Do You Believe in Reality? In an era where representationalism blurs the line between perception and reality, Hyperreality insists that music holds the power to anchor us in the real—and to resist commercialized narratives and cultural homogenization. The 2025 edition continues this ethos, with a lineup that spans continents and disciplines, amplifying queer, feminist, and decolonial voices in experimental and electronic music.
Today, many DJs are constantly touring, playing clubs and festivals while contributing little beyond their performances. Shawn Reynaldo has coined the term „Ryanair DJs“ to describe these artists—a reflection of a broader trend where music increasingly becomes a vehicle for self-marketing, rather than a driving force for artistic or social movements. In a world where perception often outweighs substance, Hyperreality remains committed to electronic music as a space for cultural and artistic renewal and discourse.
This ethos is reflected in the 2025 lineup: DJ Cashu co-founded the collective Mamba Negra with Carneosso in 2013—an initiative that creates platforms for diverse artists through independent, self-organized events in abandoned spaces and squats. Emerging from São Paulo’s underground, this movement embodies rave culture as resistance, dissolving the boundaries between music, performance, and protest. At Hyperreality 2025, Cashu will not only perform a DJ set but also curate a Mamba Negra showcase featuring the five-piece band Teto Preto, Cuban-Spanish DJ and Honey Club co-founder TOCCORORO, and local DJs Thao and olgicia.
Lyra Pramuk’s new album Hymnal will be released on June 13 via her own label pop.soil, exploring the voice as a vessel for grief, healing, and collective ritual. Building on the post-human vocal language of her album Fountain, her live performance blends classical vocal elements, electronic experimentation, and folkloric spirituality—a reimagining of the voice in contemporary sonic art that feels both ancient and futuristic.
On the same stage, Whatever the Weather—the alias of Loraine James—offers a more introspective, impressionistic perspective. While her releases under her own name on the esteemed Hyperdub label tend to feature IDM-influenced, vocal-forward collaborations, Whatever the Weather shifts the focus even further toward texture, harmony, and melody.
Moin recontextualize guitar-based genres by blending post-punk, noise rock, and experimental club music. The London trio—composed of Tom Halstead and Joe Andrews (of Raime) and visionary percussionist Valentina Magaletti—crafts music that feels both familiar and deeply deconstructed. At Hyperreality, Magaletti will perform both with Moin and in a solo set, engaging with texture and identity through projects like Batterie Fragile and A Queer Anthology of Drums.
Rojin Sharafi, a Tehran-born, Vienna-based sound artist, fuses raw emotion with analog, acoustic, and digital elements. Her acclaimed works—including Urns Waiting to be Fed and her debut with HUUUM—intertwine Iranian influences with metallic percussion and experimental textures. At Hyperreality 2025, she will present a new show.
For marginalized bodies, clubs can be both oppressive and liberating. Ashland Mines, known as Bobby Beethoven (aka Total Freedom), has been exploring this tension for over a decade—dismantling the traditional structure of DJ sets to redefine the danceable. His ability to compress club energy and treat CDJs as instruments has earned him iconic status far beyond the underground. At Hyperreality, Bobby Beethoven will perform b2b with Salt Server.
Mines’ disruptive approach extends to a broader network of artists reshaping the electronic music landscape. Cities Aviv blends hip-hop, experimental sound, and activism into music that resists commercialization—self-released and booking agency-free—as a sonic act of resistance and reinvention. Lucia Kagramanyan is rooted in electronic experimentation and political critique. Upsammy navigates the intersections of IDM, ambient, and techno, crafting sonic landscapes that defy linearity and expectation.
Many artists in the Hyperreality lineup draw inspiration from a broad spectrum beyond contemporary dance music, yet they also build upon the foundation laid by pioneers like Tama Sumo and Lakuti, whose influence has shaped the scene for decades. Known for their influential work with Ostgut Ton and their long-running Your Love series at Panorama Bar, they will perform a b2b set at Hyperreality. Like DJ Terror b2b Katia Curie, they advocate for inclusion on and off the dancefloor. Jung an Tagen, aka Stefan Juster, has been exploring the limits of techno for over two decades, with releases on labels such as Editions Mego (celebrating its 30th anniversary this year) and Diagonal. Since 2020, Juster has run the Viennese net label ETAT.xyz. At Hyperreality 2025, he will present his new album—or concept—The Revenge of the Speaker People.
Paris-based Emma DJ will present his first live show at Rewire Festival in The Hague, with Hyperreality as one of the next stops. Known for his raw, hard-to-classify productions, his new material leans into hyperpop elements—setting the stage for DJ g2g, whose sets blend Latin club rhythms—perreo, cumbia, and guaracha—with four-to-the-floor beats.
Beyond the conventional club and concert context, Hyperreality creates immersive spaces for international and local artists who view music as a transgressive art form—one in which sound, performance, and architecture merge as equal parameters. In 2025, this approach will also manifest in an art project: Lesbian Bar. What began as an artistic initiative has evolved into a space of real political agency. Lesbian Bar questions existing hierarchies in club culture and their relationship to safe spaces: it creates a place for the lesbian gaze.
This space is open to all FLINTA + Queer individuals; there will be no identity checks at the door. The space is open to all who can benefit from it, as long as a respectful atmosphere is maintained.
Evelyn Plaschg, who also has a background in visual art, creates immersive sound performances that blend tenor recorder, vocals, and electronic synthesizers with field recordings. She will open Hyperreality on May 23.
Tickets: www.ntry.at/hyperreality2025
Full line-up: Bobby Beethoven b2b Salt Server, Cashu, Cities Aviv (live), DJ Diamond, DJ g2g, DJ Terror b2b Katia Curie, Emma DJ (live), Evelyn Plaschg (live), Jung an Tagen: Revenge of the Speaker People (live), Lakuti & Tama Sumo, Lesbian Bar, Lucia Kagramanyan, Lyra Pramuk: Hymnal (live), Mamba Negra Showcase, Moin (live), Olgica, Rojin Sharafi (live), Teto Preto (live), Thao, TOCCORORO, Upsammy, Valentina Magaletti (live), Whatever the Weather (aka Lorain James) (live)
HYPERREALITY FESTIVAL 2025: Do you believe in reality?
May 23 & 24, 2025 | Otto-Wagner-Areal, Vienna
HYPERREALITY – www.hyperreality.at
