Unsound Awarded Paszport Polityki For Remote Culture!

Paszport Polityki, one of the most important Polish cultural awards, has been given to Unsound for “Remote Culture” (Kultura zdalna), recognising the way that the festival has navigated the pandemic across two years, bringing artists and audiences together online and in physical space. Presented by the weekly magazine Polityka, although this special award is dedicated to directors Mat Schulz and Gosia Plysa, it was received by Gosia Plysa and discourse program curator Michał Gulik, in recognition of the fact that Unsound is always a team effort, the work of many people. 

The award was given for the festival’s “creative approach to difficult conditions and for combining a well-planned online edition with a subsequent physical edition of the event. For moving into virtual space and maintaining an international community connected to this long-standing Krakow music festival.”

In receiving the award, Gosia said, “The festival is not an individual creation. It is made possible through the efforts of many: volunteers, team members, wonderful partners. Thank you all. Unsound is born out of our love for music and opening up to new experiences, out of a love for experimentation... Unsound is an open space that bubbles with social energy and diversity, a place where everyone and anyone is at home… people need access to culture that is independent, bold and muzzle-free.” 

Michał said, “I think about one more value: friendship. Friendship between the audience, artists, and organizers… it is these bonds that allow us to work together, to create, and most of all, to experience.”

To celebrate, we’ve once again set the Unsound Intermission ebook and album – a big part of our activities across the last two years – to Pay What You Want, available via Bandcamp. We’ll leave it like this until the start of next month. 

Three people who have performed or participated in Unsound in the past were also awarded a Paszport Polityki: Dominik Strycharski (for theatre), Jana Shostak (for visual arts), and Teoniki Rożynek (for classical music). Paweł Szamburski and Rafal Ryterski were also nominated (popular music and classical music). Congratulations to all! You can watch the full stream of the event on Youtube.  

A reminder that yesterday we announced the dates for the Unsound Krakow 2022 – the festival’s 20th edition – from 9th – 16th October. Sign up to the Facebook event page here.