Do we have to think alike to be able to stand together? Or does democracy begin precisely where we can disagree – and still remain one society?
Sounds of Democracy: Unity takes place on 3 October, German Unity Day. The date commemorates the reunification of a country that had been divided for decades by a wall, two political systems, and different visions of the world. More than thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the question of unity feels relevant once again – and by no means only in Germany.
At KKC Hviezda, we will therefore bring together film, discussion, and music – from Good Bye, Lenin! and a discussion on whether we can still come together, to the raw energy of Czech duo P/\ST and DJ sets by Modeselektor and Nina Pixel. Not to find one right answer, but to explore what can hold us together when we disagree on everything else.
The event is part of the Sounds of Democracy series, organised by Trenčín 2026 in cooperation with the Pohoda Festival. Admission is free.
PROGRAMME
17:00 – 19:00 Film screening: Good Bye, Lenin!
19:15 – 20:00 Discussion: Can We Still Come Together?
20:00 – 21:30 Concert: P/\ST (CZ)
22:00 – 00:00 Modeselektor DJ set (DE)
00:00 – 01:30 Nina Pixel DJ set
Can We Still Come Together?
German Unity Day commemorates the moment when, after decades of division, two states, two political experiences, and two societies came together. German reunification became one of the symbols of the end of the Cold War and of the hope that a divided Europe could grow closer again.
More than three decades later, the question of unity has returned in a different context. European societies are facing growing polarisation, distrust in democratic institutions, nationalism, and new dividing lines – between East and West, cities and regions, and different groups within society.
What does it actually mean to unite a society? Is removing borders and changing the political system enough, or are different historical experiences passed down to future generations? And what can the story of German reunification and the democratic changes after 1989 tell us about Slovakia and Europe today?
Can We Still Come Together? is a discussion about historical memory, identity, and democracy – and about what brings societies together today and what, on the contrary, drives them apart.
Guests:
Miloslav Szabó – historian and German studies scholar. His work focuses on the modern history of Central Europe, nationalism, antisemitism, and the socio-political history of Slovakia and the German-speaking world. In the discussion, he will place German reunification in a broader historical context and help explore how experiences of the past continue to shape today’s social conflicts and divisions.
Samo Marec – journalist and translator. His work focuses on divided societies, polarisation, and the ways social media are changing how we communicate with one another. He is the author of Social Media Must Be Destroyed and will bring a contemporary, down-to-earth perspective to the discussion on why societies become divided even without walls and borders – and whether we can still find common ground.
Nina Pixel (artist, musician) – a Slovak artist based in Berlin, she brings her personal experience of living between Slovak and German cultural environments, as well as a younger generation’s perspective on questions of identity, belonging, and social divisions. Her experience of living and creating in Berlin offers insight into how we perceive the boundaries between East and West today and what European unity means to the younger generation.
Moderator: Anna Jacková
Anna Jacková is a Slovak journalist and freelance reporter. Her work has long focused on migration, identity, human rights, and the position of vulnerable groups in society. She has reported, among other places, from the Polish-Belarusian border and the Slovak-Ukrainian border region following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. She currently coordinates communications for the One World International Documentary Film Festival. She studied journalism at Comenius University in Bratislava.
Modeselektor DJ set (DE)
Modeselektor are Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary – a Berlin-based producer and DJ duo who have been mixing techno, electro, hip-hop, bass music, and everything that refuses to fit neatly into those genres since the 1990s. They are also two-thirds of the project Moderat and the founders of the Monkeytown Records label.
Their story is remarkably closely connected to the theme of the evening. Musically, they grew out of post-Wall Berlin – a period when borders opened, abandoned buildings were transformed into clubs, and a new culture emerged from the ruins of the old order. Szary remembers the early 1990s as a time of chaos and anarchy, when all it took was bringing speakers into an empty space to start a party.
Modeselektor grew from that energy into one of the most distinctive names in European electronic music – still driven by the desire to break down boundaries between scenes, genres, and audiences.
