in brieflive
25.05.2024

Fantasierne under overfladen 

Spor Festival: »Between Music«
© Mateusz Szota
© Mateusz Szota

Hvad var det for mytiske skabninger, der gemte sig lige under vandspejlet i totalinstallationen Breaking the Surface? Kunstnerkompagniet Between Music havde på Spor Festival omdannet Musikhusets sal til et diset grænseland. Den gådefulde tærskel til det undersøiske. Som besøgende drev vi rundt på overfladen, men mærkede, hvor fascinerende dybt fantasierne om livet under vand rækker. 

Der var low arousel – tenderende til det behagesyge – i det lysdæmpede udstillingsrum. Pirrende klange som i værket Sirenes, hvor små vandfaste højttalere hængt op i wire, blev sænket og hævet i glaslanterner med vand. Som en kølhalende parafrase af Janet Cardiffs Forty Part Motet, hørte man sirenernes toner drukne og stemmerne gispe efter ilt. Lydkunstgrebet var næsten for tydeligt: de akusmatiske stemmer i materiel transformation, ringene i vandet fra højttalermembranernes vibrationer, den besøgendes frihed til selv at søge ind i klangen. Men værkets lavmælte poesi var alligevel nok til at vække en interesse for lydens overgange.

Men det var de skabninger, der befolkede installationens loopede videoer, som jeg var mest betaget af. Hvem var den nedsunkne brud i værket The Neck, der spillede på sin klangkvalte violin blandt døde fisk og ålegræs? Havde hun været der hele tiden, dømt til at spille, eller gik noget forud for denne bizarre scene? Det mystiske videoværk inviterede til videredigtning, og en hel sagnverden åbnede sig for mit indre. Fortryllende. 

© Alicja Rzepa/Sacrum Profanum
»Music helps me feel, process and regulate my emotions, giving them an outlet when I need release and bringing me calm when I need balance – it’s sort of my outsourced nervous system.«
 
Krzysztof Pietraszewski is a music journalist, editor and curator based in Kraków, Poland. Since 2016, he has served as artistic director of Sacrum Profanum, a festival dedicated to new and experimental music. He hosts Muzykoteka and the RKK Live concert rebroadcast series on Radio Kraków Kultura. He also develops listening sessions with discussions, inviting audiences to discover unfamiliar music, exchange impressions and experience listening as a shared activity. His work includes executive-producing recordings for the Sacrum Profanum Archives series. Originally from Silesia, he has made Kraków his home, sharing music through concerts, radio broadcasts, writing and, more recently, experimental DJ sets.
 
 
 
© PR

»For me, music is at its best when it appeals to both the head and the heart. I love music that plays with language and understands how words create images, while also possessing its own unique sonic quality and mood. It’s an added bonus if the music energizes me during a run, makes me dance in the kitchen, or makes me laugh. Or cry. Music can be like a chocolate-coated marshmallow treat with a surprise inside.« 

Lone Hørslev is an author of poetry, novels, and song lyrics, as well as the TV series Den gode stemning. Together with Mads Mouritz, she forms one half of the Mouritz/Hørslev Project, and she recently wrote lyrics for the musical theatre production STOLT in collaboration with Katrine Muff. The songs can be found on the album Jeg ønsker mig.

© Sam Aebi
»I think music is just the way I perceive and process the world.«
 
Raphael Loher is a pianist and composer based in Lucerne, Switzerland who combines elements of experimental electronic music, ambient, and minimalist composition. His distinct, crystalline work explores playful reduction and rhythmic abstraction, aiming to create singular resonances and aesthetic connections. His meditative style of piano playing allows shimmering rhizomatic structures to emerge, giving rise to tense narrative arcs. Loher expands his sound spectrum by preparing the piano, using effect pedals, and working with a tape recorder.
 
Loher’s new album Figuren (Präsens Editionen) is an album shaped by intuition, experimentation, and a deliberate distance from his primary instrument — the piano. Reworking intimate concert recordings made during a residency, Loher deconstructed selected melodies, tones, and resonances into new forms, transforming them further through tape manipulation. 
© PR

»For us, music is... magic? Aside from the fact that we are huge fans of silence, the closing line of one of our upcoming singles perfectly captures our relationship with music: 

'Music feels like magic to me / A superior art form in a marketplace / Trying to find an empty space'. 

That is what it can feel like as a songwriter and performing musician. We try to hold onto an almost childlike infatuation with music, yet the art form we work in – alternative-leaning pop-rock – was created and has evolved 'in a marketplace' driven by powerful economic forces. As a romantic, that can sometimes be a bit disheartening...«

Late Runner consists of Asger Tarpgaard and Tanja Forsberg Simonsen, both formerly of the bands Superheroes and Private.

© PR
© PR

It was officially confirmed only recently that Icelandic avant-garde star Björk is visiting Bielsko-Biała today. After keeping it under wraps until the last moment, the organizers of the Wędrujący Festiwal (Wandering Festival) have revealed that Björk is the artist closing out the festival's grand finale.