From 23 to 27 April, Liepāja will host the international festival “Sound Days”, dedicated to sound, art and experiments.
This year’s festival focuses on sound art, audiovisual culture and design practices – the search for new means of expression, the development of uniqueness and creative thinking, DIY culture, hands-on work with materials and exploring the principles of how things work. It will include workshops, seminars, discussions, masterclasses, as well as presentations of workshop results and audiovisual performance evenings.
The central activity of the festival is the creative workshops, which cover the fields of design, sound art, music, visual arts and technology. Participants will have the opportunity to learn various prototyping and electronics techniques, making musical instruments and other sound objects, playing analogue synthesizers, unique spatial sound design techniques, performance and composition, stage design and other skills. Workshop leaders are internationally renowned artists, musicians and designers from Latvia and abroad:Lise-Lotte Norelius (SE), Christian Faubel (DE), Marko Timlin (DE), Shawn Pinchbeck (CA), Julie Delisle (CA), Émile Gingras (CA), Ģirts Ozoliņš (LV), Mārtiņs Zutis (LV), Paula Vītola (LV), Rogier Jupijn (LV/NL), Fricis Kalvelis (LV). The workshops will take place at RTU Liepāja Art Research Laboratory (MPLab) and at the Science and Education Innovation Centre “FabLab Liepāja”.
The title of the concert is a direct reference to the first part of the concert programme, which will feature the winning works of the JTTP – Jeu de Temps / Times Play competition and the winners of the thematic prizes. The competition is now in its 24th year and is organized by the Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC) and is dedicated to new electroacoustic music in Canada. The concert of electroacoustic music by Canada’s new generation and emerging composers will feature both sound compositions for spatial performance and audiovisual compositions. The concert will feature CEC representatives and several composers who will introduce the culture of electroacoustic music in Canada in a pre-concert talk.
The first part of the concert will feature works by composers Julie Delisle, Jules Bastin-Fontaine, Émile Gingras and José-Gabriel Bazán-Gauthier, Parisa Sabet Sarvestani, Mimi Allard and Kristian North in a 75-minute program.
The second part of the concert “The Game of Time” will feature a programme of works by Latvian composers, created by artistic director Voldemārs Johansons in collaboration with the immersive sound and science festival SWIRL.SPACE. The programme will include works for spatial performance by Voldemārs Johansons, Platons Buravickis and other composers.
On 26 April, the cultural site “Kursas ptni” will host a seminar where festival guests – artists and various representatives of the creative industries – will present their work, as well as a discussion on the themes explored during the festival. The evening will be followed by an open performance programme featuring young experimental and electronic music artists.
The end of the Sound Days week will be celebrated on the evening of 27 April in Liepāja, at the Kursa club. The evening will start with presentations of the results of the workshops – performances, demonstrations and other artistic experiences that participants will create throughout the week under the guidance of international artists and designers.
The event will continue with a varied and experimental programme of audiovisual performances. Christian Faubel (DE), Lise-Lotte Norelius (SE), Marko Timlin (DE/FI), Shawn Pinchbeck (CA/EE), Julie Delisle (CA), Paula Vītola and Alvis Grigalūns (LV) will perform,
Dragonfly Vītola and Marta Ansone (LV), Sairam (LV), Vanckars (LV). The evening will end with a programme of electronic dance music.
Information about the full festival programme, workshops and applications, ticket sales for the festival performance evenings at sound.mplab.lv. Tickets are available at the “Biļešu paradīze” box office and online: www.bilesuparadize.lvopen_in_new
The 2024 Festival is held in collaboration with The Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC) and the JTTP 2023 competition.
The festival is organised by ASTE. Art, Science, Technology, Education”, “E-Lab, Electronic Art and Media Centre” and RTU Liepāja Art Research Laboratory (MPLab). Sound Days are supported by the Liepaja City Municipality “Culture Authority” and the State Culture Capital Foundation. Technical support for the final programme of the festival will be provided by PXB.LV.