11 days and counting. TODAYSART 09 is shifting its gears to the next level of production. This week our new festival website will finally be launched. A burning skyline of The Hague, a destructed city hall and portraits of questionable leaders are appearing in many places. With quotes like “The Hague International City of Conflict” and “This is an Occupied Area” designers Peter Zuiderwijk en Karin Mientjes present the festival’s theme in a propaganda-like manner. Earlier, artist Pierre Derks send out a big army of Miniscule Blue Helmets all over the world.

Our program, consisting of artists from many countries, backgrounds and various disciplines, focuses on displaying different forms of conflict and their outcomes; addressing physical, challenging and stimulating experiences of conflict. TodaysArt presents its line up at eight venues and in public space, presenting an in-depth and international overview of leading artists in various artistic disciplines.

The theme resulted in unique works that are both in conflict with each other (and programmed next to each other for the appropriate tension) or works that use a more thematic approach. The program features a high density of both International and Dutch premieres. A selection of the first program of artists and works, linked to the sub-themes.

todaysart.nl

INVASIVE SOUND

Sonic events – noises, sounds, music – are not perceived by the ear alone. Their effect on the human body goes beyond even the stimulation of the other sensory organs. Acoustic vibrations transmit impulses that obtrude and invade the body and its tissues; they are not only processed on a conscious level, but can also provoke unconscious psychological and uncontrollable physiological reactions. “Invasive Sound” presents artists who make use of all these aspects in order to get close to the human body in disquieting ways. Their work is aimed directly at both physiological and culturally encoded perceptions of the body. The experiences they offer audiences engender both conflict and corporeal pleasure.

“Invasive Sound” is a weekend program curated by Jan Rohlf in collaboration with Musikprotokoll. Jan Rohlf is a visual artist and independent curator. He is one of the founders of club transmediale – international festival for adventurous music and related visual arts Berlin (CTM) and of DISK – Sound & Image Initiative e.V., an association dedicated to the promotion of experimental music and visual arts within the music context. He also is one of the organizers of the Berlin based project space General Public.

Artists/works presented:
Kurt Hentschläger, Lucky Dragons, Heart Chamber Orchestra by TERMINALBEACH (Pure & Berger), Artificiel, Christof Migone, Jamie Drouin & Karl Kliem, Daito Manabe, Lynn Pook & Julien Clauss, Mattin, Mark Bain, Lucas Abela, Rudolfo Quintas & André Gonçalves and Jacob Kirkegaard.

CRASH~CRUSH

The exhibition “Crash~Crush” is presented by long time partner <TAG>, the platform for contemporary audiovisual art and curated by Hicham Khalidi & John de Weerd. The artists in this exhibition show how conflict (crash) can carry beauty (crush). Every conflict, public or private, contains something tender, but first and foremost: a solution. And friction creates heat. “Crash~Crush” presents images from the several stages of conflict. “Crash~Crush” searches for the visualization of these different stages of a conflict. Participating artists:
Jonathan Schipper, Johannes Gees, Vincent Elka, Rafael Rozendaal, Erik van der Weijde, Richard Barbrooke, Martin Kaltwasser & Folke Köbberling, Lena von Lapschina, Arthur Zmijewski, Matthijs Kiel and a selection of the Vast-Forward video program by gallery 1646.

A State of Conflict

Belgrade’s Dis-patch festival is proud to be collaborating once more with the TodaysArt Festival in its 2009 edition on presenting a very special program showcase of artists coming from the realms of South-East Europe and the Balkan Peninsula. The region that, unfortunately, has seen many different conflicts over the course of the previous decade - political, cultural, religious, social and ultimately military ones. Offering a glance at the emerging music and art scenes of this region seems a much-needed step in the context of this year’s main topic of TA, Conflict. There is probably no other European territory so deeply marked and shaped by recent conflicts of political, social and cultural nature. Although one would initially think of pictures of wars that took place in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, it is important to draw attention to the fact that in addition to the horrible military conflicts and brutality of the ’90s, numerous other conflicts of a different nature are still ongoing, resulting in an environment of constant struggle for freedom of expression, for modernity, for common-sense, for perspective or, ultimately, for European integration and freedom of travel/movement. At the same time, this is the common context that all of the featured artists are coming from and have struggled with, which led them to develop their selected artistic paths and present different cultural values from the ones which prevail in their daily existence.

