FIBER Festival presents Art & Music program

Three days filled with alchemical thinking and making in art, design and music

The fourth edition of FIBER Festival takes place from 11 to 14 May in Amsterdam and remains THE international hub for lovers and makers of innovative digital culture, audiovisual art and electronic music. FIBER Festival attracts over 50 participating speakers and artists, 2500 visitors and a wide selection of local businesses and organizations, who will gather in the city of Amsterdam. FIBER connects with both a local and international audience of young, professional creators and enthusiasts who are operating at the frontiers of digital technology, to create or encounter immersive and mind-bending experiences. The festival just released a dense program of audiovisual performances, live/DJ sets, installations, conference talks and labs.

The 10-day exhibition in collaboration with Looiersgracht 60 shows works of Semiconductor (UK), JODI (NL) & MFP (UK), Quadrature (DE) and Ralf Baecker (DE). The Conference presents Memo Akten (UK), Refik Anadol (TR/US), Jussi Parikka (FI/UK) and Femke Herregraven (NL). They are just a few of the names that fill the two-day international conference at De Brakke Grond. The music- and performance program accomodates Sendai (BE), Sky H1 (BE), Pita (AU) and Recent Arts (DE/ CHL). The FIBER team was inspired by the connections between today's experimental art and a renewed interest in the ancient field of alchemy. Through an extensive program of conference talks, a public exhibition, AV performances, and live electronic music, the festival explores the theme Prima Materia; alchemical thinking and making in art, design and music.

Prima Materia shows the work of artists and designers who question and reimagine the relationship between man, technology and matter. Technology has a profound effect on nature and can help us find a sustainable and emotional relation with the earth. At the same time it is getting harder and harder to predict our future as a human race in the context of fast technological developments of things like artificial intelligence, big data and decentralised networks - developments that feel almost like organic, all-encompassing forces of nature. The human scale and the tools that we use to interpret the world with are being radically transformed. We seem to be caught in the middle of invisible forces.

FIBER Festival 2017 program highlights

AV & Music Performances | Friday 12^th of May and Saturday 13^th of May | De Brakke Grond and Club Shelter

The Music & Performance program is divided into two evening performances and a long club night;

Friday night, 12th of May De Brakke Grond will be transformed into a mysterious festival location with three spaces, where image and sound meet in a very special way. The visitor will be submerged in a night full of electronic live acts and audiovisual performances. FIBER presents two audiovisual premières: The Mylar Topology by British artist Paul Prudence, is a hypnotic journey through a liquid universe with deep pulsating sounds on a panoramic screen. The newer than new installation-performance Phyllotaxis by Rotterdam media artists Joris Strijbos & Daan Johan, from the internationally known Macular collective, presents two enormous spinning discs, that entrance the audience with a series of cosmic light patterns.

The Red Space is dominated by the mesmerising and experimental live-sets of British producer Ali Wade and the modular synthesizer magician and Editions Mego label holder Pita. Both recently released two gorgeous albums: Ali Wade’s serene debut album ‘Geomorphology’ and Pita’s ‘Get In’; a beautiful and deep dystopian sonic journey. The foyer of De Brakke Grond will function as a lounge area and among others DJ’s Merites (Photic Fields), Sébastien (Field Records) and Arif Malawi together with exquisite Flemish beer will give the visitor an alchemic night experience.

Saturday night, 13^th of May FIBER Festival and Club Shelter join forces to organize a full concert and club night. The first part of the evening contains three intense, live listening experiences, each supported by a special scenography and a top quality sound system; one of Shelters unique selling points.

• Sky H1 from Brussels will kick off the night with her dreamy live performance of the highly valuated debut EP ‘Motion’ on the Berlin PAN label.
• The Scottish producer TVO – a musical jack of all trades, who hasn’t yet been discovered by the mainstream audience, will play a brand new show influenced by occultism ‘Hell Is Empty’.

• The concert will be closed by Sendai; Sendai is the collaboration of Belgian producers Yves De Mey and Peter Van Hoesen, exploring the outer limits of electronic music. Combining De Mey’s modular synths and Van Hoesen’s sound design skills, they create a broken, minimalistic and uncompromised sound world.

During the Club night the audience will be submerged into the new narratives of the international club scene accompanied by a unique light scenography. It will be a long journey through a techno orientated musical landscape with dj’s and live acts. The first names are:

• The Amsterdam based Mattikk (NL) – and close FIBER friend – has been going strong for years now. Mattikk shows us what is possible when you have full control over your vinyl and mixer. You then no longer spin records, but you create art. Mattikk plays calm and warm techno and Detroit electro.

• ENA (JP) will bring a refreshing and alchemic insight into techno which includes unconventional rhythms, a broad spectrum of kicks and hats and a dark industrial cloud full of noise and mechanical sounds.
• natural/electronic.system (IT), a duo that symbolises the strength of international underground techno since 2014. Their sets are a deep and psychedelic journey. They’ve performed at the legendary Labyrinth festival in Japan and the Parallel festival in Spain. It’s the first time they will play in The Netherlands

Exhibition| Friday 12^th of May till Sunday 21th of May | Looiersgracht 60

The exhibition Prima Materia, is a collaboration between FIBER and Looiersgracht 60, centre for art, design and architecture, and presents artists that use technology to rethink mankind’s position between the stars and the soil. Taking their cues from the centuries old practice of alchemy and its search for the prima materia, which was said to connect everything in the cosmos.

The exhibition is divided in three themes: State of Matter about new ways to look at matter, Artificial Perception that broadens our perspective on the world through artificial intelligence, and New Ecologies about future perspectives on technology, nature and the universe.

We name Semiconductor (UK), JODI (NL) & MFP (UK), Quadrature (DE), Ralf Baecker (DE) and Monique Grimond (NL/US). Besides a selection of existing installations, FIBER has initiated two new works: the never ending film installation ‘Origin: Sustained’ from upcoming The Hague artist Mischa Daams (NL), and the alchemic photographic work The Modeling from Michiel Pijpe (NL). FIBER furthermore enables the presentation of two more new works from dancer and programmer Christian Loclair (DE) and designer/ investigator David Benqué (UK).

Opening: Thursday 11/05, 8 PM / Exhibition: Friday 12/05 – 21/05

Extra program

On Friday 12th May, during the first FIBER festival day, De Brakke Grond opens an exhibition called Of Alchemy and Magic. Curator Karen Verschooren (STUK) shows a second act of Artefact 2017, at the invitation of FIBER and De Brakke Grond . The exhibition, with works from Tobias Revell, Frederik De Wilde, Femke Herregraven, RYBN.org and Verena Friedrich, investigates if concepts as ‘alchemy’ and ‘magic’ can help us in our relationship with technology, which by times is so complicated that it mesmerizes us.

Conference| Friday May 12^th and Saturday May 13th | De Brakke Grond

The two-day international conference in De Brakke Grond gathers front runners in art, design and music, students and lovers to enjoy an immersive program of keynote speakers, artist talks, informal panels and demonstrations. On the Main stage we can find keynote lectures and presentations about today's subjects in art, technology and society. They will discuss the influence and applications of bots and artificial intelligence with artist-programmer Memo Akten (TR/UK) , internet artist Darius Kazemi (US) and Hannah Davis (US). Academic researcher and writer Jussi Parikka (FI/UK), artist-designer Femke Herregraven (NL) and filmmakers Semiconductor (UK) give presentations around the relation between deep time, matter and technology The Flemish technology philosopher Yoni van den Eede (BE) questions the ‘optimisation of thinking’ in our western culture. In the Rode Zaal (Red Space) en Tuinzaal (Garden Hall) FIBER collaborates with V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media, Rotterdam, to showcase young talents and studios from the creative industry.

