Lucia Udvardyová (SHAPE) in conversation with Charlotte Bendiks (supported 2016 artist) and Tommy Ose (member organisation, Insomnia Festival)

SHAPE — Sound Heterogeneous Art and Performance in Europe is a 3-year project that reunites 16 European non-profit organisations active within the ICAS – International Cities of Advanced Sound network to create a platform that aims to support, promote, and exchange innovative and aspiring emergent musicians and interdisciplinary artists with an interest in sound. From 2015-2017, the 16 organisations have collectively selected 48 musicians per year to participate in a mix of live performances, residencies, workshops and talks across member festivals and special events. Several SHAPE-supported artists will also appear throughout the CTM 2017 music programme.

Member Organisations

Biennale Némo [FR] / CTM Festival [DE] / Cynetart Festival [DE] / Festival Maintenant [FR] / Insomnia Festival [NO] / Les siestes électroniques [FR] / Meet Factory [CZ] / MoTA – Museum for Transitory Art [SL] / musikprotokoll im steirischen herbst [AT] / RIAM Festival [FR] / Rokolectiv Festival [RO] / Schiev Festival [BE] / Skaņu Mežs Festival [LV] / TodaysArt Festival [NL] / UH Festival [HU] / Unsound Festival [PL]

Dragos Rusu (Festival Director, and Editor of The Attic magazine)

The first edition of the Outernational Days took place 1-3 July 2016 in Bucharest, Romania. Outernational is a relatively new term used in musicology and it refers to contemporary musical genres particular to peripheral cultures that do not identify with western norms.

Outernational is situated at the opposite end of International; it works with its own unique ways of making itself popular, not through mass media but rather by being discovered and brought to light by passionate people. The Outernational Days aim at providing a fresh, contemporary perspective on the anthropology of Outernational music and to open the road to an inclusive society through the benefits of music. The project was born out of a cultural need of exploring a very wide musical specter, to which the Romanian audience has lacked access until now.

Mike Pony (Artistic Director)

Submerge is a hybrid arts and music festival, which brings together a pioneering mix of audiovisual arts, electronic music and live performance. The first edition took place from 18th and 20th November 2016 throughout an array of unusual venues in Bristol; from an 18th century church to a former mortuary.

Submerge Festival aims to blur the boundaries between live art and music, creating the potential for crossover between both forms. Each event in the festival is curated to deliver a diverse and visceral mix of live art and music. Many events are presented in found spaces outside of institutions, providing pathways for people to step from their familiar environment (club, gig or theatre) into something new.

Submerge Festival prides itself on working with artists who are rarely seen in the Southwest, and on presenting local artists alongside renowned international artists. The festival is curated as a continuous journey for audiences, loosely inspired by narratives in dystopian literature.

Karin Ohlenschläger (Artistic Director, LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial)

ENCAC – the European Network for Contemporary Audiovisual Creation, is a transnational project aimed at fostering cooperation between artists, technologists and scientists. From May 2015 – October 2017, the project will support several open calls for artistic research and projects as well commissioned audiovisual works. These initiatives will be hosted by the different ENCAC member organisations over the course of the project. Three ENCAC-supported activities are presented within CTM 2017 – Alan Wharburton's "Primitives" installation at HAU2, duo Ganzfeld´s "Guerilla Spatialisation Unit" happenings at various locations over the festival week, and a talk by Enrique Tomás within the MusicMakers Hacklab.

Network Members

LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial with L.E.V. Festival [ES] / Ars electronica [AT] / CTM Festival [DE] / Resonate [RS] / Le Lieu Unique [FR] / humainTROPhumain [FR]
Associated partners: Avatar [CA] / ELEKTRA [CA] / MUTEK.MX [Mexico] / Mapping Festival [CH]