aqnb | atractivoquenobello

Rewire announces the first artists & projects of its 2022 edition, including Helm & Nate Boyce, Ziúr, aya, Blackhaine & more

18 November 2021

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Rewire festival has announced the first artists for their 2022 edition, running at various venues across The Hague, April 7 to 10.

Following an online festival in 2021, as well as a scaled-back special offline edition in September, the festival returns in full to venues spanning nightclubs, theatres, galleries, and public space. Projects include newly commissioned live works from Helm and Nate Boyce, who will present “harmonic noise and spelunking audio design” set to Boyce’s “tactile and uncanny” visuals, as well as Myxomy, a duo of James Ginzburg and Ziúr undertaking a “cathartic tour-de-force through the margins of pop music”. Today’s announcement of 28 artists also includes live performances from the likes of aya featuring Sweatmother, MSYLMA & Ismael, Blackhaine and more.**

Rewire 2022 runs April 7 to 10, 2022. See the Rewire website for the first artists announcement and early bird passes.

Tea Stražičić presents a dystopian exhibition as oversized graphic novel, with opening night performances by Tears of Fire, Violence & more, Nov 6—Dec 6

3 November 2021

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Tea Stražičić is presenting the solo exhibition Vermillion at Trauma Bar und Kino, Berlin, curated by Madalina Stanescu and running November 6 to December 6, 2021.

Drawing from an apocalyptic fiction co-authored by the artist and Nicholas Zhu, the exhibition references the story of a band of protagonists on their way to a doomsday party, manifesting in the space as an oversized graphic novel. The show’s opening night on November 6 will feature performances from VIOLENCE, Tears of Fire, as well as a special guest.

See the Trauma Bar und Kino website for more details, or Resident Advisor to book opening night tickets.**

Tea Stražičić, *The Ride* (2021). Installation view. Photo by Jaewon Chung. Image courtesy the artist + Trauma Bar und Kino, Berlin.

Steph Kretowicz with Ben Babbitt & felicita, I hate it here (2021) — CURL x AQNB

26 October 2021

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I hate it here—co-released by CURL x AQNB on tape and via download on November 19 — is a 42-minute audio narrative by writer and editor Steph Kretowicz, created in collaboration with producers and composers Ben Babbitt and felicita.

Stream & download on the CURL bandcamp

The desire for transcendence affects us all. Led by pain and dissatisfaction, the struggles of being alive can only really be overcome in death. Author and writer Steph Kretowicz’s psychedelic audio narrative wanders through a layered and multi-dimensional notion of existence as suffering.

Ben Babbitt and felicita’s unsettling musical compositions lead this sonic trip through the atemporal influence of trauma and experience on a life, at a point where personal and cultural histories collide. Dispersed across London, Poland and Los Angeles, “I hate it here” dissolves time and location into the people and memories of the past that shape a person in the present. It touches on folk traditions throughout eras, and religious and spiritual practices across regions in a sometimes poignant, sometimes absurd tribute to the routines and rituals designed to fathom the unfathomable.

Writer & director:
Steph Kretowicz

Music & composition:
felicita & Ben Babbitt

Sound Design & Mix:
Ben Babbitt

Barbershop Quartet:
Arrangement:
Connie Jehu

Performers:
Connie Jehu
Mica Levi
Tirzah Mastin
Coby Sey

Hej Sokoły!:
Performer:
Ewa Poniatowska

Additional Field Recording:
Jonnine Standish

Voices
Vika: Vika Kirchenbauer
Dad: Chris Kretowicz
Eliza: Adelaide Clemens
Truckdriver 1: Max Göran
Truckdriver 2: Joe McKee
Babcia: Ulijona Odišarija
Uncle: Steven Harris
Mum: Anna Komorowska
Aunt 1: Marisa Aveling
Aunt 2: Cristine Brache
Frail Man: Robin Murphy
Matthew: Matt Dell
Nun: Margaret Haines
Priest: Steven Legere
Aya: Hayden Dunham

Special thanks to:
Martin Kohout

Dedicated to the memory of Matthew O’Shannessy

Commissioned by YLE (Finnish Broadcasting Company) / Radio Variaatio, curated by Kaino Wennerstrand

Cassette tape edition of 100.
Aqua blue with on-cassette printing, packaged in pink case with four-panel J-card.

