Program Revealed for Second Edition of Unsound-produced Ephemera Festival, in Warsaw August 26th - 29th
Produced by Unsound, the second edition of Warsaw’s multi-arts festival Ephemera takes place in a city emerging from multiple lockdowns, bringing audiences together in physical space. Focusing largely on performance, Ephemera will continue to build a close connection with Warsaw’s cultural scene, collaborating with cultural activists, artists and institutions. While the first edition of Ephemera took place during the first months of pandemic, Ephemera 2021 is bigger yet still scaled in response to current realities, leading to an even larger event in 2022.
‘There have been obvious challenges in starting a new festival at this time,’ say directors Gosia Płysa and Mat Schulz, ‘but working with Warsaw presenters, curators and artists we’ve tried to create a compact yet multilayered program blending the local and the international.’
Note: all events currently require audiences to be vaccinated against COVID-19. If you are not yet vaccinated, you have time to get your shots. If you cannot get vaccinated for health reasons, please contact us at [email protected]
Ephemera is full of special projects, including the first live presentation of ∞ o’clock (infinity o’clock) – first developed online for Unsound 2020, featuring music by ambient and experimental musicians and the visual work of Irish artist and filmmaker DAVID OREILLY. This 6-hour live show will take place overnight at Nowy Teatr, with music by KMRU from Kenya, FELICIA ATKINSON from France, PERILA from Russia, and EARTHTRAX aka BARTOSZ KRUCZYŃSKI and ALEKSANDRA SŁYŻ from Poland. We will soon add another artist to the lineup, with shows starting before midnight and timed to end just before the sun rises over Warsaw.
Also presented with Nowy Teatr is SIKSA’s new show Cudowne i pożyteczne, including the creation of a collectible book available free only to those attending the event, with illustrations by ŁUKASZ PRZYTARSKI.
Mysterious Polish electronic composer ANDRZEJ NOWAK was set to perform at the first edition of Ephemera in 2020, and will finally appear in a performance presented with TR Warszawa directed by ANNA KAWON and ANDRZEJ NOWAK assisted by GRZEGORZ JARZYNA, and written by FILIP LECH and PIOTR KUREK.
A diverse night of hip hop takes place at Palladium and features Ukrainian rap sensation ALYONA ALYONA, the ‘quick-witted, outrageous, sex-positive’ (Crack Magazine) rap superstar BBYMUTHA, and Poland’s 1988 with his intense, bass-heavy sound.
The euphoric peak of the festival is a late afternoon / early evening outdoors club event across two stages taking place at Lunapark, where we will bring in our own heavy sound system and scenography. This open and inclusive event celebrates and supports queer artistry, with a lineup including LORAINE JAMES, AYA, JULIANA HUXTABLE, OCTO OCTA, YOUNG MAJLI and DOGHEADSURIGERI. With a few more names to be added, this event is curated with Warsaw producer, DJ and activist AVTOMAT, who will also perform.
Presented at PLAC ZABAW with LADO W MIEŚCIE festival, the opening night of Ephemera includes Poland’s RESINA, experimenting with cello and electronics, as well as Kenyan rap sensation MC YALLAH. Afterwards, NAPHTA and FACHEROIA appear at an opening party on BARKA.
Festival exhibitions include PRZEMEK BRANAS’ ‘Model of the Head of a Man Who Missed Out on Everything’ and ANJA RONACHER’s ‘Ruach’ – both curated and presented at Galeria LETO – as well as RAFAŁ DOMINIK’s presentation of the animated beauty of Vviktoria, a work connected to his design for Ephemera’s visual identity created with KAJA KUSZTRA.
Ephemera is also co-curating a pre-festival party on 2nd July at Paloma for the opening of AGNIESZKA POLSKA’s exhibition at the Warsaw Museum of Contemporary Art, with DJ sets from DIS FIG and FOQL as well as NATHAN and TOMASZ KOWALSKI.
Tickets available via Going
Full program: www.ephemerafestival.com
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1141160003071234
This project is co-financed by the Capital City of Warsaw.
Fundacja Tone is a member of the SHAPE and WE ARE EUROPE platforms co-financed by the Creative Europe.
