SHAPE+ member festival musikprotokoll will hold its 55th edition in Graz, Austria on 6-9 October. The theme of this festival edition is “Whodentity”.
“Whodentity” is a made-up word we are using at the musikprotokoll 2022 to shed light on pressing current questions of belonging. Who is “we”? Who ascribes what identity to whom in our society? And who is “one” in any particular context? For the musikprotokoll 2022 and its concerts with the Ensemble Modern, the Cantando Admont vocal ensemble, and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra—now also headed by a female principal conductor—we wanted to turn things around completely in the most structurally conservative and still strongly male-dominated genre: after almost 55 years, we will present (Austrian) premiere performances of music exclusively by female composers. However, interesting aspects can also be found beyond the binarity of female/male, in contradictory, subtle, colorful, and radical configurations. Not simply male supremacy, but markers of belonging in relation to “human beings” and “artificial intelligence” are up for discussion. Alexander Schubert’s Unity Switch as well as his project with AI program Av3ry—a non-binary person—enhance the search for “Whodentity”.
The first concert evening on Thursday (6.10.) in Dom im Berg will start with a concert by accordionist Zbigniew Chojnacki, who has developed his own unique setup: he thinks of his accordion and the electronic equipment connected to it as a single instrument. This year, SHAPE+ artists have once again been invited to use the Ambisonics system at the Dom im Berg. „Zemlya“ (premiere) is the first piece that Katarina Gryvul composed after the outbreak of Russia’s war of aggression. We will hear another premiere, „Abluzione“ from Isabella Forciniti and Aho Ssan will present his piece „The Falling Man“.
On Sunday (9.10.) Yara Mekawei, Ulla Rauter and Hui Ye will present the plans for their current collaboration for the SHAPE+ residency in esc medien kunst labor. They will explore various texts from a musical standpoint, beginning with excerpts from the book How to Disappear by the Egyptian artist and author Haytham El-Wardany, which deals with the concept of listening as a form of protest that we can practice in everyday life. Afterward in Dom im Berg we will here another premiere, „Everything Tends Towards Chaos“ from Alexandra Slyz for the Ambisonics system.
SHAPE+ platform and all its activities at musikprotokoll im steirischen herbst are co-funded by the European Union.
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
