Unsound Kraków 2021 Program is Finalised With Final Artists and Full Release of Daytime Discourse Program

Unsound Kraków starts in just two weeks, from October 13th - 17th. The full schedule has now been published, including the free discourse program, featuring discussions, presentations, artist talks and workshops shaped around the theme ‘deep authentic’, taking place IRL as well as online. Passes to Unsound are sold out, but limited individual tickets are available to some events. (See below regarding the festival’s vaccination policy.)

Already announced, WEAVINGS is a performance conceived and curated with NICOLÁS JAAR, featuring 12 instrumentalists. Originally taking place online in 2020, the piece will be presented IRL at Unsound this year, with Jaar himself the final artist to be added to the lineup, alongside AHO SSAN, ANGEL BAT DAWID, ANTONINA NOWACKA, KHYAM ALLAMI, OREN AMBARCHI, PAK YAN LAU, PAWEL SZAMBURSKI, RAPHAEL ROGIŃSKI, RESINA, TOMOKO SAUVAGE AND VALENTINA MAGALETTI. Jaar will also mix the performance.

Other final additions to the music program include a new live set from Warsaw producer WE WILL FAIL exploring techno, ambient and industrial; the stereomodernist rhythm and soul of SPEAKER MUSIC (DeForrest Brown, Jr.); Athens-based vocalist and artist EVITA MANJI; Polish electro-acoustic musician QBA JANICKI; and a remote transmission of synthetic beauty from GIANT CLAW. Unsound will also feature DJ sets from the Queen of Jersey club UNIIQU3, returning to Unsound for the first time since 2015; SHANNEN SP, curator of the recent compilation Amapiano Now; Warsaw’s PHATRAX in the wake of his EP I’m Jesus Christ; Polish techno icons DTEKK and OLIVIA playing b2b; Kraków’s VIRTUAL GEISHA and HERMENEIA of Progrefonik. Warsaw artist LENSK will DJ, as well as perform with K ALLADO-MCDOWELL for a collaborative meditation and writing session with AI.  

An intimate opening party at 89, the former Unsound club beneath Hotel Forum, will feature a live show from AYA – just before the release of an album on Hyperdub – LCY’s dark percussive sound, as well as local Kraków artists CHARLIE and SEMPREY. Warsaw’s AVTOMAT rounds out the lineup. This event requires a ticket on top of the festival pass, available here. 

The majority of the extensive discourse program has already been announced. Final additions include artist duo ETERNAL ENGINE, presenting CHAKRAM POLARIZER, a speculative sci-fi taking place around Kraków; MATTHEW INGRAM, author of Retreat: How The Counterculture Invented Wellness; JOHN DORAN with a talk called Salford Psychic City, on the idea that Salford in Greater Manchester is a psychic city where music predicts the future; and a discussion on AI and artistic practise featuring K ALLADO-MCDOWELL – author of Pharmakon AI, written with GPT-3 – philosopher ALEKSANDRA PRZEGALIŃSKA and AREK FLINIK, co-founder of Kraków-based Lekta AI. Another discussion explores the effects of tourism and gentrification on cities, and includes Berlin architect and researcher ANA FILIPOVIĆ and Warsaw’s JOANNA ERBEL, an urban sociologist and activist. Cybercafé is an installation by Kraków’s NERDKA, set in the ruins of a cybercafé, exploring authenticity and inauthenticity through personalised post-fictional identities. 

Ecology Of Care is a new series on community care and mental health, with the first conversation exploring how isolation due to the Covid-19 pandemic has affected communities that were already vulnerable. Panelists include JULIA KATA from Tranz-Fuzja, a non-profit fighting for trans rights in Poland. DOM CHATTERJEE, the founder of the NYC QTPOC collective Rest For Resistance, will also lead meditation as a part of holistic queer community care session.

Conversations with musicians include WACŁAW ZIMPEL, ZOSIA HOŁUBOWSKA, PAWEŁ SZAMBURSKI, TYGAPAW, ANNEA LOCKWOOD, KEVIN MARTIN aka THE BUG, ANGEL BAT DAWID and ROBERT AIKI AUBREY LOWE.

Workshops include a live-action roleplaying game by SUSAN PLOETZ, set inside a speculative institution called PSY-SOMA-TEK, and a journalism workshop presented with Resident Advisor, run by editor-in-chief WHITNEY WEI and managing editor CHLOE LULA. Sign up for these workshops via the online program.

A day before Unsound officially starts, on Tuesday October 12th, Unsound will screen a restored print of the 1973 film F For Fake by ORSON WELLES, paired with a presentation on post-truth by theorist PATRICK LEFTWICH, leading to an audience discussion. Leftwich is also part of the team presenting the Cybercafé installation at NERDKA, opening on the same day.

