Words by CLOT Magazine
PRESENCE. Unsound just shared with us the theme for the 16th edition of Unsound Krakow 2018 [1] – which we have been eagerly expecting. Presence in the physical, the metaphysical and the virtual. Where do one finish and the other begins, and what does it mean to be present in a world of media saturation, where reality can be virtual or augmented, intelligence made artificial?
With the premise that technology is reshaping reality itself and as we see more and more of these new technologies, such as AI and altered realities, advancing into daily life realms, deeper questions on humanness strike us.
We expect projects and artists to tackle self-display and social media anxiety, cryptocurrencies, robotic technologies, data harvesting, discriminative algorithms, disinformation, social media bots, and conspiracy theories. Is there a way we can understand and control our rapidly mutating environment or just drifting into sombre territories by the hands of these technological advancements?
And as the theme image depicts, presence is complex, a mirror with infinite projections: which one is real, which one is not, and where are our own projections as a society reflecting? Socially and politically engaged, in this edition, similar to prior ones such as Flower Power and Future Shock, the people behind Unsound seem they want to keep challenging us to find meaning in the art and music we consume.
This edition will include the daytime discourse and film screening program, intersecting with the music, sound, and related visual arts program. PRESENCE will also involve newly commissioned work, which is also becoming the festival’s signature. New pieces that engage with the self and its relation to simulacra, technology, protest, 21st-century ideas of nature and beyond.
