re:publica 26: Fiebertraum ESC: Wie politisch darf der Eurovision Song Contest sein?

ESC Fever Dream: How Political Can the Eurovision Song Contest Be? Just a few days before the start of re:publica, the 70th Eurovision Song Contest will have taken place in Vienna. Several participating countries boycotted the ESC, and the situation in the Middle East and the debate surrounding Israel's participation overshadowed the world's biggest music competition. Other political conflicts also influenced the contest. Has it always been this way? Is it true that it's no longer about music and entertainment, but rather that political conflicts are being played out in the ESC arena? Dominik Rzepka and Daniel Kähler have been reporting regularly on the ESC for several years – covering the beautiful, vibrant moments as well as the debates and conflicts. We've just returned from the final in Vienna on May 16th and are analyzing with you: Why is the result the way it is? What role did politics play in the lead-up, and why was the dispute over the situation in the Middle East able to influence the ESC so much? Can the ESC become more relaxed again? We'll show you different research findings and perspectives on the Eurovision Song Contest and, together with you, explore the world's biggest pop culture event in these politically turbulent times. We'll present you with various research findings and perspectives on the Eurovision Song Contest and analyze this event together. Speakers: Daniel Kähler – https://re-publica.com/user/24374 Dominik Rzepka – https://re-publica.com/user/24391 Further information: https://re-publica.com/de/session/fie... All videos from #rp26:    • re:publica 2026: Never gonna give you up!   Mastodon: https://berlin.social/@republica Threads: https://www.threads.net/@re_publica Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/re-publica.com Instagram:   / re_publica   Facebook:   / republica   LinkedIn:   / re-publica   re:publica 26 – Never gonna give you up! https://re-publica.com #ArtUndCulture May 18, 2026 Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)