Elevate 2026: First confirmed acts
Concert Programme - Sound as Resistance & the Questioning of Truth(s)
One of the first headliners announced is the legendary British band Cabaret Voltaire, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary on stage. As a formative force in the industrial avant-garde, they developed a sound in Sheffield in the late 1970s that was a blend of post-punk, tape experiments and early synths. Their work continues to be a source of inspiration for generations of artists from techno, industrial and contemporary club culture.
Anika, a British exile based in Berlin and former political journalist, will also be performing in Graz. Her velvety, cool voice, often compared to Nico's, lends her songs a hypnotic depth in which personal and social themes flow into one another – between introspective indie and self-determined pop.
KUNTARI is the band led by Indonesian multi-instrumentalist Tesla Manaf. The collective merges elements of jazz, noise, punk and experimental electronics into an explosive, genre-defying sound. With fierce energy, the group blurs the boundaries between traditional instrumentation and digital manipulation – between ritual, rebellion and ecstatic release.
The Barcelona-based duo Dame Area brings raw energy to the stage: ritualistic rhythms meet synth-wave and EBM pulse, driving percussion and expressive vocals merging into an intense, visceral live experience.
With PLF, Austrian sound artist Peter Kutin, percussionist Lukas König and British vocalist Freya Edmondes (aka Elvin Brandhi) join forces to create eruptive soundscapes of feedback, rhythm and voice – dark, uncompromising and cathartic.
Elevate Club Night – Low Frequencies, Technoid Subversion and Organic Beats
Once again, Elevate’s club nights in 2026 set vital and inspiring benchmarks.
Kittin, an icon of the international electroclash era, remains a symbol of female self-empowerment within a long male-dominated electronic scene, with her subversive and ironic club hits such as “1982” and “Frank Sinatra”.
DJ Storm, pioneer of drum and bass and co-founder of the legendary Metalheadz label, stands for uncompromising basslines and dark elegance – a living legend of UK jungle culture.
Carrier, the project of Guy Brewer, explores the tension between club sound and experimental sonic architecture in a new dimension. With his latest album “Rhythm Immortal”, Brewer shifts his music into slower-paced, atmospherically dense territories – balancing finely choreographed percussion, ambient-noise textures and reduced rhythmic structures. His live performances merge precision and pulse, creating immersive spaces that resonate physically and emotionally.
The Finnish-German duo Amnesia Scanner, frequently collaborating audiovisually with French visual artist Freeka Tet, brings its dazzling, hyperreal mix of deconstructed club, noise, hyperpop and digital aesthetics to the festival stage – a full-spectrum embodiment of post-internet energy.
Polygonia, producer and DJ based in Munich, interweaves organic textures, psychedelic structures and polyrhythmic beats in her hypnotic live sets, creating a current that oscillates between contemplative sound art and propulsive club intensity.
Elevate Discourse 2026: “Vital Signs – Between Collapse and Renewal”
The festival’s discourse programme places the signs of life of our time at its centre: How can vitality be conceived within systems that appear exhausted – in economics, climate, media, politics and human relationships?
Through lectures, panels and workshops, signs of regeneration will be made visible – from social life beyond screens to new forms of resistance, alternative economies, mental health and networks of solidarity.
Vital Signs explores the tension between farewell, transition and renewal, between overload and agency. The festival searches for bright spots – moments in which hope and the power to act flicker back into life.
