17. Berliner Hörspielfestival

We’re living in the red zone. The level meters are maxed out. Overdrive is no longer a mistake, but a permanent state—one of deregulation. The radio play is the ideal place to counteract or amplify this overdrive. Here, the voice is allowed to waver, and time can stretch or condense. Here there is room for superimposition, feedback, and the uncontrollable. The radio play overdrives reality by remixing it. It twists perception until something breaks open.

The 17th Berlin Radio Play Festival of the Independent Scene explores sounds in various rooms at the Academy of Arts on Hanseatenweg, bringing them to life. In their live performances, Marc Matter, Ute Wassermann, and Joke Lanz, Schorsch Kamerun, and Masha Qrella—together with graduates of the Sound Studies and Sonic Arts program at the Berlin University of the Arts—will give radio plays a spatial dimension and bring them to the stage.

Once again, the festival will center on the competitions for the jury, audience, and sponsorship prizes; the “Brennende Mikros” awards for independently produced radio plays, documentaries, and sound art; and talks with the creators. The rich accompanying program also features installations, interventions, workshops, and the presentation of the 2026 Audiowalk Award.

The Berlin Radio Play Festival takes place in cooperation with the Academy of Arts and is funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion.