- 6 October, 9.00 p.m. Maciek Polak’s DJ set, Conference Centre, level 1
- 7 October, 8.00 p.m. We Will Fail concert, Planetarium (tickets available at bilety.kopernik.org.pl)
- 8 October, 8.00 p.m. Heinali concert, Planetarium (tickets available at bilety.kopernik.org.pl)
Text by the music curator
Just a quarter of a century ago, it was difficult to accept an algorithm as a full-fledged creative tool, and composers who used them were called “hoaxers”. Meanwhile, instruments have always accompanied the process of creating and defining music, and the desire to cross boundaries and pursue novelty is not an invention of the 20th century. Today, when we ask if and when artificial intelligence will eliminate the creative process and the composers themselves, it is worth looking at the moment that forever changed the proportions of the roles of artists and their toolsets. It was in the 1960s when the production of portable analogue synthesisers and modular systems first started.
Continue reading the text written by the music curator Michał Hajduk
Maciek Polak’s DJ set
- 6 October, 9.00 p.m.
- Conference Centre, level 1
- free entry
He is not ashamed of his metal musical roots, but his life has revolved around analogue electronics for a quarter of a century. He knows everything about analogue synthesisers. He uses this knowledge during his work as a journalist. He also professionally repairs and renovates classic synthesisers. His skills are unique in Europe, and his studio Analogia.pl hosts countless analogue classics and is visited by the most renowned musicians.
Although he emphasises that he has no formal musical education and does not consider himself an artist, he also creates music. He debuted in excellent company as the PIN PARK duo with Maciek Bączyk – a musician known for the visionary bands Robotobibok and Małe Instrumenty. The 2017 debut was considered an “author’s variation on krautrock”, and on the following two albums, the duo also used elements of ambient, IDM, and minimal music, always relying on improvisation.
While working on last year’s solo material "1972", Maciek Polak used only his favourite Synthi AKS synthesiser and a tape multitrack recorder in the studio. For its premiere, he chose the day on which (50 years earlier) the first AKS model was launched. As a marathon runner, he also referred to the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich and the similarities between physical effort and the creative process. “Both require focus, sacrifice, blood, sweat and tears, but in the end, they bring much joy,” says Polak.
Maciek Polak’s performance opening the Przemiany Festival will loosely refer to this publication, remaining a kind of an understated mix of a DJ set, open improvisation, concert, and an attempt to establish a sound dialogue with the people at the place and time of the event.
Concerts at the Planetarium
Creators of the animation accompanying concerts at the Planetarium: Bartosz Wyszyński, Sefa Sağir
Substantive partner of the animation: Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology
Curators: Anna Klimczak, Tomasz Miśkiewicz
We Will Fail concert
We Will Fail is the alias of Aleksandra Grünholz – one of the most interesting voices on the contemporary Polish electronic musical scene. The appearance of We Will Fail almost a decade ago was hailed as the strongest debut in years. The NowaMuzyka.pl portal wrote: “The hypnotising and seductive aura of the recordings of We Will Fail can cut off the oxygen supply and transfer the listener to a higher level of musical sensations.”
The music of We Will Fail can be described as abstract techno. Ambient, various echoes of industrial music, minimalism, polyrhythm, and original field recording appear in various proportions. Critics noticed references to artists such as Lustmord, Ben Frost, Aphex Twin, Demdike Stare and Autechre. The artist said about herself: “We Will Fail is a project focusing on the pleasure of erring.” Field recordings, tape samples, noise, synthesisers, and electronic drums are mixed here into a strange blend, referring to techno aesthetics.
During the concert, we will hear pre-premiere fragments of music that will either be included in the new album or constitute its base. The programme was created with the Planetarium in mind, taking into account the context of the entire festival and its central theme.
The unique visualisations on the Planetarium dome, prepared by Bartosz Wyszyński and Sefa Sağir, will contain elements of bioorganic graphics created by Aleksandra Grünholz. The artist will be supported on stage by Jakub Mikołajczyk – a figure of great merit in the local experimental music scene.
Heinali concert
Oleh Shpudeiko, aka Heinali, is a composer and sound artist from Kyiv, specialising in electronic music. In composing, he boldly tries to combine the past with the present. A characteristic element of his work is an attempt to transcribe early music into the language of modular synthesisers. Since his debut in 2010, he has created over a dozen stylistically diverse materials ranging from ambient and contemporary classics to experimental electronics and noise aesthetics.
“Since 2017, I have been working with a modular synthesiser, an instrument that I built based on artistic research, which allows me to improvise polyphony and monophony, borrowing techniques and ideas from medieval composers and theorists,” says the artist.
Last year, a series of fundraising concerts was broadcast live worldwide from a shelter in Lviv. The opening set was immortalised as the album "Heinali Live From A Bomb Shelter In Ukraine". This year saw the premiere of the composition Aves Rubrae, commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and the album "Kyiv Eternal" – the artist’s tribute to his hometown struggling with the war.