LABS| Friday 12^th of May till Sunday 21th of May | De Brakke Grond

Under the heading FIBER LABS a group of over 50 artists, designers, investigators, programmers, data specialists, architects and image makers join four LABs to work on prototyping new projects. Two special LABs are Choreographic Coding Lab from Motion Bank (The Forsythe Company) – in which dancers, programmers and choreographers investigate the fusion of technology and dance– and the two day Architectural Intelligence Lab of international architect and data-designer Refik Anadol.

FIBER program

Festival data May, 11 - 14 2017

May 11

Opening Exhibition* (20.00) Looiersgracht 60 *The exhibition is complimentary and can be visited from May 12 to May 21.

May 12

Conference day 1 De Brakke Grond

Concert night day 1 De Brakke Grond

May 13

Conference day 2 De Brakke Grond

Concert night and club night Shelter

May 14

More info available soon

FESTIVAL LINEUP (Per category in alphabetical order)

Exhibition

Artificial Afterlife (2016), Amy Whittle (NL) | Brume (2016), Sebastian Wolf (DE) & Michael Kugler (US/DE) | The PRESAGE™ Range (2017), David Benque (UK) | Liquid Solid (2016), Nikki Assmann & Joris Srijbos (NL) | MATERIAL WANT (2016), JODI (NL) & MPF (UK) | Random Access Memory (2016), Ralf Baecker (DE) | Satelitten (2015), Quadrature (DE) | States of Matter (2017), Studenten Digital Media at the University of the Arts Bremen (DE) | STONES (2016), Quadrature (DE) | TerraEconomics (2016 - 2017), Monique Grimond (US/NL) | Terra0 (2017), Paul Seidler, Paul Kolling, Max Hampshire (DE) | The Aerographer (2016), Luiz Zanotello | The Modelling (2017), Michiel Pijpe (NL) | Where Shapes Come From (2016), Semiconductor (UK) | Christian Loclair (DE)

AV & Music Performances

Ali Wade (UK) - live | ENA (JP) | Macular (NL) - live AV | Mattikk (NL) | natural/electronic.system (IT) | Pan Daijing (CH) - live | The Mylar Topology / Paul Prudence (UK) - live AV | Pita (AU) - live | The History of Darkness / Recent Arts (DE) - live AV | Sendai (BE) - live | Sky H1 (BE) - live | TVO (UK) - live | The Mirror & The Mask / Pierce Warnecke & Yair Elazar Glotman (DE) - live| Free Foyer programme: Arif Malawi (DE/NL) - DJ | Sébastien (FR) – DJ | Merites (NL) - DJ

Conference

Cecilia Jonsson (SW/NR) | Cis van Heertum [Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica] (NL) | Darius Kazemi (US) | David Benqué (FR/UK) | Denisa Kera (CZ) | Dr. Janneke Wesseling (Leiden University) [Critical Making], Florian Cramer, Klaas Kuitenbrouwer (Het Nieuwe Instituut), Lucas Evers (Waag Society) en Marie-José Sondereijker (West Den Haag) (NL) | Femke Herregraven (NL) | Füsun Türetken (TR/NL) | Hannah Davis (US) | Jussi Parikka (FI/UK) | Maaike Bleeker [UU] (NL) | Martin Howse (UK/DE) | Memo Akten (TR/UK) | Michelle Kasprzak (CA/NL) | Nick Ervinck (BE) | Nicolas Nova (FR/CH) | Paul Prudence (UK) | Quadrature (DE) | Ralf Baecker (DE) | Refik Anadol (TR/US) | Gaby Wijers [LIMA] (NL) | Ruairi Glynn [Bartlett School of Architecture - Design for Performance & Interaction] (UK) | ScanLAB Projects (UK) | Scott de Lahunta [Motionbank] (DE) | Semiconductor (UK) | Stefanie Wüschitz (AT) | Thijs Hagendijk [UU] (NL) | Though Collider (NL/UK) | Tobias Revell (UK) | Yoni van den Eede [Culture, Emancipation, Media & Society Vrije Universiteit Brussel] (BE)

