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SunCTM joins forces with Red Bull Music Academy to close its 18th edition on sonically divergent notes. For a third year in a row, the two partners have collaboratively assembled two back-to-back events. Following a thunderous performance by The Bug vs Dylan Carlson of Earth at Heimathafen Neukölln, a spirited afterparty at the multi-room club and community center SchwuZ, which since its establishment in 1977 has been an indispensable resource in Berlin’s gay and queer scenes, will spotlight a range of voices to celebrate the diversity and unity that has shaped the very foundations of club culture.
MikeQ, a hero in the long-standing east coast USA ballroom/vogue-house scene, is an active DJ and head of the collective Qween Beat. He will be joined by dancers from Berlin Voguing Out, an initiative founded in 2011 by Georgina Leo Melody and Mic Oala that organizes vogue balls, classes, lectures, and an annual festival.
Gothenberg’s Toxe, a 2015 RBMA participant and one of the most celebrated members of the forward-looking Staycore label, will dish out a serving of colourful, plastic nihilism and techy, reference-loaded severity.
DFA-signee and ex- opera singer Nils Bech, who is equal parts avant-garde performance artist and dancefloor songwriter, will present his romantic, sweet-toothed pop songs.
Presenting a new piece developed for the occasion, Berlin-based Brazilian artist Negroma proposes music as an extension of their performative body.
Berlin fixture Jan Paul Anders will provide a soft landing at the end of 10 long festival days with a vigorous house set.
Presented with Red Bull Music Academy. Toxe is also presented with the SHAPE platform, which is co-funded by the creative Europe programme of the European Union.
A Brazilian performance artist currently based in Berlin, Negroma creates hybridized dance and experimental music works for both stage and club environments. Their performances bring many forms of media into dialogue, expressing the personal while opening new perspectives in and around contemporary art more broadly.
Qween Beat crew founder Mike Q is a leading figure in the ballroom and vogue-house renaissance that originated on the East Coast and has since caught fire around the world. Born and raised in New Jersey, Mike Q was first exposed to the longstanding local ballroom scene in 2003, at the age of 17.
Norwegian singer and performance artist Nils Bech has always worn his heart on his sleeve. On his latest album, he continues to push the boundaries of pop and art music by combining classical vocals with glossy, hi-tech club music.
Voguing is a unique and highly stylized modern house dance that evolved out of the Harlem ballroom scene in the 1960s. The dance, which gained mainstream attention in 1990 through Madonna’s song and video “Vogue” and the award-winning documentary Paris Is Burning, is characterized by its Vogue magazine-inspired, model-like poses.
Swedish DJ and producer Toxe is an exciting new voice in experimental club music and a central figure within STAYCORE, the groundbreaking Stockholm crew and label also home to KABLAM, mobilegirl and Mechatok.
Jan Paul Anders is a longstanding Berlin DJ whose sets draw from deep reserves of house, Afrobeat, jazz, funk and soul. Despite being content to fly under the radar, he has 20 years of experience as a DJ under his belt.