Events in October

POSTPONED: phantom//wash

Immersive, multimedia noise performance by STUDIO ZYKLOS
(Melody Chua & Chi Him Chik)

“every seven years we are literally, completely new beings.
every cell, dead and replaced.
we wonder, how all these new cells have remembered 
how to be alive in the way
of their dead ancestors,
and what ghosts, when understood, 
make us whole.”

STUDIO ZYKLOS is an ensemble and lab comprised of Melody Chua and Chi Him Chik—The core of ZYKLOS’ practice is performing with self-developed improvisation machines (Aiii and AIYA) in order to challenge their methods of improvisation and push them to find new ways of human-machine interaction, collaboration, and production. ZYKLOS aims to destabilize traditional hierarchies of human and machine, create innovative formats for music performance, and develop narratives beyond the anthropologic gaze. Personal storytelling through interactive media is at the heart of everything ZYKLOS does—a more-than-human dialogue of understanding that takes the form of music-making, translation, and movement across different bodies, both visible and invisible.

phantom//wash`s premiere is postponed to 2025. Further news will be posted he


MESH – Festival of Art and Technology

16th – 20th October 2024

We are delighted to be part of the first edition of MESH Festival! The new festival for digital art and technology, a cooperation between HEK (House of Electronic Arts), iarts and HGK Basel. You can expect exhibitions, screenings, talks, performances and a two-day conference.

Doppelgänger, screenshot by Chris Elvis Leisi

Two projects – Zangezi-Experiments and doppelgaenger:apparatus – by the IAS will be part of this year`s MESH Festival at HEK Basel. The festival is taking place for the very first time and aims to showcase art works, installations and performances that use and interact with AI, Mixed Reality and robots and asks questions about the possibilities of interaction and co-creation between artist and technology.

Zangezi will be performed on 17th October 2024.
doppelgaenger:apparatus is part of the exhibition and will be on display from 16th to 20th October 2024.

Further information about Mesh Festival and ticket sales [here]


Kikk Festival

24th to 27th October 2024
reconFIGURE will be showcased at KiKK Festival in Namur (Belgium)

Founded in 2011, Kikk International Festival of Digital & Creative Cultures is a city-wide exhibition space and market place for designer, scientists, makers, entrepreneus, artists, musicians and many more.
This year`s festival asks the questions “Can we still believe in visuals?” and “Can we distinguish between true and false in the digital age and the development of generative AI?” We live more and more in a world, where the line between reality and illusion is blurred. Our online presence has become a meticulously curated representation—a manifestation of the “selfie society.” Social networks thrive on self-promotion and the relentless pursuit of validation through likes and followers. The content we consume and create is standardized, shaped by influencers and algorithms, creating a disjunction between our digital personas and authentic identities (see more here).

More infos [here]


MUGEN

31th October – 2nd November 2024

Mugen is an multidisciplinary immersive opera, that is based on Japanese writer Natsume Soseki’s (1867-1916) first dream from his short story “10 Nights of Dreams” (1908). The piece is divided into 7 x 7 minute parts following the character’s symbolic journey, that forms the emotional core of “Mugen”, while its themes of death, love, longing and the ambiguous syntheses of time and space create a rich character.

“The dreamer realises that he is sitting with his arms folded next to a woman lying on a bed, and she quietly confesses to the figure that she will soon die. This surreal encounter with the woman doesn’t faze the dreamer, and he asks her when she will die and whether she has to die. She confesses that she cannot change her fate and that she would like to ask the figure to bury her after her certain death. He is instructed to dig her grave with a large shell, bury her in it and erect a gravestone with a fragment of a fallen star. Finally, he is to wait in a hundred-year vigil for her self-proclaimed return. The dreamer follows her instructions and begins to count the days that pass as the sun moves from east to west. After some time, he wonders whether the woman has betrayed him. Unexpectedly, a white lily begins to grow from the fresh grave. At the end of its blooming period, he finally knows that 100 years have passed and the mysterious return of the woman is imminent.”

It will be a seated show, with audio-visual interaction on projection, with lights programmed to the music, dance, live music. 

The shows will take place on 31st October, 1st November (two shows) and 2nd November 2024. Tickets can be reserved [here]

Credits:
MUSIC & CONCEPT:   PAUL TARO SCHMIDT
DRAMATURGY: LEONARD LAMPERT
CHOREOGRAPHY:     IVANA BALABNOVA
DANCERS: COKO DE WINDT
COSTUME DESIGN/MAKE-UP: CAROLINA MISTZELLA
VISUAL ART: WEIDI ZHANG
ART DESIGN/POSTER: OLGA ANTONOVA
LIGHT DESIGN: CHI HIM CHIK
SOUND DESIGN: JONAS FULLEMANN
PHOTOGRAPHY: ARDENNES ORNATI, PAUL TARO SCHMIDT
VIDEOGRAPHY: BENJAMAT HESS, JUAN PABLO SALAZAR,  OLIVER KIMBER
FILM EDITOR: BENJAMAT HESS
PROJECT_MANAGER: OLENA IEGOROVA

MUSICIANS
NARRATION ERI OSHIKAWA
SHO NAOMI SATO
VOCALS SALOME CAVEGN, ALEKSANDRA SUCUR
DOUBLE BASS AZUNA OISHI
PERCUSSION BARBARA RIBEIRO
PIANO PAUL TARO SCHMIDT
VOICES ARDENNES ORNATI, DMITRY SMIRNOV, ALEKSANDRA SUCUR, CHI HIM CHIK, SAIKO SASAKI, STEPHAN TEUWISSEN, OLGA ANTONOVA
STRINGS MAX BAILLIE, ALESSANDRO RUISI, GRETTA MUTLU, OLI LANFORD, HÉLÈNE CLEMENT, ANNE BEILBY, KIRSTEN JENSON, COLIN ALEXANDER
MUSIC CONTRACTOR ELEONORE, SUSIE GILLIS
RECORDED BY JOHN BARRETT AT ABBEY ROADS STUDIO 2