Following the last year’s “Dispatches from the art of today”-program which had established an exchange of artists between Belgrade and The Hague performing at the respective festivals, this year’s collaboration has a more specific aim. By reacting to the festival’s theme, we are presenting the diversity of local and regional artistic output, offering a different view of the area, which has nurtured exceptional talent and forward-thinking artists, parallel to the better-known populist, alcohol-flavored brass-frenzy. In line with the scope of both festivals, we will be presenting musicians, DJ’s, and video artists that have been on the forefront of their local scenes of contemporary music and related arts, keeping the audience in touch with the progressive expressions and adventurous approaches of today.

Finally, being in the Netherlands - and specifically The Hague - is a peculiar context, bearing in mind the presence and the much-disputed role of the ICTY (The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia), as well as the recent EU-integration issues and tensions between Serbia and The Netherlands which have, for example, shaped into a conflict in their own right. Needless to say, all of the participants needed to acquire a visa in order to perform at TodaysArt. Culture and art sadly cannot overcome the political frictions which are far beyond their reach, but they are instrumental in opening and nurturing communication channels between the societies, between the artistic milieus and finally – between people who are in need for a direct, first-hand experience and an open dialogue between cultures.

The program will be presented in the Nieuwe Kerk, on Friday (September 25th):
Vladimir Arsenijevic (RS)
“The Peculiar Case of a Conflict”(Open talk)
LP Duo (RS) piano concert
Felony Flats (RS) ghetto-tech, DJ set
Shazalakazoo (RS) live act
DJ Ahmaad (BA) DJ set
Every Kid on Speed (MK) DJ set
Lukatoyboy (RS) concert
WoO + Incredible Bob live (RS) a/v concert
Nenad Popov & Mirko Lazovic (RS/NL) Live video
Kid’s-patch presents: Touching Sound & Music, electronic music workshop for kids by Lukatoyboy

This program is made possible with the support of the European Commission in The Hague and Prooost

STEIM

STEIM (the studio for electro-instrumental music) is the only independent live electronic music centre in the world that is exclusively dedicated to the performing arts. The foundation’s artistic and technical departments support an international community of performers and musicians, and a growing group of visual artists, in developing unique instruments for their work. STEIM invites these people for residencies and provides them with an artistic and technical environment in which concepts can be given a concrete form. It catalyzes their ideas by providing critical feedback grounded in professional experience. These new creations are then exposed to a receptive, responsive niche public at STEIM before being groomed for a larger audience.

STEIM promotes the idea that Touch is crucial in communicating with the new electronic performance art technologies. The computer has been used too much, and designed as an exclusive extension of the formalistic capabilities of humans. At STEIM the intelligence of the body, for example, the knowledge of the fingers or lips, is considered just as important musically as the ‘brain-knowledge’. STEIM has stimulated the design of extremely physical interfaces and is widely considered as the pioneering place for the new live electronic concepts.

STEIM has always encouraged the use of low-tech solutions and the creative ‘misuse’ of recycled high-tech. STEIM stands for ‘a human approach to technology’. This technology has to be tailored to the individual. Unique instruments such as The Hands, The Web, The Sweatstick and the MIDI Conductor were created as a result of personal and individual projects, but are now used by other performers. STEIM’s former director and founding father Michel Waisvisz (who unfortunately passed away in 2008) is generally recognized as being the first to invent a practice for ecstatic live performance with live electronic instruments.

Over the years, a great variety of the pioneering artists of the live electronic performance arts have worked at STEIM. More recently, STEIM is being discovered by DJ’s and VJ’s who want to liven up their act with physical control of their sound machines and laptops. But not just DJ’s and VJ’s; dancers, actors and visual artists are also coming up to STEIM to use the ideas found at STEIM and to develop these ideas for their personal goals. At TodaysArt, STEIM will bring three artists: DJ Sniff, Emile Zile and Byungjung Kwon, Mario de Vega and Blippo Orchestra.