All physical purchases come with digital download.
Shipping within a week.

Zones of intimacy, transgression & taboo with the In Excess group exhibition as part of 3hd’s 2021 edition

25 October 2021

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In Excess, a group exhibition as part of 3hd’s 2021 edition — Power Play — is on at Berlin’s Park Center Treptow, running October 3 to 31.

Peaches in *In Excess* (2021). Installation view. Image courtesy the artists + Creamcake, Berlin.

With installation and video from artists including Peaches, Reba Maybury, Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings among others, the works respond variously to transgressive sexuality and an embrace of taboo. Installed within a set designed by Celeste Burlina in a disused retail space, the show also features Genevieve Belleveau, Steven Harwick, Vika Kirchenbauer and more, touching on the poignancy of exploring physical contact after the pandemic. As noted in the press release: “the body once again appears as a major site on which the hazards of intimacy between sovereignty and vulnerability is negotiated.”**

The In Excess group exhibition, as part of 3hd’s 2021 edition — Power Play — is on at Park Center Treptow, Berlin, running October 3 to 31, 2021.

AQNB debuts event with HacerNoche in celebration of Oaxaca Mes del Arte on October 22

13 October 2021

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AQNB and HacerNoche are presenting a night of music in Oaxaca on October 22, 2021. The event celebrates Oaxaca Mes del Arte (OMA), a month-long exhibition series organized by commercial art galleries in the city and the HacerNoche festival.

The event runs at saunabar—Club Creciente with performances from Ledef from House of Kenzo, Abssys, and Mya Gómez. It will also take place ahead of HacerNoche’s biennial, Promised Land, which features both a satellite and institutional program between 2021 and 2022. The latest edition reflects on the global health crisis, calling upon new modes of socio-political resistance and trans-geographic solidarity.**

AQNB and HacerNoche debut at saunabar—Club Creciente in Oaxaca on October 22, 2021. The event is supported graciously by Mezcal Amarás.

Ledef (2021). Courtesy House of Kenzo, San Antonio.

“…And nothing’s the same.” AQNB’s Out of Body mini-compendium confronting art & music in the aftermath drops today, Oct 12

12 October 2021

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AQNB releases the Out of Body mini-compendium, a download-only album of new music and visual works today, October 12.

The compilation—with cover art by Margaret Haines—features artists found in AQNB’s orbit, whose contributions reflect a notion of sound and art in the aftermath. After enduring nearly two years of varying degrees of lockdown and myriad emergent crises, the world as we know it is unrecognisable. It’s a time of truthers and techno-mystics, where a massive gravitational shift has further weakened any shared notion of reality, already broken down by the hyperindividualism of the internet. It has led us down a path of aliens and astral projection, mass resignations and a collective dissociative fugue state. We’ve wandered out of the Age of Reason and into an Era of Enchantment.

Visual artists 4fucksakebabes and Alexandra Koumantaki deal quite literally with a haunted, internal and extraterrestrial present in their visual contributions, while producer Helica whispers the inexplicable non sequitur “…and nothing’s the same” on the unearthly hypnagogia of ‘Doorkeeper’. Other ambient and melodic music from ANIMA, shushu, and User2222 & ANDREW GOES TO HELL also flirts with these ideas of fantasy and interiority, catastrophe and chaos through their unique perspectives and sense of emotion. Together, the trans-dimensional auto reply under accelerated technocapitalism presents Out of Body as a checked-out eulogy for a year that never was.

Buy Out of Body now.**

*Out of Body* (2021). Compendium cover artwork by Margaret Haines. Courtesy AQNB, London.

Out of Body: an AQNB music & art compendium

12 October 2021

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‘Out of Body’ is AQNB’s fifth digital release of new music and visual works compiled by our London and Los Angeles-based team.

