Kölner Kongress 2025 - Bergab? Erzählen in schwierigen Zeiten

In the organizer's words:

Bridges are collapsing, the economy is ailing and the political situation is unstable... One gets the impression that things are only going downhill. Apocalyptic doomsday scenarios are on the rise. But how can descent and loss be told in the media beyond dystopias?

In cooperation with the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM), this year's Cologne congress organized by Deutschlandfunk is looking for answers and exploring new ways of media storytelling. Because what if we change our perspective and see degrowth as the path to a prosperous future? And isn't it also true that the more serious the situation, the more stable the humor has to be?

With lectures by Bernhard Pörksen, Frauke Rostalski, Hanna Bethke, Jens Beckert and others and artistic interventions by KHM students, the Cologne congress opens up new artistic and media spaces for thought.

The presentation of podcasts such as "Who Killed Tupper? - Aufstieg und Fall einer Dose" (Who Killed Tupper? The Rise and Fall of a Can) shows in a particularly impressive way how media can narrate descents and in the live radio play "Hallo, ich bin Geld" (Hello, I'm Money) by the performance group "Frauen und Fiktionen" (Women and Fictions), our means of payment itself has its say.

The event will take place at the Deutschlandradio Funkhaus in Cologne.

Please register here.

If registration is no longer possible shortly before the event, we will be happy to welcome you at the registration desk in the entrance foyer.

Price information:

Please register for the Cologne Congress 2025.