It’s the First Day of Unsound 2021! What’s on in Krakow, and what’s online?

After many months of preparation, Unsound returns to Krakow today after a two year break, until Sunday 17th October. Apart from the music events tonight, there are five sessions in the discourse program, taking place in the Unsound festival office as well as online. 

The day starts at midday with the discussion The Topography of Oppression Online, exploring the way that oppression on the ground translates into the online world, from Palestine to Afghanistan, Russia, Belarus and other parts of Europe. At 1.30pm, The Ecology of Care discussion series looks at the ways isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the mental health of already marginalised communities. 

At 3pm, a discussion titled Well, Actually… Wellness, Psychedelics and Liberalism features author Matthew Ingram, exploring the ways the wellness industry connects to the 1960s counterculture, asking what is at stake when mental health and wellbeing is reduced to a lifestyle. At 4.30pm, virtual puppet master Sam Rolfes presents Deep Authenticity, while at 5.30pm Benjamin Bratton will transmit from the US to discuss The Synthetic and The Real.

The evening’s music starts at 7.30pm in Manggha with Resilience, featuring a reading / performance from Flora Ying-Wong, and a set from Norwegian saxophonist and experimental musician Bendik Giske. OFF LICENSE is made up of Juliana Huxtable and Ziúr as well as visual artist Theresa Baumgartner, who together will create a sublime audiovisual poem with sonic pyrotechnics. This event is sold out.

The Unsound 2021 opening party takes place in the intimate, atmospheric club 89, beneath Hotel Forum, with live sets from AYA and Charlie, and DJ sets from LCY, Sempery and Avtomat. This event requires an additional ticket on top of the festival pass. The music starts at 10.30pm, with limited tickets available at the door after 11.30pm.

You can find all information in the Unsound program, or follow us on Telegram for real time updates, as well as on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Those watching the discourse program from afar can join the Unsound Discord server. Day program will be streamed online on our Facebook and Youtube, as well as on Kraków Play: link.