Music by:
ANIMA
Helica
shushu
User2222 & ANDREW GOES TO HELL

Visual works by:
4fucksakebabes
Alexandra Koumantaki

Cover artwork by:
Margaret Haines

Acknowledgments:
Steph Kretowicz, AQNB editor
Jared Davis, AQNB associate editor
Matt Dell, AQNB music editor
Caroline Heron, AQNB managing editor

Isaac Treece, mastering

Berlin Atonal opens month-long exhibition Metabolic Rift that explores overloading kinetic energy

28 September 2021

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Berlin Atonal is presenting Metabolic Rift in Berlin from September 25 to October 30. The exhibition contains a series of site-specific interventions from visual artists, including Pan Daijing, Sung Tieu and Amnesia Scanner’s Ville Haimala, and Jamal Moss (aka Hieroglyphic Being).

The exhibition takes its name and functionality from a metabolic system responsible for producing new energy via the breakdown of chemical compounds. Works appear in a choreographed succession, their rhythm created between shifting audiovisual landscapes that fuel activity within the ever-changing topological space. Experiences occur in chain reactions, replicating high-velocity exchanges of energy along metabolic and electrical pathways that climax in eventual overload.**

Metabolic Rift runs at Berlin’s Kraftwerk complex from September 25 to October 30. Visitors can book tickets to the exhibition’s guided tour via their website.

Balance Club / Culture Festival to explore post-pandemic human conditions with Lotic, Anjali Prashar Savoie, & more for its 2021 edition, Re:Balance

22 September 2021

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Balance Club / Culture Festival is presenting their 2021 edition Re:Balance on October 2. The event will occur in Leipzig at UT Connewitz, featuring Lotic, Odete, a lecture from The Yard’s music producer, Anjali Prashar Savoie, amongst other acts.

The Re:Balance program questions how club culture will recover from overarching social crises and modes of action spurred from the intersections within its space. Emotion Labor Queen will address the former individually in their workshop ‘Holding space – how to be kind to ourselves’. Meanwhile, a series of concerts will take place throughout the festival. Myss Keta is scheduled to perform along with an audiovisual performance by DJ Vanessa Opoku, Elle Fierce, and AUCO from NO SHADE.**

Balance Club / Culture’s 2021 festival Re:Balance runs on October 2 in Leipzing at UT Connewitz. Tickets are available via their website.

Lunchmeat Festival announces the second wave of its 2021 edition with a Hyperdub showcase, Prison Religion, & premiere audiovisual performances

16 September 2021

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Lunchmeat Festival is hosting its 2021 edition from September 27 to October 2 in Prague. In its eleventh year, the event reflects movements within contemporary electronic music and has recently added a Hyperdub showcase and Prison Religion to the bill.

“So far Lunchmeat has had very eclectic dramaturgy,” remarks one of the festival’s organizers Jakub Pešek in the press statement on its previous years and the shift in curation towards three cornerstone events that comprise the 2021 program. The first will be a Hyperdub showcase with Kode9, Loraine James, and Lee Gamble, after which two nights— a club night and listening experience— will follow. A slew of audiovisual performances will also make their world debut at the festival, including one between Denmark’s Lyra Valenza and Signe De. The bill also includes Lyra Pramuk, AYA, and GTA Soundsystem from the Czech Republic.**

Lunchmeat Festival runs from September 27 to October 2 at various locations in Prague. Visit their website for more information or purchase tickets here.

Foundwork Announces the Jury & International Open Call for its 2021 Foundwork Artist Prize

10 September 2021

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Foundwork has opened the submission period for their third annual Foundwork Artist Prize, a juried award established to support outstanding practices by emerging and mid-career contemporary artists. The deadline to register for the 2021 prize is October 10 and artists working in any media are eligible.

