Since 2017 the boutique Q3AMBIENTFEST has been bringing together established and emerging artists from various genres and diverse origins as a musical happening. It is carefully curated by the East Berlin-born, Potsdam-based Brueder Selke. The long-term collaboration between the two brothers who grew up on the other side of the Berlin Wall is characterised by the essential elements of encounter and exchange.
The independent Q3A, with its first-class roster of talented colleagues, invites the open-minded music audience to discover a wide, contemporary sound spectrum. Each year, the curators invite like-minded friends and also renowned artists to meet on a common stage and, with performances that range between academic avant-garde and accessible pop, develop a kind of cinematic music that also audibly reflects the architecture of the UNESCO Filmstadt Potsdam between Frederician rococo, eclectic, early-European villas and socialist brutalism.
Since 2017, Q3A has hosted in person and (since the pandemic) also virtually national and international artists, among them Laura Cannell, Andrea Belfi, Grand River, Hélène Vogelsinger, Yair Elazar Glotman, James Heather, Midori Hirano, Echo Collective, Poppy Ackroyd, Julia Reidy, Masayoshi Fujita, Carlos Cipa, Aidan Baker, Hania Rani, Anne Müller, Mabe Fratti and Ale Hop.
Traditionally, the Q3A focuses less on headliners and sees itself as a complement to the local cultural scene. Thus the constellation and interactions of the musicians themselves are the highlight, resulting in the spontaneous, improvised collaborations of Brueder Selke: encounter and exchange.
Brueder Selke is supported by international media partners, independent music initiatives, progressive record labels, custom instrument makers, underground radio stations, investigative art magazines, forward-thinking blogs, and alternative concert formats from around the world.
Q3A is part of Keychange, a global movement advocating for a sustainable music industry and gender equality led by the PRS Foundation and supported by the European Union’s Creative Europe program. Since 2018, it has received funding from the Brandenburg state capital Potsdam.
