Tagung: Changes: Pop culture in the present moment (11.-13.06.2026, Universität Wien)
Changes
Pop culture in the present moment
Universität Wien
11. – 13. Juni 2026
> Anmeldung per Mail an maximilian[dot]jablonowski[at]univie[dot]ac[dot]at
Thursday, 11 June
17.00h–18.30h
Public opening event
Making pop music in the present moment
Speakers:
Rainer Prokop (University of Music and Performative Arts, Vienna), sociology
Catharina Rüß / Garlands (University of Technology, Dortmund), cultural anthropologist and musician
Ariel Oehl / Oehl (Vienna), musician
Anja Sodnikar / Sodl (Vienna), musician
Hosts:
Nikola Nölle (Berlin/Leipzig) & Maximilian Jablonowski (Vienna)
Friday, 12 June
9.30h–11.30h
Panel 1 | Controlling the Past, Shaping the Present: Memory, Power, and Identity in Global Popular Music
Adam Behan (Maynooth University)
Irish Popular Music and Liberalism, Then and Now
Elena Bös (Institute for Contemporary History, Munich)
Forging the Past, Performing the Present: Memory, Gender, and Authenticity in Global Metal
Paroma Ghose (Institute for Contemporary History, Munich)
Borderless Sonic: K-pop and the Sounds of the ‘End of the World’
Coffee break
12.00h –13.00h
Julian Schmitzberger (University of Zurich)
Club Culture in the Present Moment: A Conjunctural Perspective on Clubbing Experiences
Laura Marie Steinhaus (Institute of Popular Culture and Music Freiburg)
Popular Music and the Present Moment: Perspective on (Anti-)Feminisms in German Rap
Lunch break
14.00 – 15.00h
Luise Stark (University of Würzburg)
From 43 minutes to 30 seconds: German nature films in the age of Reels and shorts
Karel Šima (Charles University Prague)
The Mycelium Moment: Fungal imaginaries, eco-zombies, and amateur mycologies in the Anthropocene
Coffee break
15.30 –17.00h
Dasom Lee (University of Tübingen)
K-pop Activism: The Convergence of K-pop Culture and Social Change
Johann Pibert (Free University of Berlin)
Audiovisuality of Depression in Isak Danielson’s Music Video Oeuvre from a Music- and Film-Psychological Perspective
Matthias Harbeck (Humboldt University of Berlin)
Slay an orc or play an orc – recent cultural (de)bat(tl)es on diversity and racism in fantasy rpg scenes
Dinner break
20:00h
Book presentation (in German)
Stefan Wellgraf (Humbolt University of Berlin)
Staatsfeinde: Rechte Subkulturen in Ostdeutschland seit den 1970er Jahren
Café Sabotage (Wipplingerstraße 23, 1010 Vienna)
Saturday, 13 June
9.30h–11.30h
Panel 2 | How Pop Culture Speaks: Language, Identity and Resilience in Wartime Ukraine
Liudmyla Pidkuimukha Möbius (National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy)
From Posters to Shoppers: Visualising ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ in Wartime Ukraine
Olha Tkachenko (Institute of Slavic Studies, Polish Academy of the Sciences)
The Role of Ukrainian YouTube in the Deconstruction of Russian Imperial Narratives in Popular Culture
Nadiya Kiss (University of Erfurt)
Guns and Roses: Language and Identity in Ukrainian "Bachelor" Show in Times of War
Svitlana Pidoprygora (University of Innsbruck)
Ukrainian War Comics as Mythic Narratives
Coffee break
12.00h – 13.30h
Roland Peball (University of Klagenfurt)
Evoking the “Deus ex Machina”: Pop-Cultural Science Fiction and AI Imaginaries
Bohan Jason Lee (University of Alberta)
More Than Viral: Popular Music as Cultural Practice in the Platform Era
Lennart Ritz (University of Göttingen)
The Past‘s Future: Sonic Conceptions of Future in Krautrock and How They Relate to the Present
13:30h – 14:00h
Closing remarks
Venue
Institut für Europäische Ethnologie |
Department of European Ethnology
Hanuschgasse 3
1010 Vienna
Seminarraum 1 | Lecture Hall 1
Staircase 1, floor 2, right wing
Directions
Station Karlsplatz/Oper
Subway: U1, U2, U4 (exit Oper)
Tram: 1, 2, 71, D
Acknowledgment
The organisers would like to thank the Faculty of History and Cultural Studies at the University of Vienna and the Austrian Research Council (ÖFG) for their financial support for the conference.