Horizontaler Gentransfer

Horizontaler Gentransfer (HGT) is a K-punk band and collective art project from Stuttgart, made up of Mizi Lee, Yun Park, Jerry Ahn, Seonha Park, Lilian Gonzalez, and Hanseo Oh. Founded in 2022 at the Academy of Fine Arts, their practice extends far beyond music – they design their own stages, costumes, videos, visuals, and merchandise. They call their sound »Empowerment Karaoke«.
With anti-racist lyrics, hybrid sounds, and a wild mix of references, languages, and influences – from BTS to pop, Viennese chansons to Swabian butter pretzels – they break down genre and cultural boundaries. The band’s name refers to the biological process of horizontal gene transfer across species – just like memes, music, and politics spread across the globe.
Their current album »Everything Possibbong« draws on the Korean pop genre BBong – which emerged during the colonial period and now fosters intergenerational dialogue. In their visuals, past and future blend: using artificial intelligence, the band generated baby photos from their own faces – a metaphor for the hybrid DNA of their sound.