V-A-C is launching its future home at Moscow’s GES-2 with the Geometry of Now project, opening February 20 and running to February 27.
The V-A-C foundation is dedicated to the “international presentation, production and development of Russian contemporary art” and will be opening a new headquarters at the former power station. Built in 1907, the building sits along the banks of the Moskva River, and will be revived and re-constructed to house new interventions by artists.
Geometry of Now will be a series of installations, workshops, lectures ad performances dedicated to sound-art to kick off the reconfiguration of the architectural space. Curated by Mark Fell, the ambitious project includes contributions by 75 artists, with installations by Florian Hecker, Theo Burt, Hannah Sawtell and Carl Michael Von Hausswolff among others.
This year is the 18th edition of Berlin’s CTM Festival of contemporary electronic and digital music, opening January 27 and running to February 5, opening alongside transmediale, which also starts today and runs to March 5.
The 2017 theme Fear Anger Love will look at a range of experimental music and artistic projects relating to sound, “in response to current societal issues and crises, which themselves seem to be increasingly driven by emotion.”
Elysia Crampton, ‘Dissolution of The Sovereign: A Time Slide Into The Future’ (2016). Performance still. Courtesy the artist + South London Gallery.
In an attempt to sift through the enormous events programmes, we’ve put together a guide of our top picks, including a breakdown of the international festival for art and digital culture transmediale that has been running alongside CTM since 1999 and is celebrating its 30th birthday this year.
Running throughout the festival will be the CTM 2017 MusicMakers Hacklab: a collaborative laboratory run by artist Byrke Lou and Create Digital Music editor Peter Kirn. It will run for the duration of the festival, exploring the irrational through a theme called ‘Emotional Invention,’ and will culminate with a finale of live performance by the participants on February 5.
Additionally on show throughout, will be the world premier installation of ‘SOL’by Kurt Hentschläger that will transform the Halle am Berghain to induce feelings of “dislocation and timelessness,” as well as the CTM 2017 exhibition Critical Constellations of the Audio-Machine in Mexico at Kunstraum,curated by Carlos Prieto Acevedo.
CTM Event Picks
–The Great Disappointment: presented by record label NonWorldwide, a performance event taking place over two days (bringing together five of its members including Chino Amobi and Angel Ho ) will collaborate with dancers, choreographed by Ligia Lewis @ HAU2, Jan 30, 31
GenesisP-Orridge. Image courtesy the artist + Marie Losier.
–Bite of the Twin: Genesis Breyer P-Orridge is presenting a concert and film screening exploring her history in identity/gender politics @ HAU1, Jan 31
– Opening Night: The event will kick off the festival with an opening of exhibition alien matter, a video installation and performative reading by Jenna Sutela, an Opening Ceremony featuring Rasheedah Phillips & Moor Mother among others,a film by Olia Lialina & Kevin Bewersdorf as well as a live set to see the evening off with James Ferraro @ Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Feb 2
Negroma. Image courtesy the artist + Sophia Mueller.
Commissioned by non-profit publishing house Book Works, prolific footwork producer Jlin — who released her first album Dark Energy in 2015 — and London-based artist Sawtell will perform live at 32 Ormside St. The event will also be broadcast online with the London’s NTS radio.
The project will be a launch for the ‘#ACCUMULATOR_PLUS’ issue of printed journal The Happy Hypocrite, guest edited by Sawtell, and will act as an aural transmission and a space for the artists to explore “notions of speed, progress, and relationships between local and global space.” There will also be other sound samples by contributors of issue 9.
CTM electronic music and art festival returns this year across multiple spaces in Berlin, opening January 29 and running February 6.
CTM 2016 is titled New Geographies, and in direct response to rapidly collapsing borders and hybridising topographies, as well as the backlash of tense essentialist reaction to these changes, invites more artists, contributors and voices operating in less familiar localities than ever before.
Guest curators are Rabih Beaini, for the music programme and Norient who have organised a “multi-authored” exhibition with over 250 artists working in 50 different countries with video, sound and music. Cult independent film maker Vincent Moon is opening his ‘Rituals’ installation at HAU2 on January 30 and talks led by the links of The Wire editor Emily Bick and journalist Adam Harper.
Included in the amazing line up are Hatsune Miku, and MBJ Wetware who will collaborate with JG Biberkopf, for whom aqnb has recently written a series of short texts to be read alongside his unthinkable show on NTS radio.
Here are some of our recommendations:
Zones 1 with Visionist, Thug Entrancer, J.G. Biberkopf and MBJ Wetware on February 2.
Zones III with Le1f, Aïsha Devi and Tianzhuo Chen on February 4.
Flow II with Jlin, Nkisi, Nidia Minaj and Kablam on February 4.
Steven Warwick and Anna Homler’s ‘Breadwoman‘ performance on February 5.
Zones IVwith Kassem Mosse and others on February 5.
Still Be Here with Hatsune Miku, featuring Laurel Halo, LaTurbo Avedon and others on February 5.
Grid Line with Why Be, Mum Dance and Rabit on February 6.
