Youth Culture Festival 2017: An exuberant birthday party
Basel’s Youth Culture Festival (Jugendkulturfestival) celebrated its 20th birthday this weekend. Despite poor weather conditions, arout 50,000 revellers filled Basel’s city centre to experience the creative potential of regional young culture in all its splendour. A total of 1,436 teenagers and young adults showed their work, with the 184 acts covering music, DJ, theatre, dance, literature, sports, and in free projects.
Inspiring variety
The Youth Culture Festival (JKF) 2017 offered a varied and inspiring programme. The dance performances attracted large audiences – there was yet another euphoric get-together of the regional dance scene in the foyer of the Basel Theatre. Likewise, the performances in the Literaturhaus Basel were also mostly full.
The various free projects at the JKF 2017 allowed for an even wider spectrum of young culture. Young author Susan Reznik pushed an enormous sofa on wheels across the festival venue, where visitors could sit and write down their thoughts. There were also lots of attractive spots for sports enthusiasts – for instance the skate park on Münsterplatz for skaters, scooters and BMX riders. The entire city centre was given a festival atmosphere by the open-air music acts. Everybody was on their feet and dancing when bands like Sherry-Ou, Brandhärd, or Zatokrev performed.
Clean venue and no incidents
The outside venue was cleaned up on both nights after the last performances. Multi-use cups, the reliable deposit system - in teamwork with Coop Pronto as well as the new Coop-To-Go and the tireless effort of the “Trash Heroes” - once again provided the basis for the sustainability concept of the JKF. Both the festival management and the Samaritans working at the JKF reported no major incidents. There were also no noise complaints – the good dialogue with local residents paid off.
Successful birthday despite poor weather
The 20-year anniversary of the JKF shows the importance of a regional platform for young culture in an impressive manner. On Friday evening, so many people visited the festival that there was hardly any space to get through the audience. The cold spell and rain on Saturday afternoon however meant fewer visitors attended the outside events. Instead, there were far more people at indoor events such as the theatre, dance, and literature performances. Later at night, however, the crowds braved the cold again and young culture conquered public space once more.
Roger Federer enters round of sixteen at US Open without any trouble
Roger Federer mastered the third round at this year’s US Open without any difficulties when he defeated Spanish player Feliciano Lopez in straight sets (6:3, 6:3, 7:5).
After having invested a lot of energy and nerves in the first two rounds, Federer’s third US Open match in New York on Saturday was far more relaxing and provided a promising outlook for the coming days. His back problems definitely appear to be history – at least the performance in the match against Lopez and a smash during the first set say so.
Federer’s game was far more convincing than in the five-sets duels against Frances Tiafoe and Michail Juschni in the first two rounds. The ATP 3 played far more steadily and made fewer mistakes. All in all, Federer committed only 16 unforced errors (at 32 winners). Lopez, on the other hand, had his lapses. Four mistakes in the sixth game allowed Federer to reach the decisive break in the first set.
The 35-year-old Spanish player lost his 13th match against Federer as well, but he had a fewer possibilities. The match was balanced particularly in the second set. Yet in the decisive moments, the Swiss player was more secure. Federer’s ailing self-confidence will improve from his ability to secure the most important points in this game.
Federer had several break balls against the strong serve player from Madrid at the beginning of the third set. Once Federer had taken the lead with 3:1, he experienced a short phase where he lacked focus, which Lopez promptly used to catch up. Still, Federer managed to avoid losing the set. After 106 minutes, his 33rd victory in the 34thsession match in New York was certain.
In his 16th round of sixteen at the US Open, Federer will meet Philipp Kohlschreiber (ATP 37) on Monday. The 33-year-old German player has one factor in common with Lopez and Michail Juschni, the two preceding contestants of Federer in this tournament: he could never defeat the 19-time Grand Slam winner before. His summary against Federer so far amounts to 0:11 victories and 3:24 sets. Two years ago, Federer and Kohlschreiber had already met in the US Open round of sixteen (6:3, 6:4, 6:4).