Avant-Garde Unsound Music Festival

Details: Parent Category: Other Festivals; Category: Music; Published on Wednesday, 03 February 2010 18:50; Written by L E Shannon

Since 2003, Unsound, a music festival in Poland, has brought a modern program of music to Krakow and launched outpost events further east in cities like Minsk. This year, the Polish Cultural Institute, the Goethe-Institut and Fundacja Tone (the Tone Foundation) bring it west to New York City for its first North American edition. Running February 4 – 14, 2010. Unsound Festival New York has drawn on a range of electronic, experimental, independent, post-classical and club music scenes in order to forge new links between musical genres, generations, and artistic practices.

Running at various Manhattan venues including the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center and the Goethe-Institut Wyoming Building in the East Village, the festival includes artists from both Europe and the US. One cornerstone is Eastern Promise, a element that aims to expose a wide range of musicians from east of Berlin. Coming to New York are techno artists Jacek Sienkiewicz (Poland), Petre Inspirescu (Romania), and Marcin Czubala (Poland), minimalist composer Jacaszek (Poland), experimentalist Zavoloka (Ukraine), bass mutator TRG (Romania), new-music ensemble Kwartludium (Poland), dub electronic artist Pavel Ambiont (Belarus), and drone specialist Zenial (Poland). A special exhibition of historical Polish Sound Postcards will also be on view.

A special series of events dedicated to and inspired by Andy Warhol, the Warhol Program, features the worldwide debut of electronic soundtracks by Carl Craig (USA) and nsi. (Germany) performed live to screenings of vintage Warhol (né Warhola) films, as well as the North American debut of Groupshow (Jan Jelinek, Andrew Pekler, and Hanno Leichtmann) from Germany, which will perform an eight-hour long live, improvised soundtrack to Andy Warhol's Empire. Video artist Lillevan (Germany) will create a special series of Warhol-inspired Screen Tests during the festival.

The festival also features the US live debut of the Moritz Von Oswald Trio (Germany), the US debut of Vladislav Delay (Finland), & Lillevan's audio / video performance, a special program of the music of Polish Composer Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki, classical interpretations of music from the US punk noise label SST, two nights of noise, drone, and experimental work, a Brooklyn electronic music showcase, two nights at the Bunker featuring contemporary Techno / House, and a Bass Mutations showcase dedicated to dubstep and beyond. In addition, the festival features Kids' Patch — a kids-only workshop in electronic music — and a series of panel discussions, workshops, and film screenings at the Goethe-Institu.

For more information visit unsound.pl/en.

See program schedule below

Unsound Festival New York

February 4 – 14, 2010

Lincoln Center

1881 Broadway

New York, NY 10023

Tickets are sold individually by venues / organizations, or at the door if still available. Events at Wyoming Building and the festival opening at Lincoln Center are free. Seating is limited.

Program

Thursday, February 4

8:30 PM
Unsound Opening
David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center
Free

Friday, February 5
7:30 PM
Warhol Series: Carl Craig with Blow Job, nsi. with Kiss
Walter Reade Theater
$25

9:30 PM

Warhol Series: Carl Craig with Blow Job, nsi. with Kiss
Walter Reade Theater
$25

10:00 PM
Unsound Bunker Edition 1
Public Assembly
$25 advance, $30 at door

Saturday, February 6
NOON
Groupshow with Empire
Le Poisson Rouge
Free

2:00-3:00 PM
Lillevan's Screen Tests Studio
Wyoming Building
Free

3:30 PM
Workshop: Lillevan's Screen Tests
Wyoming Building
Free

5:00 PM
Presentation: The Hidden History of the Vocoder
Wyoming Building
Free

10:00 PM
A Century of Dance Music
Le Poisson Rouge
$20

Sunday, February 7
11:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Kids' Electronic Music Workshop 1
Harvestworks
$25, all sessions

2:00 PM
Panel Discussion: Music Journalism
Wyoming Building
Free

3:30 PM
Discussion: The Hidden Issues: The Art of the Party
Wyoming Building
Free

5:00 PM
Panel Discussion: Who Programs Who?
Wyoming Building
Free

7:00 PM
Polish Sound Postcardcards Exhibit Opening
Devotion Gallery
Free

Exhibition hours: Wednesday, Feb. 10 - Sunday, Feb. 14, 12-6 PM