LABS

De Brakke Grond & FIBER invites: Choreographic Coding Lab [Motion Bank], Refik Anadol [UCLA] (TR/US) , Darius Kazemi (US) |Denisa Kera (SFIS, Arizona State University) (CZ/US) & Yair Reshef (TAMI & Shenkar college of art & design)

WATCH THE FESTIVAL TRAILER HERE

FIBER FESTIVAL

FIBER Festival attracts over 50 participating speakers and artists, 2500 visitors and a wide selection of local companies and organizations, who will connect in the city of Amsterdam to create a dense program of audiovisual performances, live/DJ sets, installations, conference talks and labs. FIBER connects with both a local and international audience of young, professional creators and enthusiasts who are operating at the frontiers of digital technology, to create or consume immersive and mind-bending experiences.

Through the lens of cutting-edge artistic works, FIBER explores the impact of technology on culture, society and nature. The festival gathers artists, thinkers and an adventurous crowd to experience new narratives that give insight to complex topics like artificial intelligence, bots, digital production techniques, hybrid materials and questions how technology can influence the future.

Theme FIBER Festival 2017 Prima Materia

The FIBER team retrieved its inspiration by fascinating over connections between todays experimental art and a renewed interest in the ancient field of alchemy. Through an extensive program of conference talks, a public exhibition, AV performances, and live electronic music, the festival explores the theme Prima Materia; alchemical thinking and making in art, design and music.

Prima Materia shows the work of artists and designers who question and reimagine the relationship between man, technology and matter. Technology has a profound effect on nature and can help us find a sustainable and emotional relation with the earth. At the same time it is getting harder and harder to predict our future as a human race in the context of fast technological developments of things like artificial intelligence, big data and decentralised networks - developments that feel almost like organic, all-encompassing forces of nature. The human scale and the tools that we use to interpret the world with are being radically transformed. We seem to be caught in the middle of invisible forces.

Back in the day alchemists speculatively worked with matter to understand the design of the universe. Their main focus was reaching the mythical Prima Materia, the metaphysical matter that would connect everything in the cosmos. For a long time alchemy was considered a mystical pseudoscience, but it now becomes unmistakably clear that it is a precursor for contemporary science and the development of our knowledge about matter. FIBER points out extraordinary similarities between the work of alchemists and the modern interdisciplinary artists, designers, programmers and engineers.

Tickets

The Early Bird passe-partouts are all sold out.

Regular tickets can only be purchased online from March 21^st through this link: http://2017.fiberfestival.nl/tickets/

Confirmed Partners

Funding Partners: FIBER is kindly sponsored by

• Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie
• Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst
• VSBfonds
• Fonds21
• Fonds Podiumkunsten
• Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds
• Goethe Instituut Nederland
• Het Nieuwe Instituut
• Tsjechisch Centrum Rotterdam

Sponsors

• Warsteiner
• Clinq
• Volkshotel
• Creative Applications / HOLO
• Creators / VICE

Mediapartners

Creative Partners: Location and Program partners

• De Brakke Grond (NL)
• Shelter (NL)
• Looiersgracht 60 (NL)
• University of Utrecht (NL)
• Bartlett School of Architecture (UK)
• LIMA (NL)
• ICK (NL)
• UCLA (US)
• Het Nieuwe Instituut (NL)
• Artefact Festival – STUK (BE)
• Digital Media Bremen (DE)
• Makerveristy (NL)
• Motion Bank (DE)
• Mirage Festival (FR)
• KIKK Festival (BE)
• Retune Festival (DE)
• Ja Ja Ja Nee Nee Nee (NL)

Note for the editorial team (not for publication):

De FIBER pressroom can be reached through this link. There you will find all previous press releases. Relevant images can be downloaded here

The FIBER logo can be downloaded here

For more information please contact:
Sandra van Beers, Marketing & Communications / sandra@fiber-space.nl / +31(0)646220363

Jarl Schulp, Director / jarl@fiber-space.nl / +31(0)641235624