EM GUIDE — Kolumne Gefühle und Gedanken zu einer Welt, deren Umriss mir nicht mehr gefällt

IT HAS PLAYED OUT – OR: THE TRUMPIZATION OF EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING

Spring 2025 doesn’t make it easy to believe that things will be better this year and in the coming years than in 2024, 2023, 2022 and ….
On the contrary: the disastrous cultural policy decisions in Cologne and Berlin, where the budget debates not only resulted in cuts to important institutions and projects, but also in some cases in complete liquidation orders (see the Cologne Academy of the Arts of the World), bode ill for German cultural policy after last weekend’s depressing election.
Current events in the USA are rightly fueling fears that even more massive cuts to social and cultural projects are looming here too and that regressive policies in general will make a mockery of the important progress made in recent years and decades. These fears are exacerbated by the speed with which many companies (such as Meta, Google, Target, McDonald’s) are prepared to discontinue their diversity and sustainability programs.

But you don’t have to look that far to feel pessimistic; even in their own environment, more and more people are acting in a selfish, egocentric or even aggressive, careerist manner in the face of tougher economic conditions – probably because they always have been, but didn’t notice it in more relaxed economic times, but perhaps also because they finally feel liberated by the new circumstances and don’t have to hide it. You can definitely say that: Trump has given many – in my world of experience it is significantly always men – a carte blanche, which they gratefully accept.

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EM GUIDE – Interview – Blaues Rauschen Festival

Jessica Ekomane “Music has this capacity to make you feel the whole possible and impossible spectrum of your emotions […] and I want to appeal to all of it, all at once”

Jessica Ekomane’s sound doesn’t merely fill a space – it redefines it. The Berlin-based composer and sound artist, with French and Cameroonian roots, operates at the intersections of psychoacoustics, rhythm, and perception. …

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The Cologne Affair: Nicky Siano

Nicky Siano: “Unfortunately, DJing has become a dying art form

"e. You look at someone, you get a smile—that’s what you should get. It should be inviting and f…

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EM GUIDE – Easterndaze – Text: Lucia Udvardyova

Music Biennale Zagreb: A Diary

Lucia Udvardyova attended Music Biennale Zagreb (MBZ). Photos: Music Biennale Zagreb…

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EM GUIDE – Interview with Boshra Alsaadi

Boshra Alsaadi aka SAADI: “The reality is awful“

"The age old struggle…there’s obviously a lot of hardship in the arts. It's also hard for subver…

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Papiripar Festival / Interview with Luke Fowler & Ryoko Akama

Ryoko Akama: “Capitalism destroys coordination and I am not sure how we can re-coordinate ourselves into a system that works”

At this year’s Papiripar Festival in Hamburg, Fowler and Akama will join forces for a special coll…

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EM GUIDE – Interview – 34.sk – Bulat Khalilov

Daniyal Ahmed: “I would never use words like “oriental” since this is not the way we look at ourselves”

Daniyal Ahmed is a musician, ethnomusicologist, music enthusiast and founder of the honiunhoni label…

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EM GUIDE —  Interview w/ Erfana Barbad – Easterndaze – Lucia Udvardyov / Zsuzsi Boross

Erfana Barbad: “Change can only happen if everyone unites.”

"providing a safe and comfortable space for open-minded and marginalised people" – Lucia Udvardyo…

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