LOCAL SCENE

West Coast Sound of Holland

When a group of spotty teenagers crawled out of their concrete tombs in 1992 with a head full of cyberpunk, little did they know they would change the face of the West Coast and indirectly the World. Through feeding the reptilian brain of the disenfranchised part of the population with pulsating codes (deprogram to reprogram), they created an army of drones that would only respond to specific triggers, sent out and manipulated from a central concrete Bunker, at that time located deep underneath the Dutch Ministry of Finance. Zealously they researched the possibilities of the human interface in a controlled environment, or “coop”, as they called it. Strewn around the West Coast one could find these breeding grounds, in abandoned warehouses, factories and office buildings; anywhere in the large woven rings of urban ‘tristesse’ around the ancient inner cities, where subjects would be exposed to hyper stimuli for prolonged periods of time.

Many of the test subjects died of brain melt or drug related suicide, or even worse, “grew up”, but it soon became clear that from their ashes a younger and stronger army would arise. Nature - ever so gently pushed in the right direction by these deranged social Darwinists - had once again adapted to its new parameters. The West Coast Sound of Holland was born. Here was a different breed all together, smart, well trained, well armed and utterly ruthless. Always in the shadows, yet ready to fight - a deadly group of musical Guerrillas. At first their factions were small and fragmented. Each would devise its own tactic to destabilize the status quo, but soon alliances would grow and pacts would be made. Largely ignored by the “independent” Media(tm) they have been gnawing away at the pillars of power, and they have changed the face of music doing it. And they’ve been doing it for you! Because you might not know it, but you need to be saved… not only from Muzak(tm), Mediocrity(tm), Consumerism(tm) and Corporate Communities(tm), but most of all from yourself! The West Coast Alliance will show you the way, the Dirty Brown way!

Artist/acts/organizations at the festival associated with the West Coast Alliance: Crème Organization, Bunker, Intergalactic FM, Syncom Data, Bangkok Impact, I-F, Legowelt & Orgue Electronique, Baz Reznik, DJ TLR, Guy Tavares (host). All performing at Club Conflict and in the Intergalactic Compound on Spuiplein.

State-X New Forms – X-Vektor

HPC and Paard van Troje have joined forces to bring some of the best and most anticipated acts of the current international underground movements to Den Haag with the festival State-X New Forms. State-X’s program is compiled along the themes X-plore (what are new developments in the experimental pop music-scene?), X-plain (what inspired and triggered those developments?) and X-pect (what will possibly happen in the future?). At TodaysArt, State-X New Forms will present the final of X-Vektor, a search for avant-garde and underground talent. X-Vektor differs from other talent hunts in that it searches for the experimental, acts that are not necessarily aiming for a specific audience, but rather try to innovate and explore.

Langweiligkeit

Langweiligkeit, esteemed partner of TodaysArt and guardians of the underground scene in The Hague, will host a program in Cafe de Vinger on Saturday. The following artists will perform: FrikK, The Chipmonks on Acid, Numtek, Dubneet vs. DJ Wreedvaag. There will also be live finger-painting and drip art by Cxc, White Trash Clan, B-MEN and Supahpet!

The examples above give you a small taste of the multidisciplinary range of the TodaysArt festival 2009. In the weeks preceding the festival the entire program will be announced on our website www.todaysart.nl.

Confirmed artists and works:

