Text by CLOT Magazine
Unsound Kraków 2022 takes place from October 9 to 16. This 20th-anniversary edition is a celebration of Unsound over the years and a reminder of how the city has changed over two decades. The theme BUBBLES evokes the idea of celebration, a glass of champagne, and a cluster of colourful balloons floating up into the sky. But it also refers to how different communities are isolated and connected through social media, geography or politics.
On Wednesday, October 12, the official opening party takes place at 89 – a Lynchian zone with original 80s decor beneath Hotel Forum. Featuring LCY b2b Lee Gamble, Tom Boogizm, Chino, shjva and Hermeneia, it will be a night to remember after the pandemic hiatus. The free Unsound Discourse program lasts six days, with sessions from artists, curators, researchers, writers and journalists who will explore geopolitical, speculative, creative, and social bubbles.
Among the almost 40 sessions presented, we choose those from the editor at ARTnews and Art in America, Andy Battaglia, and his guided tour through past and present artworks that take different kinds of material evolution and effervescence as a subject. In addition, Debit and Raja Kirik, in conversation with DeForrest Brown Jr., will discuss ways that pre-colonial music and magic can interact with the technology of Western civilisation and how this might reveal paths into the future.
In continuing his investigation into the dynamics of online culture and information systems, artist and researcher Jak Ritger will present a pre-history of viral media; and author Joanna Walsh in her talk Cyberfeminism Vs. Neopatriarchy will answer questions such as How do women talk about themselves online? How do they construct their online identities?
How does the medium materialise itself in the language and imagery they use? And last but not least, moderated by Philip Sherburne, contributing editor to Pitchfork, on Friday 14, we will not miss Genre Bubbles, a discussion in which we’ll find answers to whether we are already living in a post-genre world. What does it mean for the future of music – both as creators and listeners – and how does this relate to other aspects of contemporary life?
Highlights from the music program include Caroline Polachek and Marina Herlop; the premiere of the band Osmium (Hildur Guðnadóttir, Sam Slater), Space Afrika, Lucrecia Dalt, Sofie Birch, Sunn O)))’s Stephen O’Malley with visuals by Nika Milano and 700 Bliss (Moor Mother and DJ Haram). In addition, the brilliant and uncompromising Nkisi and Hyperdub head Kode9 is going b2b with Tim Reaper for the first time, and a third Morning Glory session with Peruvian-born experimental musician Ale Hop has been added to the bill.
Finally, the Unsound club program with DJ Swisha, DJ Narciso Madikoptah, Poly Chain, and ABADIR, and the closing party on Sunday, October 16, take place inside Kraków’s Central Post Office, a landmark building dating back to the 1930s. The lineup features Objekt b2b Monster, DJ Python, Manuka Honey and Bakblivv.
