Kontraste Festival 2013 – Dark As Light - 10 - 13 October 2013
Kontraste Festival 2013 – Dark As Light As you probably know we – the Sonic Acts team – also programme the yearly Kontraste Festival. We would like to invite you for the tenth edition of the Kontraste Festival, which will takes place from 10 to 13 October 2013 in and around Krems with a compelling programme of cutting-edge films, concerts, installations, an extended lecture, and a publication. With Dark as Light, Kontraste aspires to the heavens and directs our gaze upwards, from dark to light, in full contrast. The vertical architecture of the Minoritenkirche, the main Kontraste venue, draws our attention to what is above, making it the perfect venue for the world première of Vertical Cinema. In a very different way, and rooted firmly in a centuries-old tradition, the Spire project also hints at this celestial-cerebral connection. It combines the emperor of all instruments, the church organ, with electronic music. The organ is the pre-eminent instrument for praising higher powers, its long pipes directing our gaze aloft. Prior to electrical amplification it was also the loudest and most powerful instrument, and in its technical complexity the organ was a forerunner to synthesiser and electronic music. With old and brand new composed and improvised pieces, Spire renews this age-old organ tradition in the Church of St. Stephan in Mautern. Spire features performances by Christian Fennesz, Burkhard Stangl, Marcus Davidson, Mike Harding, Philip Jeck and Charles Matthews. More information on the full line-up can be found here: www.spire.org.uk Morton Subotnick and Thomas Ankersmit place the analogue synthesiser in the spotlight. The pioneering synthesiser composer Subotnick takes us on a journey From Silver Apples of the Moon to a Sky of Cloudless Sulphur. Ankersmit’s sound explorations are set against the almost imperceptibly oscillating drones of Phill Niblock, which ascend unto ‘huge clouds of sound’. Catherine Christer Hennix & The Chora(s)san Time-Court Mirage create a truly transcendental listening experience. The subtle microtonal drone, meticulously tuned to the performance space, opens a portal to a different space and time, rising out towards the stars. The Dutch journalist Peter Bruijn wrote about her performance at Sonic Acts 2012: ‘I’ll say it again: CC Hennix and Chora(s)san Time-Court Mirage […] at Sonic Acts was so far the most impressive concert of 2012.’ The installation Volume by Franz Pomassl (Kraftwerk Theiß) works with the resonance and harmonics of a specific space. OFF – 3Hz by Finnbogi Petursson (Klangraum Krems Minoritenkirche) refers to the state of mind when the body and brain awake from non-REM sleep to a new day. More information can be found on the Kontraste website: www.kontraste.at/2013 Save the date, plan your trip, and buy a ticket! 10 - 13 October 2013 Krems, Austria