Festival Focus
May 29
May 30
May 31
May 3- June 16
June 1
FIBER Festival 2024
This May and June, the ninth (!) edition FIBER Festival will take place in a myriad of locations in Amsterdam—from BIMHUIS to Orgelpark and Garage Noord to De Brakke Grond. Over a 5-day period, the festival explores digital and electronic art throughout installations, performances, talks and club nights. Under this year’s theme Outer/Body, FIBER “will explore and question the boundaries and inextricable connections between body, mind, living environment and technology.” Read more about this year’s FIBER Festival here.
To familiarize you with the program, we jotted down some of Subbacultcha’s highlights for this year’s FIBER Festival. Also, FIBER has been so kind to give away a handful of passe-partout tickets to Subbacultcha members. Participate in the raffle here. Explore the full program, and purchase your tickets, here.
May 29
Concert I: Festival Opening – Organ/Body
w/ Casimir Geelhoed | Maria W Horn & Mats Erlandsson
FIBER Festival 2024 is kicked off with an evening in the stunning Orgelpark—a former church, filled to the brim with unique organs. One of them caries the name The Busy Drone. In this special location, FIBER will “explore the fusion between organ sounds, software and music, with two concerts made especially for, and partly within, the Orgelpark.”
Sound artist and composer Casimir Geelhoed will premiere the brand new piece Deviations—consisting of “intricate sonic landscapes that will gradually unravel, drifting, disintegrating, and diverging from their starting points”—making use of the hyperorgan, electronics, self-developed software and spatial sound. Maria W Horn & Mats Erlandsson will present special readapted versions of their work The Spectral Organ. The work essentially creates a hybrid instrument, fusing minimalistic four-handed organ patterns with shattering power electronics. More info.
May 30
Concert II: Memory Vessels
w/ HULUBALANG | Pyur
Memory Vessels is a double concert in jazz and improvisation venue BIMHUIS, exploring how sounds and compositions can interface between inner bodily experiences, both present and past, and the outside world. How do emotions and memories acquire a presence in our physical bodies?
Pyur presents her second release Lucid Anarchy—a personal journal of her time spent in various mountain regions, in the form of colorful, pulsating electronic music. Sparse in sound, yet rich in texture. “Lucid Anarchy evokes the bittersweetness of self-discovery against the perpetual entropy of the universe; finding meaning in the uncertain.” HULUBALANG is the new solo project of Aditya Surya Taruna—also knows as Kasimyn, one half of Gabber Modus Operandi. Together with visual artist Brandon Tray, they present the audiovisual BUNYI BUNYI TUMBAL. “Roughly translated to “a synthetic feeling for anonymous sacrifice”, this work was born from a deep dive into Indonesian war archives, drawing our attention to those at the periphery of historical records. Dizzying polyrhythms, harsh noise and haunting samples. More info.
May 31
Concert III: Liminal Being
w/ Nexcyia | LOREM
Liminal Being is an evening dedicate to “the fusion of natural and synthetic spaces, bodies and the audiovisual aesthetics this produces”. The evening will take place at “Flemish Culture House” Brakke Grond, and will showcase two immersive performances, exploring the tension of reality versus illusion, natural versus synthetic and human versus artificial intelligence.
Nexcyia will present a live concert. “By incorporating field recordings, layering, and manipulation of archival and deep web audio, he invites listeners on spontaneous sonic odysseys, navigating seamlessly between harsh realities and ethereal illusions.” LOREM will present an audiovisual live rendition of their project Time Coils—in which the artist surfs on the threshold between human consciousness and AI. “The eclectic collection of audio materials conveys strong, emotional resonance by the juxtaposition of synthetic-styled rap and live instrumental recordings. Time Coils is born from an endless process of resampling, recomposition, and learning.” More info.
May 3- June 16
Exhibition II: Neighbouring Frequencies – de Brakke Grond
w/ Els Viaene | Floris Vanhoof | Oussama Tabti | Stijn Demeulenaere | Luis Lecea Romera
In both Door Open Space (a 3000 m2 warehouse in the north of Amsterdam!) and the Brakke Grond, FIBER will host exhibitions during and after the festival. In the latter, five (sound) artists will present sculptures and installation. “We will learn about hidden dimensions of our environment and the relationships between landscapes, humans, and non-humans.”
Luis Lecea Romera will present the “scorched earth” field recording-composition Antecâmara, examining the underlying historical and socio-political complexities of eucalyptus’ presence on both sides of ‘A Raia’—’the Stripe’: the border between Portugal and Galicia. Oussama Tabti displays the installation Homo-carduelis: Inside the Gilded Cage, which explores “the paradox of freedom and captivity” by use of birdcages emitting imitations of goldfinch songs. Els Viaene‘s Vibrant Matter is a kinetic sculpture in which an amplified sheet of paper interacts with magnets. Antenna by Floris Vanhoof prepared a grand piano with an sci-fi-looking awe-inspiring antenna, having it play itself through electromagnetic waves translted to vibrations on piano strings. Stijn Demeulenaere asks through Zijlijn / Linea Lateralis in what way bodies (both human and non-human) are connected through sound. The work explores the noisy relationship between marine life and human activity. More info.
June 1
Club Night
w/ Poly Chain | Oldyungmayn | k means | Rama | DJ Shahmaran | Beatrice M.
In our fav garage up north, on Saturday June 1st, FIBER takes over the both dance floors for an evening of “deep and mind-expanding” music. Expect UK Bass, 90’s era rave, dubstep, funk brasileiro, IDM and trance.
On the booming line-up: Poly Chain, Oldyungmayn, k means, Rama, DJ Shahmaran & Beatrice M. We’ll definitely be standing in front of the booth for a majority of the night. More info.
Since its inception in the Amsterdam, FIBER has been bringing together digital art and electronic music. The festival builds bridges between emerging artists, critical researchers, creative coders, DJs, performers and a curious audience. Tickets are currently on sale.
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