Upstream Concert Series for New Music and Performance
- Holly Hunter (uk/Margate)
- Post-Organic Bauplan (de/Leipzig)
- Iceboy Violet (uk/Manchester)
We find ourselves in dense depths. We've been pulled into the gyre, past the point of no return by chimeric forces stacked against us. Our bodies? Spaghettified - pulled apart by gravity and mined for resources. The artists in this program are stuck down here with us, too.
In Holly Hunter's texts we find murky waters, hybrid creatures, and queer narratives. For Upstream, she presents a new reading related to our theme. In the performances ‘Desbridar’ by Post-Organic Bauplan, the "more-than-human" takes centre stage as insectoid, robotic prosthetics expand the performers’ bodies and posit new modes of being that go against the institutionalised, productive or “natural” body. Dense feelings are condensed and extrapolated in the lyricism of Iceboy Violet: their unique and obscured approach to rap, poetry and sound art brings the event to a close in a warm embrace of collective catharsis.
Curated by:
Das Konzert ist Teil von blurred edges – Festival für aktuelle Musik in Hamburg, 31. Mai - 16. Juni 2024
blurred edges 2024 wird gefördert von der Behörde für Kultur und Medien der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg und der Hamburgischen Kulturstiftung
Holly Hunter is a multidisciplinary artist and writer based in Margate, Kent. Her work includes film, writing, sound, performance and workshops.
Her interests include ecology, queer embodiment, science fiction, murky waters and insidious creatures. She is committed to collaborative practices, non-hierarchical learning spaces and the importance of a supportive community as a means for radical growth and resistance.
Holly Hunter - Links:
Post-organic Bauplan (Leipzig/Berlin, DE) is a transdisciplinary collective from Argentina based in Germany, consisting of contemporary dancer Josefina Maro and evolutionary biologist and artist Salvador Marino. Together with sound designer MYEN (Leipzig, DE), with whom they regularly collaborate, they develop transhuman performances and writhing choreographies.
The duo works from a post-humanist perspective based on the development of non-organic devices to transcend the practices that define our perception of the body. Recently, they have experimented with performances in which they work with insect-like robotic prostheses that transform their bodies into something more than human. The duo wants to dissolve the idea of the body as natural, given and unchangeable and open it up to new inputs.
Post-organic Bauplan - Links:
Iceboy Violet (Manchester, UK) is a producer, singer and performance artist who embraces the energy, emotionality and resistance of grime music - a British strain of hip-hop - to challenge its inherent heteronormativity and toxic masculinity. Their music gives voice to anger, anxiety and defiance as a form of personal and collective catharsis, and is particularly committed to cultivating warmth and strength among queer people.
In their performances, they perform in close proximity to the audience. In previous performances at the Tate Liverpool art gallery (UK) and Berlin's Trauma, they have experimented with using their bodies to melt giant ice sculptures in performance. Recent releases "The Vanity Mixtape" (2BREAL) and "Not A Dream But A Controlled Explosion" (Fixed Abode), as well as contributions to Aya's album "im hole" (Hyperdub) and Blackhaine's EP "Armour II" (Fixed Abode) have been critically acclaimed.
Iceboy Violet - Links:
* Ermäßigter Eintritt an der Abendkasse für Schüler*innen, Student*innen, Sozialhilfeempfänger*innen.