Peotry Slam with Bas Böttcher

On Monday, 12 January 2026, the iDSB auditorium was filled with an evening that was as entertaining as it was special: with his programme ‘Die verkuppelten Worte’ (The Matched Words), poetry slam pioneer Bas Böttcher thrilled the audience and transformed language into a lively stage experience. In a relaxed atmosphere, accompanied by catering and free admission, it quickly became clear: this evening was much more than a classic reading.

With the precision of a jazz band, Bas Böttcher made words dance. He rhymed, dismantled, twisted and juggled them, then reassembled them in surprising new ways. His condensed poetic format created live literature that was equally funny, poetic and captivating. The audience followed him attentively through landscapes of meaning, sound and words, in which sparkling linguistic images, rhythmic rap passages and subtle linguistic arias alternated.

As co-founder of the German-language poetry slam movement, Bas Böttcher impressively demonstrated why he is one of the defining figures of stage poetry. His texts, which have won numerous awards and are internationally acclaimed, unfolded their full power on this evening as well: clever, playful and full of linguistic delight. The audience thanked him with enthusiastic applause – and took home memories of a special evening in which literature was alive, accessible and, above all, extremely entertaining.