In 2025, the East of Culture – Different Sounds festival celebrated its 18th edition, marking 12 years as a cornerstone of the East of Culture programme. The festival offers encounters with some of the most intriguing musical phenomena at the intersection of genres, traditions, and cultural influences.Situated in the heart of Lublin, the festival remains one of Poland’s most visionary musical events, bridging the gap between global icons and underground pioneers.

The festival’s core philosophy is a relentless pursuit of the “different”—exploring the intersections of genre, tradition, and avant-garde influence. This year’s lineup featured an eclectic array of talent:

Voivod,The EX, The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis, PETBRICK, Maria W. Horn, Butch Kassidy, Mitsune, MaidaVale, Emmeluth’s Amoeba,Zamilska, Raphael Rogiński & Iztok Koren, Ivo Shandor & The Gozer Worshipers, Flower & Pines,Newa,NFNR,Ela Orleans,Dopey Monkey and guests as well as artists and representatives of the New York–based labelStone Tapes:Laraaji,Lee Ranaldo & Leah Singer, Yonatan Gat.

Beyond the stage, the festival hosted nine publishing premieres under Wschodni Express and Literary Eastern Express (LEE) series, bringing vital voices from Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic states to Polish readers. These works illuminate the most intimate corners of memory and expand the horizons of the imagination, casting an attentive eye on human fates—whether historical, fictional, or long forgotten. Nine new books were launched this year, including texts about

historical sagas: The Brass Age by Slobodan Šnajder (trans. Sinisa Kasumovic) —a monumental reconstruction of 20th-century European trauma;
identity & Femininity: Birutė Jonuškaitė’s Attendance List (trans. Agnieszka Rembiałkowska), a “primer” for understanding women across cultural eras.

Sofija Andruchowycz’s Carpathian odyssey The Great grand Hen (trans. Andrij Saweneć)

biography & essay: Oksana Łuszczewska’s tribute to avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren – Maya the filmmaker (trans. Wira Romanyszyn) and Igor Pomierancew’s My First Shelter(trans. Zbigniew Dmitroca), a moving blend of reportage and memory, giving voice to personal recollections and the traumas of contemporary Ukraine.

·Experimental Prose: Satirical and queer perspectives in Tania Malarczuk’s How I Became a Saint (trans. Anna Łazar), Wasyl Słapczuk’s reflections on the creative life in Tom & Tom (trans. Halina Surowiec),

and Evelin Márton’s dystopian Solea Minor (trans. Daniel Warmuz) – a lyrical, grotesque dystopia about the last fragment of the world, solitude, prophecy, destiny, and the struggle with “mad desires.”

The Move East Movie series continued its mission of presenting socially sensitive cinema from Poland’s eastern neighbours. This year’s screenings included Uppercase print, Peaches Goes Bananas, and The World’s Dumbest Record

 The festival also presented exhibitions, including Jan Tadeusz Ścibior – Photographs   Between White and Black, an exhibition of drawings by Daiva Kairevičiūtė; and The Ex Unlimited, showing insights
into the connection between Polish performer Małgorzata Haduch and the iconic Dutch band The Ex.
A particularly distinctive element of this year’s exhibition module was the audiovisual installation Sing the Gloaming—a series of sound sculptures placed in an open green space, created by Professor Simon Kirby and artists/musicians Tommy Perman and Rob St. John. As every year, we also presented unique book cover designs from the Eastern Express series.

A debut module for 2025, Sound Reset: Polish Field Recordings offered a sanctuary of “auditory rest.” In a darkened space free of visual distractions, participants immersed themselves in field recordings from the Polish natural world, curated by masters of the craft: Izabela Dłużyk, Tomek Mirta, and Krzysztof Topolski.

The festival ensured a creative space for all ages:
Wiggle & Groove and Sound & Steps – movement and music workshop inspired by African traditions, featuring instruments like the djembe and kalimba.
Music LAB – Play with Sound, a space dedicated to free expression and collective creation through sound and imagination for ages 14+.

Musical Playground: Located in Błonia near the Castle, it remains a permanent festival staple where children can experiment freely with sounds.