re:publica 2022 – Any Way The Wind Blows
Anyone who has ever attended re:publica knows that the festival always ends with the celebratory and collective singing of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody".
"Any Way The Wind Blows" is the last line of this song. The last words spoken at the pre-pandemic get-together of re:publica 2019 were therefore:
Any Way The Wind Blows!
In the search for a motto with which to celebrate the first re:publica, where we will finally be together again after three years of separation, the idea of symbolically picking up where we left off suddenly seemed as obvious to us as it did emotionally. Because, quite honestly, we are so looking forward to seeing you all again! The new location on the grounds of Arena Berlin promises a great new beginning. Located on the river Spree, a breeze is omnipresent. There are small islands, a beach, even a boat for taking a dip in, and the area is so versatile that it makes our event heads whirl with ideas.
We can already promise you that there will be a lot to discover! Because if there's one thing we know how to do, it's to create places that surprise, where chance encounters give new inspiration and people stay in contact with each other.
"Any Way The Wind Blows" also describes chance and life in its unpredictability and thus fits perfectly as a theme for our programme.
As a figure of speech, it oscillates between "Ain’t nothing you can do anyway" and "Life goes on". It reminds us to be humble when faced with a loss of control, but it also encourages us and promotes optimism. No wind can blow away all those issues that are on our minds, over and over again, and we will face them at rp22. But somewhere between Greta Thunberg's frustrated blah-blah summary of the standstill and the mantra-like repetition of "Let's not go on like this!" of politics during the election campaign, it is perhaps worth taking a step back and realising: Any Way The Wind Blows!
To give up would be gutless, to burn out would be fatal. Because here we are. Still, despite everything. The time of the pandemic may have exposed shortcomings and abysses. But above all, it proved that people are willing to risk everything—even their sanity—to be together.
Any Way The Wind Blows is not a motto carrying an appeal.
Any Way The Wind Blows is a nod to the poetry of the irrational that makes us human: trust, love, hope, fun!
With irrational certainty, we therefore claim:
re:publica 2022 is going to be really, really good, folks!
And we all know already what it will end with: Any Way The Wind Blows!