The first day of Rewire 2018 is upon us. Here’s a rundown of a few of tonight’s highlights.
We open this year’s festival with a performance and presentation by New York composer and Rewire 2018 Young Artist in Focus Tristan Perich. Presenting his landmark composition, ‘Active Field‘, Tristan Perich will be joined by ten violinists of the Royal Conservatoire String Ensemble at the monumental Electriciteitsfabriek. An hour before, Tristan Perich presents an artist talk in which he examines the interaction between the many interests that feed into his work.
Korzo opens its doors to the first two of our Rewire 2018 screenings. First up is Laurie Anderson’s ‘Heart of a Dog’, a stunning cinematic exploration of love and loss prompted by the death of her cherished canine companion, Lolabelle, accompanied by a dreamlike score of Laurie Anderson’s violin compositions and soundscapes. Next, immerse yourself in a mesmerising reconstruction of Le Corbusier and Iannis Xenakis’s unprecedented multimedia performance Le poème electronique by Jan de Heer and Kees Taselaar.
Setting up shop in The Grey Space basement, the Philadelphia-based performance art duo of MHYSA and lawdknows unleashes their chaotic and energetic live/DJ hybrid set as SCRAAATCH, mixing contemporary US culture and literature with vocal pop, rap, R&B and experimental electronics. MHYSA’s second Dutch debut of the day sees her take the stage solo as her underground popstar alter ego, taking you on a journey experimental club rhythms, diva worship and Afrofuturist potential.
Sandwiched in between isBrazilian-born DJ and producer LYZZA with an electrifying live transformation of her high-octane sets of bass-heavy club music, underground hip hop, grime and baile funk, while Tunisian producer Ammar 808 unveils his new project featuring three traditional North African vocalists under the banner of The Maghreb United.
With Paard in full swing, we head across the street for a pair of seated concerts by Slovenian trioŠirom and Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society. Each capable of playing more than a dozen instruments, the members of Širom shift between imagined instrumental folk and post-rock meditations, while Chicago mainstay Joshua Abrams channels traditional musics, American minimalism and improvised jazz around a three-stringed Moroccan lute called the guimbri.
We’re delighted that Mykki Blanco will be on hand to replace SOPHIE’s cancelled performance. An honest and unapologetic artist, he uses his practice to navigate life’s hardships and pleasures and for that, we are incredibly happy to have him back with us again this year.
We set off deep into the night with an expansive programme that explores the outer realms of contemporary club culture. In Paard I, Floating Points treats us to a solo live set that channels the cosmic jazz of Elaenia into driving electronica and dancefloor bliss, while Tunisian producer Deena Abdelwahed kicks off the Discwoman showcase with a live set in Paard II. Also on the Paard bill tonight are Juju & Jordash (dj), Ziúr, Volvox and UMFANG, while Identified Patient and Syncom Data take on Het Magazijn across the street.