Re:publica 2025
Of Generations, Digital Realities, and Berlin in the Rain
It starts out like a joke: generation X, Y, and Z walked into a former train station. What followed at Re:publica 2025 was a crash course in AI, activism, and the awkward art of active listening. And most of us walked out changed having learned about new ideas and other people. I sure did.
May 2025
This year's motto: Generation XYZ
Marin at Re:publica 2025.
Berlin, May 26 to 28, 2025. The skies were grey. The wind was biting. Rain came and went like a malfunctioning sprinkler system. But inside the cavernous halls of STATION Berlin, something else was in the air: ideas and the tentative promise that somewhere amid over 600 sessions, we might glimpse a more hopeful digital future. The tech political festival Re:publica, now in its 19th year, had begun.
This year's theme brought together perspectives from Gen X, Y, and Z for an intergenerational, cross-platform conversation. As a Gen Xer myself, I arrived solo, a little damp, a little disoriented, and very aware that Re:publica is not a conference you 'conquer' It is one you survive, absorb, and reflect on in pieces.
STATION Berlin
The Ball Pit
Day 1: From FOMO to Found Wisdom
Monday opened with long lines and wet shoes. At 9:00 in the morning, I stood among hundreds waiting to pick up badges and wristbands at the STATION, a repurposed train depot turned event space in Gleisdreieck. Once inside, I realized I would only catch a fraction of what was on offer. But thanks to the Re:publica team's smart use of tech, like the LiveVoice app that let us tune into talks via smartphone in noisy or oversubscribed areas, I felt better about missing some of it. The rest, I told myself, would be waiting on YouTube.
The hilarious and charming Maraam Haraam.
My first session, came via Tincon, the adjoining youth conference. I sat in on a chaotic, irreverent stand-up by German-Lebanese influencer Maraam Haraam. At first, her humor grated on me. But slowly, she won me over. It was the first of many lessons: stay open, even when it's uncomfortable. I was happy to have sat through my own impatience.
The main hall.
The event kicked off on Stage 1, the symbolic and logistical heart of Re:publica, with opening remarks by its founders Johnny Haeusler, Andreas Gebhard, and Markus Beckedahl. All of them stalwart Gen Xers speaking to a new generation of thinkers, creators, and activists.
Björn Ommer presenting about AI.
Then came a keynote by Björn Ommer, creator of Stable Diffusion, titled "Generative KI und die Zukunft der Intelligenz." He offered a dazzling take on AI's future, not just as a creative force, but as a thinking companion. It was also the first time I encountered the idea of the brain's System 1 and System 2 modes. This seemingly minor revelation followed me for the rest of the event like a quiet companion.
The Maker Space and an interested audience.
The podcast stage by
17Ziele
The day unfolded in every direction: a maker space with 3D printers, cooking demos, and DIY gadgets; booths from medias giants like German public broadcaster WDR and passionate disruptors like Greenpeace, who showed off a cure and realistic robot pig to protest the disturbing situation of factory farming; and a retro gaming corner with SNES, Mega Drive, and arcade machines that were always in use. People were hungry for nostalgia as much as they were for vision.
This life-size model of a pig on the Greenpeace stand shows just how heart-breakingly small the room a
pig has while being bred for slaughter. The board with the slits is the exact size provided to the
animals.
The arcade corner with classics from the late 1970s and early 1990s.
And then came the big event I missed: Chancellor Friedrich Merz's panel. It was held in a comparatively small WDR-branded stage, and demand far exceeded capacity. Some people had waited for nearly an hour only to be turned away. I only saw a polite sign: "Over capacity". The room was full. Later, I watched the recording. Apart from one cautiously worded critique of Israel's actions in Gaza (extremely rare for a German chancellor) it was dry and largely uninspiring.
Most people waiting for the talk with German chancellor Friedrich Merz got to see this sign.
This is a screen capture of the video stream with Friedrich Merz (courtesy of
WDR).
This was also when I felt the strangest contradiction of mass events: being alone in a crowd. Surrounded by thousands, I still had moments of acute solitude. You drift from session to session, pass faces you'll never see again, laugh with strangers in line, and eat lunch quietly while the conversations of others swirl around you. It's a beautiful and sometimes isolating feeling... being a single molecule in the massive, bubbling fusion reaction of the conference.
Lovely little Hammocks next to stage 1
The Mood Wall in one of the corridors.