Here, unity will no longer be a topic of discussion. By the end of the evening, it will simply find its place on one dance floor.
P/\ST (CZ)
The Prague-based duo P/\ST are among the most distinctive voices on today’s Czech alternative scene. Dan Kranich and Ivo Sedláček blend rap with hard-hitting electronic music, punk, and guitar-driven energy. Rather than following genre conventions, they build their music around intensity, powerful lyrics, and a raw live performance.
Their songs can be both personal and socially engaged, ironic and uncomfortably precise. P/\ST do not make music that is simply meant to sound good in the background – theirs is music that hits you. Rap can easily turn into punk, electronic music into a mosh pit, and generational frustration into social commentary.
On their latest album FOTR, released in May 2026, they explore themes of growing up, fatherhood, work, burnout, and the search for balance in a world that is changing faster than we can process it.
P/\ST bring some much-needed tension to the theme of Unity: a loud, raw reminder that being together does not mean always agreeing.
Nina Pixel DJ set
Nina Pixel is a sound artist working with field and vocal recordings, pre-apocalyptic fairy tales, and the emotional topography of unique landscapes – like an archaeologist of the human soul. Her music is a journey into noisy rituals and industrial myths, deeply inspired by nature.
She released the double album Ancestral Archaeology, in which she reinterpreted Slovak folklore and reimagined cultural narratives. She recently completed the music for Sen, a dance performance about dreams. She has performed at national galleries in Amsterdam and Prague, at Berlin clubs including ://about blank, Suicide Circus, Tresor, Berghain Kantine, and Ausland, as well as in industrial spaces, silos, old factories, forests, and swamps.
Nina lives in Berlin, where she is developing a tool for exploring altered states of consciousness through sound. Her current work explores the healing wisdom of soil, the body, intuition, and nature as an interconnected system of care.
Good Bye, Lenin!
Comedy / Drama, Germany, 2003, 121 min. Directed by Wolfgang Becker
East Berlin, autumn 1989. Alex’s mother suffers a heart attack and falls into a coma – sleeping through the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the world she had believed in all her life. When she wakes up eight months later, doctors warn that any major shock could put her life at risk. So Alex decides to keep one small detail from her: East Germany no longer exists.
He gradually turns their flat into a small island of a lost socialist world. He tracks down old food packaging, creates fake television news reports, and tries to stop history, which outside their windows has begun moving in a completely different direction.
Good Bye, Lenin! is both a funny and melancholic farewell to a world that disappeared practically overnight. Instead of grand political slogans, it portrays reunification through everyday life, family, and memory – as well as the strange feeling of gaining freedom while simultaneously losing a part of one’s identity.
And that is precisely why it may fit the theme of Unity better than a grand historical epic: it reminds us that a wall can be torn down overnight. Bringing together the experiences of people who lived on opposite sides of it takes much longer.
Barrier-Free Access
The building has three entrances. The barrier-free entrance is located on the left side of the building. Please inform the event staff, who will promptly provide access through this entrance. The main entrance from the street and the side entrance on the right side of the building (on the road bridge side) have stairs in order to preserve the building’s original architecture.
Once inside, visitors with reduced mobility can use a lift providing easy access to all floors. A separate barrier-free toilet is also available in the entrance hall.
Parking
Visitors can use several nearby car parks. Parking options close to KKC Hviezda include:
- Car park on Električná Street – location – Zone C – €1/hour (max. €9/day)
- Car park on Palackého Street – location – Zone A – €2/hour (max. €18/day)
- Car park on Mládežnícka Street – location – Zone F – €1/hour (max. €9/day)
- Car park by the Municipal Indoor Swimming Pool – location – free of charge
Parking at municipal parking spaces can be paid for at parking meters, via SMS, or online via Onstreet Selector.
In addition to the options listed above, there are also private car parks near KKC Hviezda with similar rates, usually around €1/hour.
