On four summer weekends, DURCHLÜFTEN transforms the Humboldt Forum’s Schlüterhof into a free open-air meeting place where musical traditions from across the globe unfold as living cultural archives.
5 years open. Already 5 years DURCHLÜFTEN. For the sixth time now, DURCHLÜFTEN transforms the Schlüterhof courtyard of Berlin’s Humboldt Forum into a vibrant open-air stage for global music, cultural dialogue, and shared experience. From 9 July to 1 August 2026, across four summer weekends, the festival presents 24 live acts and 12 DJs from around the world. Each evening features two concerts followed by a DJ set, creating twelve nights of musical discovery, movement, and encounter in the heart of Berlin — once again with free entry for all.
From electrified Mauritanian desert blues to Andean Indigenous futurism, Kurdish acid ritual to Afro-Colombian bass cosmologies, Tanzanian polyphony to Anatolian-Nordic electronica—the courtyard becomes a meeting point of living cultures. Artists carry traditions such as living archives, weaving ancestral instruments, languages, and storytelling into contemporary forms, diasporic exchange, and global club culture. Collaborations with independent labels like Argentina’s ZZK Records and Karachi-based honiunhoni further expand these cross-continental sonic dialogues.
Since its inception, DURCHLÜFTEN has stood for cultural dialogue beyond museum walls. What begins inside the galleries — in exhibitions, collections, and interdisciplinary exchange — flows outward into lived experience. The courtyard becomes a commons: a space of participation, hospitality, and collective presence.
DURCHLÜFTEN remains free and open to all. Please be prepared for queuing moderately.
DURCHLÜFTEN welcomes everyone: the music and art lover, the crate digger, the museum visitor who lingers after sunset, the raver, the neighbor passing by, and the grandmother visiting with her family. Here, we gather not only to listen, but to experience cultures in motion.
LINE UP 2026
ADG7 – Ak Dan Gwang Chil -Korea | AySay – Denmark | Kurdish | Turkish | BCUC – Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness – South Africa | Canto Diáspora – Diverse Latin America | Berlin | Charlotte Colace – Cuba | France | Berlin | Humazapas – Ecuador | Jatun Mama – Ecuador | Loma Reqs – Kurdish | Colombia | Massa Dembele – Burkino Faso | Germany | Morena Leraba – Lesotho | Muslim Shaggan – Pakistan | Nana Benz du Togo – Togo | Noura Mint Seymali – Mauritania | Nuevos Rios – Colombia | France | Pęki Momés – Turkish | Renata Flores – Peru | Seppuku Pistols – Japan | Tamara Flores – Austria | Mexico | Uche Yara – Berlin | Austria | Ustad Noor Bakhsh – Pakistan | Yalla Miku – Eritrea | Switzerland | Wura Samba & Gebrüder Teichmann – Nigeria | Deutschland | The Zawose Queens – Tanzania | 100 lbs of Summer – Berlin | New Zealand | Australia
DJ’S
afrodisiac | Ben Olayinka | Fania Brava ft. Lionza | Femdelic | In Living Color | Lyla Safi | Montoya | MzRizk | natsu | Necios: eÑe b2b Forastero | Ra Mava | TMNIT
“As a Mexican-American curator based in Berlin, I am deeply committed to creating spaces of inclusion and exchange. Many of us come from families shaped by migration — by the search for dignity, safety, and opportunity. We carry our histories with us.”
DURCHLÜFTEN is rooted in that awareness. It is curated with intention and gratitude — for the artists who trust this stage, and for the audiences who gather with openness. I spend months researching, listening, in conversation, and traveling to other events in search of great music and beautiful culture that inspires me — and I hope you too. At its core, the program centers artists as carriers of knowledge — those who keep culture alive through reinvention. Across continents and generations, it reflects a simple truth: tradition is never static — it adapts, it breathes, it travels, as we do.
Each edition grows from the same belief: that music connects us across difference. I truly believe this! And that listening is an act of care and dancing together can remind us of our shared humanity.
In the current state of the world, we may feel helpless to make great change. But within the spaces we inhabit, we can create connection. We can find common grounds. This is my goal. And so we open courtyards. We invite stories. And we make room for complexity and for joy.
This festival is not only about performance. It is about encounter. It is about being together in difference. It is about collective healing through sound.
It is my honor to do this work — with the artists, the crew, the Humboldt Forum, our partners, and with everyone who finds their way into the Schlüterhof this summer.”
— Melissa Perales, Curator DURCHLÜFTEN
Melissa Perales is an independent curator and co-founder of the Durchlüften music festival at the Humboldt Forum. As a Mexican-American promoter and cultural connector she is based in Berlin, and brings over two decades of experience in local and international independent music scenes. Her work connects artists, audiences, and institutions, and is shaped by inclusion and transcultural exchange. She has curated formats such as Torstraßen Festival and We Make Waves. Through initiatives including Music Pool Berlin, Night School, and Café Chocolat, she supports community-oriented, artist-centered development, collaboration, and international exchange through music.