FutureEverything announces a series of new commissions, installations, conference speakers, film screenings and live events for the pioneering digital culture festival’s 20th anniversary, 25-28 February 2015.
The festival comprises of a conference, live, art and film programmes, workshops and ‘Festival Lab’, wherein participants prototype new ideas and present their outcomes at the Festival. FutureEverything brings together artists, makers, designers, theorists, policy makers and musicians to create, debate and collaborate on projects, performances and ideas. Art, live and film programme highlights include:
WEDNESDAY 25TH February, 8:00pm-9:30pm
Festival Opening Gala ft. Memo Akten, Koreless & Emmanuel Biard
RNCM Theatre 124 Oxford Road, M13 9RD
The Opening Gala presents a double-bill, commissioned and produced by FutureEverything (in collaboration with British Council and RNCM), featuring new work by three of the most exciting and compelling electronic artists working today – Memo Akten: Simple Harmonic Motion for 16 Percussionists (new commission, world première) and Koreless & Emmanuel Biard: The Well (new commission, UK première).
FRIDAY 27TH FEBRUARY – SUNDAY 1ST MARCH 10:00AM-5:00PM
Blast Theory: Too Much Information (World Premiere)
Royal Exchange Theatre, St Anne’s Square, M2 7DH
An audio walk around the streets of Manchester, based on a series of frank and funny conversations between a group of young people and a group of over 60s. During this 45 minute walk, audiences will use a smartphone to find audio recordings of secret and intimate moments hidden around the city, set to a score by the Human League’s Martyn Ware. Too Much Information is a brand new work by Blast Theory, created in partnership with the Royal Exchange Theatre’s Truth About Youth programme, supported by the Cooperative Foundation.
THURSDAY 26TH FEBRUARY 8:00PM- 11:00PM
LoneLady Live + Stephen Mallinder (Wrangler/Cabaret Voltaire) DJ Set + Special Guest
Soup Kitchen 31-33 Spear Street, M1 1DF
With a new album out on Warp, the much awaited follow up to 2010’s acclaimed ‘Nerve Up’, we are delighted to welcome back one of Manchester’s most compelling artists of the past decade – LoneLady, aka Julie Campbell. Teaser single ‘Groove It Out’ recalls ESG and A Guy Called Gerald’s classic ‘Voodoo Ray’ – showing a compelling new dance and funk influenced direction, steeped in drum machine grooves and pop sensibilities.
LoneLady has returned for a homecoming performance at FutureEverything, having recorded and produced her forthcoming second LP in her home studio – mostly using analogue equipment, including a Tascam 8-track cassette recorder, before adding the finishing touches at Keyclub Recording Co, Michigan.
FRIDAY 27TH FEBRUARY – 8:00PM-10:15PM
Alec Empire (Atari Teenage Riot): Low on Ice Live + Tristan Perich: Noise Patterns
RNCM Concert Hall 124 Oxford Road, M13 9RD
Released in the same year FutureEverything was born, Alec Empire’s ‘Low On Ice’ (The Icelandic Sessions) is a unique monument of atmospheric poignancy and sonic radicalism. Empire, along with his band Atari Teenage Riot and his label Digital Hardcore, was a pivotal figure in the politicisation of early 90’s rave culture. This new audiovisual live performance has been created to celebrate the 20th anniversary of this seminal point in electronic music, and features a new collaboration with laptop performer, violinist and video artist Zan Lyons.
Completing this special double-bill is composer and artist Tristan Perich, who presents ‘Noise Patterns’, a new composition of 1-bit patterns of white noise, programmed for and performed by microchip. Perich’s award-winning work couples 1-bit electronics with more traditional media, in both music (Active Field, Observations) and visual arts (Machine Drawings, Microtonal Wall).
SATURDAY 28TH FEBRUARY – 8:00PM-10:15PM
Ariel Pink + Gazelle Twin
RNCM Theatre 124 Oxford Road, M13 9RD
Los Angeles based multi-instrumentalist and lo-fi artist Ariel Pink returns to Manchester with his seven-piece band, to perform of new work from his latest LP, ‘pom pom’. The release is Ariel Pink’s third studio album for the acclaimed 4AD label, and the first LP without his long-standing group, The Haunted Graffiti. Joining Ariel Pink is Gazelle Twin, whose new release ‘Unflesh’ is an altogether darker turn on her previous synth-driven soundscapes.
THURSDAY 26TH – SATURDAY 28TH FEBRUARY – 9:30PM-10:00PM
Film Shorts 2: The Delian Mode
RNCM Theatre 124 Oxford Road, M13 9RD
The Delian Mode by Kara Blake is a short experimental documentary that explores the life and work of pioneering electronic composer Delia Derbyshire, known for her groundbreaking work with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, where she created the theme to Doctor Who.
SATURDAY 28TH FEBRUARY – 10:00PM-11:30PM
Film Feature: Europe In 8 Bits (UK Premiere)
RNCM Theatre 124 Oxford Road, M13 9RD
Europe in 8 Bits explores the world of chip music, a new musical trend that is growing exponentially throughout Europe. The innovators of this musical movement reveal to us how to reuse old video games hardware like Nintendo’s Game Boy and the Commodore 64 to turn them into a tool capable of creating a new sound. Transforming these ‘limited’ leisure machines into new instruments, hear from the artists pushing forward new boundaries in electronic music. It will leave nobody indifferent.
Programme announced so far includes:
Conference & Workshops:
Warren Ellis / Jer Thorp / Julia Kaganskiy / Paolo Cirio / Joanne McNeil / Moritz Stefaner / Strange Telemetry / Danja Vasiliev / Abhay Adhikari / Alexis Lloyd / Matthew Boggie / Scott Stulen / Matt Locke / Matthew Plummer-Fernandez / Pat Kane / Gemma Galdon-Clavell / Ingrid Burrington / Eleanor Saitta / Chardine Taylor-Stone / Georgina Voss / Alice Bell / More TBA
Art & Live:
Memo Akten / Koreless / Emmanuel Biard / Alec Empire / Tristan Perich / Blast Theory / Ólafur Arnalds / Ariel Pink / Cod.Act / Renzo Spiteri / Gazelle Twin / Metahaven: City Rising / Boothroyd / Brood Ma / Rainer Veil / Kepla / Thom Isom / James Binary / Tomasu / Hong Kong Express / IMMUNE// / Pyravid / Shima33 / Danny L Harle / LoneLady / Stephen Mallinder / Anthony Naples / Lee Gamble / IVVVO / Dance / Lyster / Dan Hampson / M.E.S.H / Bloom / Beatrice Dillon / DJ Nigga Fox
Film:
Because We Are Visual / Europe in 8 Bits (UK Premiere) / Fully Awake: Black Mountain College / I Dream of Wires / Happiness / Elektro Moskva / Deep Lab / The Delian Mode / Continuum / Postcards from Pripyat, Chernobyl / Gazelle Twin: Exorcise & Antibody
For further details visit: futureeverything.org/festival