OLAF NICOLAI (DE) – SAMANI | JONATHAN SCHIPPER (US) – SLOW INEVITABLE DEATH OF AMERICAN MUSCLE | KURT HENTSCHLÄGER (AT) – FEED | JOHANNES GEES (CH) – SALAT | PETER ZUIDERWIJK & KARIN MIENTJES (NL) – CONFLICT–ID | LYNN POOK (DE) & JULIEN CLAUSS (FR) – PAUSE | DAITO MANABE (JP) – FACE STIMULI | ARTIFICIEL (QC/CA) – POWEr | CHRISTOF MIGONE (QC/CA) | JAMIE DROUIN (CA) & KARL KLIEM (DE) – MRI|RMX | RUDOLFO QUINTAS (PT) – BURNING THE SOUND | HIROAKI UMEDA (JP) – ADAPTING FOR DISTORTION | CATHERINE BAŸ (FR) – BLANCHE NEIGE | FERNANDO HERNANDO MAGADAN (ES) | NDT & HARMEN STRAATMAN (NL) – NAKED APE | LUKAS TIMULAK (NDT) (SK) & PETER BILAK (SK/NL) | JOERI DUBBE (NL) – PROSPECT FUTURE | TERMINALBEACH aka PURE & BERGER (AT/DE & FI) – HEART CHAMBER ORCHESTRA | NIKLAS ROY (DE) & ADAD HANNAH (QC/CA) – INTERNATIONAL DANCE PARTY | //////////FUR//// (DE) – MOSHPIT AMP | TELETEKST IS DOOD (NL) – ALLWEKNOW | LIEFHERTJE & DE GROTE WITTE REUS (NL) presents PIERRE DERKS (NL) – MINISCULE BLUE HELMETS ON A MASSIVE QUEST | STONEPHACE (UK) | LUCKY DRAGONS (US) | CAPITOL K (UK) | PHILIP JECK (UK) | HILDUR GUDNADOTTIR (IS) | JANA WINDEREN (NO) | MIKE HARDING (UK) | JACOB KIRKEGAARD (DK) – LABYRINTHITIS | YOSHIMITSU ICHIRAKU (JP) – DORAVIDEO | GUILTY SIMPSON (US) | PURSUIT GROOVES (US) | FARLEY 'JACKMASTER' FUNK (US) | ARIL BRIKHA (IR/SE) | SEBASTIAN MULLAERT aka MINILOGUE (SE) | RIPPERTON (CH) | DEETRON (CH) | JORIS VOORN (NL) | EDWIN OOSTERWAL (NL) | REJECTED (NL) | NUNO DOS SANTOS (NL) | BANGKOK IMPACT (FI) | SYNCOM DATA (NL) | LEGOWELT & ORGUE ELECTRONIQUE (NL) | DJ TLR (NL) | BAZ REZNIK (NL) | GUILLAMINO + BAND (ES) | JUSTICE YELDHAM aka LUCAS ABELA (AU) | MARK BAIN (US/NL) | MATTIN (ES) | STEIM (NL) presents BYUNGJUN KWON (SK), EMILE ZILE (AU), MARIO DE VEGA (MX), BLIPPO ORCHESTRA, DJ SNIFF (JP/NL) | <TAG> (NL) presents CRASH~CRUSH with VINCENT ELKA (FR), RICHARD BARBROOKE (UK) – CLASS WARGAMES, RAFAEL ROZENDAAL (NL), ERIK VAN DER WEIJDE (NL), MARTIN KALTWASSER & FOLKE KÖBBERLING (DE), ARTHUR ZMIJEWSKI (PL), MATTHIJS KIEL (NL), 1646 (NL) – VAST–FORWARD | ANTISTROT (NL) – THE PONBALL | DJ DAME (NL) | DJ TVDISKO (CA/NZ) | GASTÓN ARÉVALO (UY) | DIS_PATCH (RS) presents A STATE OF CONFLICT with LUKATOYBOY (RS) – ELECTRONIC MUSIC WORKSHOP FOR KIDS, NENAD POPOV (RS) & MIRKO LAZOVIC (NL), VLADIMIR ARSENIJEVIC (RS) | LP DUO (RS), FELONY FLATS (RS), SHAZALAKAZOO (RS), DJ AHMAAD (BA), EVERY KID ON SPEED (MK), WOO + INCREDIBLE BOB (RS) | TAREK ATOUI (LB) | XAVIER VAN WERSCH (NL) | STATE–X NEW FORMS (NL) presents X–VECTOR with RIOTEER, MACHINIST, FIRE TIME, PIAZ | LANGWEILIGKEIT (NL) presents FRIKK, CHIPMONKS ON ACID, DUBNEET, DJ WREEDVAAG, NUMTEK |