The fifth ICKPA electronic music festival will take place on July 24–26 at the Oleksandr Dovzhenko Film Studios, featuring two stages and performances by 31 artists. DTF Magazine takes a closer look at the design elements and the creative vision behind both stages
The festival team says they decided to skip the indoor hangar stage this year after it ‘didn’t quite connect’ with attendees at the last ICKPA.
Instead, both stages at ICKPA 2026 — the new SHEVCHENKO Stage, located beside the Taras Shevchenko monument, and the HOTHOUSE Stage — will be open-air venues. There will be no ‘main stage’ this year: both spots share the same musical vision, differing only in size.
‘SHEVCHENKO Stage is an open-air environment delivering an adventurous, offbeat sound in an immersive 360-degree setup, whereas HOTHOUSE Stage provides a more intimate, tactile atmosphere for deeper, unpredictable soundscapes’, the festival team explains.
About the stage design
The visual identity of ICKPA is built around a collaboration between the festival organizers and the lighting design studio Raw Fusion. Sound merges with specialized industrial textiles and heavy structural components.
The use of metal mesh, technical fabrics, and plastic will create unconventional forms and ever-changing light reflections, continuously reshaping visitors’ perception of the space. Freely rotating suspended elements will further enhance the environment with a sense of organic movement and physical presence, making the festival grounds feel more dynamic, immersive, and tactile.
One of the visual concept’s central features will be a smoking-trap installation, where smoke, cool LED lighting, and PVC surfaces operate in sync as a single integrated system.
Beyond its dance floors, ICKPA will feature a range of non-musical spaces, including a public discussion area hosting the State of Exceptions: Emergency Solidarities panel, the GARAGE food court, an interactive installation by AIDX10, a dedicated community space curated by the 2nd Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine ‘Khartiia’, and a site-specific artwork by Vlad Plisetskyi.
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About the lineup
Several international artists will be making their Ukrainian debut at ICKPA, including Konduku (Germany), DJ Rino(Belgium), and Supergloss (Germany).
Meanwhile, Nene H (Germany), Andrew James Gustav (Germany), and Yazzus (UK) will be returning to the Ukrainian stage.
Among the Ukrainian artists on this year’s lineup are Amir, Oleh, Anastasiia Slutska, ezzeo, Gapon, Kirill Nilsson, tofudj, Klmn, Dmytro Sokolovski, Loginova, Luschn, Duni, Sasha Tessio, Shjva, Underdog, Diskevich, Yan Dobro, Zitto, and 98 Dots.
About ІСКРА
ICKPA was founded by a Ukrainian team in collaboration with the team behind Georgia’s Bassiani club. The festival’s first two-day edition took place in June 2021 on the grounds of the Khvylia sanatorium outside Kyiv.
‘ICKPA isn’t a guest’: why is Bassiani organizing a new festival in Kyiv
In 2022, ICKPA was scheduled for July 1–3, but ultimately did not take place. Following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the ICKPA team organized events in Berlin, New York, and Prague, before returning to Kyiv in 2025 with their first festival in four years.
The team describes its decision to bring the festival back to Kyiv as ‘a political act’, driven by a desire to bring the international community together in the Ukrainian capital.
The lineup featured 34 artists, including British DJs Bruno Schmidt and Gwenan, Danish electronic musician Kasper Marott, as well as Amir, Sokolovsky, Cantrust, Monotronique, Oleh, Ochii, Hanna, Shjva, and DJ 69.
