From June 11–13 2026, live shows, performances, and gatherings trace connection in (dis)comfort. The second edition of Paradise Must Be Nice brings together Berlin-based artists with selected international guests. In cooperation with Studio Ziegra, the festival is also hosting a FLINTA* workshop on experimental sound design. The program spans three evenings across unique cultural venues in Berlin.
For the opening, the artists treat the reverb of Zwingli Kirche as an instrument. London-based French violinist and singer Vanessa Bedoret presents intimate, cinematic compositions, blending ballads with piercing strings and electronics into an ecstatic experience.
Rosaceae is the music project of Berlin-based visual artist Leyla Yenirce. Together with performance artist and musician Solomon Garçon, she explores the sonic aspects of military and cultural structures of dominance through noise, ambient, and vocal improvisation.
The intersection between sacred and experimental music is the theme of the second evening at Gedächtniskirche. Berlin-based Czech composer Petra Hermanova combines folk and sacred traditions to explore the theme of loss. Together with organist Sebastian Heindl and the chamber choir Ensemble Memoria, she will present her solo debut, In Death’s Eyes, fully orchestrated for the first time on a German stage.
Maria W Horn and Mats Erlandsson present their ongoing site-specific project ‘The Spectral Organ’. The two Swedish composers examine the ritual framework inherent in the symbols and technologies of sound production in Western European religious music, and explore the historical and psychological imprints of spaces and objects through field recordings and sustained synthetic sounds.
At Neue Zukunft, eight acts will close out the festival by blending punk, noise, and experimental electronic music. In the Garage, Gini SNC weaves immersive soundscapes, while Gertie Adelaido confronts the audience with ADHD-core. Bitchmaterial opens the theater with noise-punk, while Kryk pays homage to black metal with furious riffs.
After an intermission, Cavid Dhen blends the organic sound of the saxophone with improvised electronics, before Emme translates raw emotions into a haunting theatrical performance. Finally, Xenia Reaper crafts cryptic soundscapes from ambient and breakbeat, before Slikback wraps up the evening with a high-energy live set that blends deconstructed club music and noise.