For the 2021 edition, two honorees will receive unrestricted $10,000 grants and studio visits with each of the distinguished jurors, including: Gallerist Vanessa Carlos of Carlos/Ishikawa and CONDO; Independent Curator and Writer Qu Chang, formerly curator at Para Site, Hong Kong; Gallerist Bridget Donahue of the eponymous New York gallery; Curator Cédric Fauq, currently curator at Palais de Tokyo and soon to be chief curator at CAPC, Bordeaux; Artist Thomas Lawson, also the founder and editor in chief of East of Borneo; and Independent Curator Thiago de Paula Souza, currently co-curator of the 3rd edition of Frestas Triennial of Arts in Sorocaba, São Paulo. In addition to the grants, the honorees along with three shortlisted artists will also be invited for interviews in Foundwork’s Dialogues program for additional public engagement with their practices.

The Foundwork Artist Prize is part of the platform’s initiative to help artists introduce their work to people from across the global contemporary art community. Artists can register for the 2021 Foundwork Artist Prize by creating an account on Foundwork by October 10. The prize is open to artists internationally with limited exceptions and artists should see the FAQ on Foundwork for full details on how to participate.**

The Foundwork Artist Prize is now open for submissions by October 10.

Nature Loves Courage Festival announces full 2021 lineup to take place in Sougia, Greece on Oct 8-9

3 September 2021

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Nature Loves Courage is announcing the full lineup to their 2021 edition scheduled to take place October 8-9 in Sougia, Greece. This year includes alumnus from the 2019 festival such as Juliana Huxtable and Kilbourne, as well as Beirut DJ crew FREQUENT DEFECT, DJ Diaki, amongst others.

Drawing from the rich, sonic channels of the African and Arab world that run through the tip of Southern Europe where Crete is located, NLC, with the support of leading Arabic speaking magazine Ma3azef and Kampala-based collective Nyege Nyege, will present a two day event on the beaches of Sougia, featuring artists De Schuurman, Moesha 13, and DJ LOSER. The festival intends to offer a space for “collective manifestation, esoteric self-exploration and profound togetherness in the spirit of freedom of being and inclusivity”.**

See here for early bird tickets and find out more about the festival on the Nature Loves Courage website.

Bbymutha & Layla take over Trauma Bar und Kino for a night of underground rap & pop anthems this Saturday, Sep 4

3 September 2021

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Trauma Bar und Kino is presenting the live performances of Bbymutha and Layla, with the double headline show taking place in Berlin on September 4.

Famed for her myth-busting lyrics on sexuality, motherhood and identity, Tennessee-based rapper Bbymutha will join the rising lyricist from Berlin, whose soulful pop and and trap anthems have garnered acclaim as one of the most sought-after and unapologetically confident vocalists in Europe.

See Resident Advisor to book opening night performance tickets.**

i8i collective presents an exhibition & performances evoking conspiracy, cybernetic imaginaries & spirituality at Trauma Bar und Kino, Sep 17—Oct 17

2 September 2021

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i8i is presenting the exhibition Infinite Scroll at Trauma Bar und Kino, Berlin, curated by Madalina Stanescu and running September 17 to October 17, with opening night performances on the evenings of September 17 and 18, 2021.

Through sound, sculpture and live actions, the collective — formed online during COVID-19 and featuring artists including DÆMON, Ben Sang, Riccardo d’Avola-Corte, FITNESSS and more — evokes conspiracy, cybernetic imaginaries and spirituality for their first offline event in what they dub “General Accepted Reality.” As stated in the press release: “Recent events have caused reality to seize. Time begins to loop indefinitely. A neo archeological site catalogues events occurring within this temporal rift.”

See here for more information, or Resident Advisor to book opening night performance tickets.**

AQNB presents its first event in Mexico City with arts collective & gallery series Terser Mundo, No Hubo Testigo

31 August 2021

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AQNB and Terser Mundo are presenting No Hubo Testigo (There Was No Witness), a transmedia performance and music event that explores systems of power, agency, and freedom.