Day 2: Algorithms and Poetry
Tuesday began with cold rain and a rented Nextbike ride from Kreuzbergstraße to STATION Berlin.
Albrecht von Lucke kicked off the day with "Vom Post-Post-Materialismus zum Post-Post-Militarismus", a talk on the collapse of digital idealism. Once, we believed in the internet as a dematerialized, peaceful frontier. But now, in an age of fossilism and militarism, he argued, we see tech used in the service of control, not liberation.
Backstage.
I took a backstage tour of the venue with Re:publica veteran Phil, who walked us through control rooms and hidden passages. It was a welcome breather, seeing the scaffolding behind the spectacle.
The command center
But my favorite missed event moment happened in the line for Gregor Gysi's talk the next day. A young couple approached the crowd and asked, "Who are you all waiting for?" Someone deadpanned, "For an up-and-coming voice in the leftist movement. His name is Gregor Gysi." Everyone in earshot burst out laughing. Gysi, of course, is a legendary German politician who's been in the game since long before most TikTok users were even born.
I tried... and failed... to get into this joint panel with Gregor Gysi and Green politician Ricarda Lang. Another overfull hall, another missed chance. I listened outside through the app. It was better than Merz, certainly, but not revolutionary.
One of the most gut-punching sessions was Rainer Rehak's talk on "Der Mythos gezielter Tötungen", which examined how AI-powered surveillance and metadata, like the Israeli military's Lavender system, can automate targeted killings, often with devastating collateral damage.
Maria from Fritz Lang's Metropolis
I found joy in spotting YouTube star Der dunkle Parabelritter, who hosted a session asking whether Germany needs its own Elon Musk. It was part performance, part satire. I'm a fan of his, and was thrilled just to see him there.
Der Dunkle Parabelritter and his co-host in a humoristic debate about the merits of Elon Musk.
Sarah Bosetti.
Then came German poet, author and satirical comedian Sarah Bosetti with "Poesie gegen Populismus", using humor and verse to slice through the noise of populist talking points, climate denialism, and bigotry. She was electric.
Day 3: Fact Checks and a Fire Alarm
Wednesday began with a sharp, analytical talk between Hedwig Richter and Geraldine de Bastion about the entrenchment of traditional gender roles post-WWII.
All humanoids welcome here.
At noon, the highlight of my day unfolded during a live taping of Monitor, the investigative TV show. Journalist Georg Restle moderated a brilliant panel featuring Constanze Kurz (Chaos Computer Club), Annika Brockschmidt, and Nadia Zaboura. Kurz's statement stuck with me: "We must be brave enough to admit that automated interest-tracking on a large scale is a destructive business model harming our children and our society." (Quoted from memory.)
Behind STATION Berlin.
Later, Bob Blume, a passionate teacher from Unterricht Digital, gave a refreshingly grounded and positive talk about the real challenges, and remaining joys, of the German education system. He encouraged us not to see AI as a cheat code, but a new tool for learning. His optimism was contagious.
Then came Austrian media researcher and journalist Ingrid Brodnig, who delivered a compelling breakdown of how hate and disinformation are eroding trust in society. She later joined a powerful panel with Eva Wackenreuther (from Austrian public broadcaster ORF) and Stephan Mündges (EFCSN) on fact-checking and fighting disinformation.
Ingrid Brodnig talking about disinformation on the web.
Fact-checking panel presented by German broadcaster WDR.
Somewhere along the way, the fire alarm went off. We all evacuated, confused and huddled in the drizzle, only to discover it was a misbehaving smoke machine. Re:publica, ever dramatic.
When the fire alarm went off, we all left the venue calmly and in an orderly manner.
We gathered outside waiting for further news.
The event closed with a joyful bang: organizers and volunteers gathered on Stage 1 to sing Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", showered in confetti and applause. It was chaotic, wonderfully unpolished, heartfelt, and perfect.
The Re:publica team getting a well-deserved applause.
Epilogue: Connecting Chaos
Re:publica 2025 was a wild, sprawling thing, equal parts policy, poetry, protest, and party. At times, I felt lost in the crowd. At others, I was moved to laughter or tears by a single line from a stranger. Somewhere between the AI panels, the fire alarm, the robot pigs and retro arcades, I found something more imporant than clarity: I found context.
We may not know where exactly the web, artificial intelligence, our democracies, or the whole world are headed. But at least here, in the rainy halls of STATION Berlin, we asked the questions together.
And that made all the difference.
A "secret" passage in STATION Berlin.