer, poet and DJ Malika Fankha. As DJ Malenciaga, she develops an apocalyptic giddiness of live vocals over crisp beats and glitchy soundscapes, protest songs and rave feasts. DJ Diamond pledges hardtrance to nightcore, hardcore to gabber and will bring us to the end of this party night propelled by the pace and brimming with energy and fun.