Anushka Chkheidze & Robert Lippok ・ Pop-Kultur Festival 2026

August 24–30, 2026 | silent green Kulturquartier, Festsaal Kreuzberg, Kulturbrauerei, Pierre Boulez Saal, and more 

Live concerts, experimental music formats, talks, and more. You can look forward to international and local artists, world premieres, and music in all its forms—from large stages to intimate club shows.

Sometimes, those transnational collaboration ideas—which all too often remain mere theory—actually come to fruition. The collaboration between Georgian musician Anushka Chkheidze and German musician Robert Lippok is one such rare case: it has grown organically, remains open-ended in its process—and is sonically remarkably distinctive. The two met in 2019 in Tbilisi during a workshop exploring the concept of “plug-in” architecture: modular sound structures that can be recombined in ever-changing ways. In retrospect, this concept reads almost like a blueprint for their current collaboration. Traditional role models quickly dissolved—what remains is an artistic encounter between equals. What emerges from this deliberately defies clear categorization. Amid references to indietronica, krautrock-inspired expanses, and almost sacred ambient spaces, a sound unfolds that is less a result than an ongoing search. At its core is a way of working that follows no external logic. In the studio, often without words, time and space condense into a state of concentrated presence. Differences—whether in biography, background, or generation—are not emphasized but productively dissolved. The result is a sonic space that feels equally fragile and urgent, minimal yet vast. Or, as Anushka Chkheidze puts it herself: “It’s always just about the music.” Check it out on the album *Uncontrollable Thoughts*, released by Morr Music. Incidentally, Anushka Chkheidze performed at the Pop-Kultur Festival back in 2022, at that time as part of the Goethe-Talent program for emerging artists—which is how she came to be represented by her current agency.