All Unsound events currently require audiences to be vaccinated against COVID-19, or present proof of recent recovery. If you have any questions, contact us at [email protected]

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LINEUP:

Music program:

Weavings, conceived and curated with Nicolás Jaar featuring Oren Ambarchi, Angel Bat Dawid, Nicolás Jaar, Pak Yan Lau, Valentina Magaletti, Antonina Nowacka, Tomoko Sauvage, Aho Ssan, Paweł Szamburski, Raphael Rogiński and Resina (PL/AU/DE/US/IT/JP/FR/CL) — live premiere // AceMoMa (US) // Aleksandra Słyż & Maks Posio (PL) // Angel Bat Dawid (US) // Annea Lockwood presents: Piano Burning (NZ) // Bastarda X Jrpjej (PL/RU) — live premiere // Avtomat (PL) // AYA (UK) – live // bbymutha (US) // Bendik Giske (NO) // Charlie (PL) // Danny L. Harle presents The Harlecore Experience with live visuals by Sam Rolfes (UK/USA) — premiere // De Schuurman (NL) // Diaki (ML) // Dis Fig (US/DE) // Eartheater & Phoenix Ensemble (US/PL) — special presentation // Ecco2k (SE) // Evita Manji (GR) // Flora Yin-Wong presents Blinding Utterance (UK) // Hermeneia (PL) // Hubert Zemler & Miłosz Pękala & Grzegorz Tarwid (PL) — premiere // Julek Ploski (PL) — A/V show premiere // Juliana Huxtable X Ziúr X Theresa Baumgartner present OFF LICENSE (US/DE) // LCY (UK) // Lensk (PL) // LSDXOXO (US/DE) — European live premiere // Lutto Lento presents Legendo (PL) // Menzi (SA) // MMM (Errorsmith X Fiedel) (DE) // Monster (PL) // Naphta (PL) // Olivia b2b Dtekk (PL) // Phatrax (PL) // Qba Janicki (PL) // Riccardo La Foresta (IT) // Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe presents Candyman Live Score (US/PL) — premiere // RP Boo b2b Sherelle (UK) — premiere // Scotch Rolex feat. MC Yallah & Lord Spikeheart (JP/UG) // Semprey (PL) // Shackleton & Zimpel present The Spirit Still Remains with Barbara Kinga Majewska and Aleksandra Klimczak (UK/PL) — premiere // Shannen SP (UK) // Sofie Birch X Antonina Nowacka (DK/PL) — live premiere // Speaker Music (US) // The Bug feat. Dis Fig, Flowdan & Manga Saint Hilare (UK/US/DE) // TSVI b2b object blue (IT/JP/CI) // Tygapaw (JM) // UNiiQU3 (US) // Virtual Geisha (PL) // VTSS b2b Chippy Nonstop (PL/CAN) — premiere b2b // We Will Fail (PL) // Young Majli (PL) // Zosia Hołubowska & Julia Giertz present: Community of Grieving (PL) — premiere

Discourse program:

Aaron Benanav (US/DE) // Aleksandra Przegalińska (PL) // Ana Filipović (SRB/DE) // Arek Flinik (PL) // Benjamin Bratton (US) // Chloe Lula (UK) // David Toop (UK) // DeForrest Brown, Jr. (US) // Dom Chatterjee (US) // Eliška Pírková (SK) // Eternal Engine presents Chakram Polarizer (PL) // Ewelina Węgiel (PL) // Gabriela Korwin-Piotrowska (PL) // Hamja Ahsan (UK) // Interdependence, with Mat Dryhurst, DeForrest Brown, Jr. and Nora Khan (US/DE/UK) // Jagoda Wójtowicz (PL) // Jennifer Lucy Allan (UK) // Joanna Erbel (PL) // John Doran (UK) // Julia Kata (PL) // K Allado-McDowell (US) // Kuba Szreder (PL) // Liquid Architecture presents: Machine Listening Unnatural Language Processing (AU) // Lou Drago (AUS/DE) // Marta Nawrot (PL) // Martin Disley & Murad Khan (UK) // Marwa Fatafta (PS) // Mat Dryhurst (UK/DE) // Matthew Ingram (UK) // Natalia Krapiva (RU) // Nerdka Gallery: Arek Dec, Paweł Korzeb, Kat Zavada, Jeremiasz Rzenno, Patrick Leftwich presents: Cybercafe (PL) // Nora Khan (US) // Pussykrew presents: / orcl /  (PL) — premiere // Sam Rolfes (US) // Simone Niquille (NL) // Susan Ploetz (NL) // Tobha (DE) // Whitney Wei (UK)

CREDITS:

A significant part of the Unsound 2021 program is realised as a part of the Kraków Culture program supported by the Municipality of Kraków and Krakow Festival Office. Community of Grieving, The Spirit Still Remains and the Bastarda/Jrpjej collaboration are commissioned thanks to the “New Tradition” program supported by Instytut Adama Mickiewicza, co-financed by The Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport. Unsound is a member of SHAPE Platform and the We Are Europe platform funded by Creative Europe. Day 1 and Day 2 of the discourse programme is also co-presented by Sphera.