The event runs at Avant.Dev in Mexico City and features Abssys, Sammie Jo, ATTENTION WHORES, vanderlinden, plus a to-be-announced act from NAAFI. The performance of No Hubo Testigo (There Was No Witness)– written by Matt Dell and Tequisquiapan-based artist Mya Gómez– offers a series of perspectives on movement and self-formation across the metaverse and varying social conditions. It’s takes place within Terser Mundo’s inaugural presentation at the independent exhibition space, which includes artists that’ve take part in their online gallery.

AQNB and Terser Mundo’s No Hubo Testigo debuts at Avant.Dev in Mexico City on September 3, 2021.

We Need Your Help! AQNB Instagram Update**

9 August 2021

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So, after nearly a week we have more info on what happened with AQNB’s Instagram account (@aqnb). It was disabled for “violating community guidelines”. Since it first disappeared, we’ve tried contacting people at Instagram and Facebook, however our pleas remain unanswered and we still need your help to recover this critical piece of our platform. What’s ironic is that we’ve always followed the community guidelines.

We’ve volunteered and fundraised tirelessly for years to #keepAQNBalive. As the publication reaches its first decade of existence, getting deactivated without notice has abruptly placed its already precarious future into further uncertainty. It’s so frustrating and sad feeling like this platform is falling apart… but none of us want to give up it yet. We want to get back online and over this. Here’s how you can help us move forward:

Like, comment, share this post. Tag @instagram and mention the deactivated @aqnb below and on stories! We need another boost!
“Report a problem” to Instagram (slides 3-5). This signals to the algorithm and can help reverse the problem.
Donate or subscribe to our Patreon! Losing our account has resulted in AQNB missing out on opportunities. We have many exciting projects for the rest of the year. Help us keep going and bring them to you.
Sign up to our mailing list. If all else fails, we’ll keep you updated via this single stable medium.

Thank you. More updates soon.**

Elevate kicks off festival & arts program with Lorem’s Distrust Everything

4 August 2021

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Elevate Festival begins its 17th edition in Austria with a new installation called Distrust Everything from Lorem, the Italian transmedia artist whose practice meditates on political experiences via machine-learning technologies. The festival features a music and arts program, including acts such as Nene H, Brian Eno, and more.

Distrust Everything opens Elevate Festival’s arts program, a platform curated by Berit Gilma for artists to apply critical theory to emerging and hybrid creative disciplines. Lorem‘s installation incorporates 3D, AI systems, and sound design, examining the relationship between artificial intelligence and representations of truth. Including production from Karol Sudolski and Acre, the four part episodic project portrays reality, situating violence as a circumstance that brings awareness to systematic reification.

Elevate Festival runs from August 4 to 8, 2021.

Tickets on sale now for Rewire 2021’s offline edition, The Hague, Sep 10-18

19 July 2021

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The Hague’s Rewire festival returns for an offline edition running September 10 to 18, with tickets on sale now.

After hosting their 2021 edition in May, for which AQNB produced the Reversal Agents podcast series, the Hague based festival is presenting a “snapshot of the full Rewire experience” over four days, with performances, exhibits and installations across multiple venues from the likes of Pan Daijing, Loraine James, Lyra Pramuk, Lee Gamble, Laurie Spiegel and Mark Fell, alongside many others.

Tickets are available now for Rewire 2021’s offline edition, taking place over four days in the Hague on September 10 through 18, 2021.

Demystification Committee debuts ECHO FX, an audiovisual presentation on representing Brexit financial markets

30 June 2021

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British collective Demystification Committee is releasing the stream of ECHO FX on June 30 at 7PM BST. The AV film revisits the sociopolitical and economic tumult following the Brexit referendum results during the week of its fifth anniversary.

ECHO FX situates itself in story of Nigel Farage, a former trader that manipulated the market and famously shorted the Pound on the June 2016 night of Brexit Vote. Farage conceded a defeat he knew unlikely so as to maximize profits on the Pound crash. The film attempts to challenge dominant representations of the event, combining footage with social media, market timelines, and replayed reactions of investors earning millions.

Demystification Committee’s ECHO FX is streaming via their website on June 30 at 7PM BST.