Metropolink Festival

Metropolink — Heidelberg's Festival for Urban Art

The Metropolink Festival is one of the most important festivals for urban art in Germany. Founded in Heidelberg in 2014, it has since evolved into a platform that combines street art, graffiti, and mural painting with contemporary pop, hip-hop, and electronic music. For years, the festival venue has been the former Patrick-Henry-Village (PHV) — a former US military settlement in Heidelberg's Pfaffengrund district, which was developed into an urban cultural area after the withdrawal of US forces in 2013. The 12th edition will take place from August 5th to 8th, 2026.

2026 Music Program

Over four days and two stages, international acts from the Hip-Hop, Afrobeat, Indie, Pop, and Electronic music genres will perform. Confirmed acts (selection):

• Kokoroko — British Afro-jazz ensemble
• Charlotte Colace — Soul/Indie-Pop
• Kwam.E — British Afro-soul singer
• Deki Alem — Swedish Pop
• Weval — Dutch Electronica duo
• Grandbrothers — German-Swiss Neoclassical duo (piano and machine sound)

The musical diversity reflects the festival's cosmopolitan DNA: not a single genre focus, but a broad spectrum of contemporary urban soundscapes.

Street Art and Germany's Largest Enclosed Artwork

Parallel to the music program, large-scale murals and street art installations will be created in the PHV area. International mural artists will paint the facades of the former US residential blocks and military buildings. The Metropolink highlight 2026: the announced "largest enclosed artwork in Germany" with a height of 83 meters and an area of over 1,400 m². This large-scale mural project combines visual art with the unique architecture of the former military high-rises in the PHV area.

Metropolink Commissary — The Festival Hub

The Metropolink Commissary (formerly the US supermarket on the grounds) serves as the festival hub: "a compositional melting pot with artists from all over the world." It hosts pop-up installations, sculptures, workshops, and smaller concerts — the area is activated throughout the festival period.

Patrick-Henry-Village — The Former Military Site

Patrick-Henry-Village (PHV) is a 99-hectare site in the Pfaffengrund district, southwest of Heidelberg's city center. Until 2013, around 8,000 US soldiers and their families lived here. After the withdrawal of US forces, the city of Heidelberg transformed the area into an urban development zone — with festivals, pop-up projects, student housing, and cultural initiatives. The Metropolink Festival uses the monumental, often brutalist architecture of the former military buildings as an ideal stage for large-format mural works.

Heidelberg — University and Cultural City

Heidelberg (approx. 160,000 inhabitants, a district-free city in the Rhein-Neckar district, AGS 08221) is one of Germany's most renowned university cities and a tourist magnet. While Heidelberg's tourist identity is shaped by its castle and old town, Metropolink represents an alternative, urban Heidelberg culture — young, international, contemporary art and music.