Published:
November 24, 2016
The Creative Europe-supported SHAPE platform for innovative music and audiovisual art is announcing its 2017 list of artists. The artist selection for the platform’s third year traditionally places a diverse selection of audiovisual projects and sound artists alongside musical acts that range from post-grime and techno to free improvisation and experiments with field recordings. The platform is run by a union of 16 European festivals, including Insomnia, Maintenant, Unsound and CTM.
Sound art, free improv or experimental dance music are by far not the only genres, represented within this 48 artist list – there’s the jazz-laden, warm modern minimalism of Polish clarinetist Wacław Zimpel, the lo-fi, ambient rap of Prague-based artist Lišaj, the “audio theater” of Lithuanian producer J.G. Biberkopf that brings together elements of abstract grime and musique concrete, the austere sonic architecture of Thomas Ankersmit or the ballads of Norwegian folk and jazz singer Mari Kvien Brunvoll, mostly built out of her voice, recorded in loops and accompanied by kalimba, kazoo and zither.
Less explored musical scenes are represented: the duo of beatmaker Oriole and video/performance artist Linda Konone evokes the collision of Riga’s advanced dance music and contemporary art scenes, while the punk, techno and noise laden musical underground of Budapest is represented by Céh and Új Bála, two projects by Gábor Kovács or the avant-garde metal group Entrópia Architektúra, all highly contrasted by the same city’s eerie singer-songwriter project Unknown Child. The participation of v4w.enko, an audiovisual project from Ukraine, sees SHAPE exploring this country’s music scene for the first time.
As in previous years, links to prestigious labels can be observed: producer Sky H1 released her debut EP last year via Codes, sound artist and composer Anna Zaradny published her critically acclaimed record “Go Go Theurgy” on Poland’s mostly atonal Bocian records and the currently Paris-based boss of L.I.E.S. Ron Morelli participates in SHAPE with his live show, based on the largely beatless “A Gathering Together” – his most recent full-length recording, published by Hospital Productions.
In comparison to previous years, the 2017 artist list of SHAPE puts a larger emphasis also on seeking out interesting DJs – ranging from Denmark’s all-female DJ trio Apeiron Crew, Romania’s Chlorys and Netherlands-based Russian DJ Inga Mauer to Dynamons, the co-founder of Greek label Echovolt Records, or Danny L Harle, representing the kitsch-ridden internet label PC Music.
The audiovisual part of the roster includes, among others, Aurelia 1+Hz, a project that focuses on sonification of the movement data of a jellyfish, the French collective CHDH, who create audio and visual algorithmic synthesizers, Julien Desprez with his electric guitar/light performance “Acapulco Redux”, Franck Vigroux with his various audiovisual collaborations, and many others.