Mother Kultur is an online periodical for a new culture. Through news, reviews, artwork, and interviews, Mother Kultur strives to analyze rather than perpetuate, to inspire rather than sedate, to share rather than exclude, to connect rather than isolate. It renews quarterly with completely different content, but updates events and news on a weekly basis.

Ultimately, Mother Kultur represents those choosing to consciously create. We recognize how our art, music, food, spaces, writing, and gatherings naturally intertwine. We are artists, musicians, teachers, students, activists, radicals, parents, children, lovers, and fighters. Together we unite on common ground both to support one another and to reveal ourselves to a world population seeking an alternative to a current mainstream.

Why “Mother Kultur”?

In the series of Ishmael, Daniel Quinn proposes an evolving, self-preserving system of human cultures that he calls "Mother Culture," in contrast to "Mother Nature." According to Quinn, every culture has a "Mother Culture," an internalized set of values compelling people to conform to the assumed norms. Quinn’s "Mother Culture" serves basically the same evolutionary role as tribalism in the negative sense.

However, the German word kultur does not contain the same meaning as it’s assumed English language counterpart. We have no word to describe what the Germans mean when they use this word. It lies somewhere between our understanding of “culture,” the arts and customs of a group of people, and society as a whole. Mother Kultur serves as a meeting point for our aesthetics and ideologies, bridging our lives to our art as a natural synthesis. It proves that we can live intentionally and compassionately through the things we create.

Another reason for our title: Perhaps you’ve heard of a “mother culture” used to make kombucha, a fermented mushroom tea. If you cut off a piece of this culture and give it to a friend, they can make their own kombucha, it just keeps growing and brewing more fermented tea. Mother Kultur grows and spreads in the same way. Share it with a friend, let them make their own, it’s whatever we want it to be.