Nadar guest curator of the SPOR festival 2016 in Aarhus (Dk)

SPOR FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES CURATOR AND THEME FOR 2016

After a truly successful anniversary year, it’s now time to look ahead towards next year’s SPOR festival. It is therefore with both enthusiasm and pride that the festival’s artistic directors now present Nadar Ensemble as guest curators for SPOR 2016 under the theme and title WYSI(N)WYG. 
After 10 years with several rewarding composer collaborations, the Danish festival of new music and sound art now turns focus towards ensemble formations and starts cooperating with an artistic well-acknowledged Belgian ensemble on curating the upcoming festival. It is the Nadar Ensemble who consists of a group of young talented and committed musicians. They are internationally recognized for operating on several parameters, when they stage and design their concerts and mix the different elements of a concert together into one “Gesamtkunstwerk” – a concept that indeed correspond with SPOR’s visions for the sonic experiences, the festival manages to create for their audience year after year. 

“We would like to present an adventurous festival with a mix of different art forms and concerts with a strong scenographical and conceptual framework – things that are very important for our own artistic projects too.” 

– Pieter Matthynssens, Stefan Prins, artistic directors of Nadar Ensemble 

Last weekend Nadar Ensemble visited one of the oldest and most prestigious festivals of contemporary music that is German Donaueschingen Musiktage. Here, the ensemble premiered a concert consisting of two spectacular works by Michael Beil/Thierry Bruehl and Stefan Prins under the name WYSI(N)WYG. The concert will also premiere in Denmark during SPOR festival in mid-May 2016. 

“It’s an honor that we are asked as ensemble and that we have the possibility to invite likeminded artists from all over Europe to participate in the same festival and to reflect on this theme from all our different backgrounds.” 

– Pieter Matthynssens, Stefan Prins, artistic directors of Nadar Ensemble 

REALITY IS UP FOR DISCUSSION
With the theme and title WYSI(N)WYG or What You See IS (Not) What You Get, as the acronym stands for, SPOR festival 2016 frames several aspects of the concept “reality”: 

“WYSI(N)WYG refers to themes that we have been working around with the Nadar Ensemble for several years already, such as the increasing entanglement of the real and the virtual in our contemporary society, the several identities we have in our daily lives and online (Facebook, Twitter, Dating profile…).” 

– Pieter Matthynssens, Stefan Prins, artistic directors of Nadar Ensemble 

The theme puts current topics such as online versus offline identity, originality and rendering and virtual reality up for discussion. And naturally the discussions will continue as the audience meet the musical works and diverse artistic expressions shaped through audio, video, performances and installations, which will all appear on the program for SPOR festival 2016. 

MORE INFO

SPOR festival 2016 takes place May 12 to 15 at a variety of venues in Aarhus, Denmark. In 
cooperation with local, national and international partners, SPOR presents an extensive program of concerts, performances, exhibitions, artist talks, workshops and seminars. 
The full festival program will be launched in March 2016 

ABOUT SPOR
SPOR was founded in 2004 and has since 2005 produced an annual festival of contemporary music and sound art in Aarhus, Denmark. The festival is characterized by a high international level and works continuously to generate meaningful and long-term partnerships between the local, national and international art and music scenes.
Beside the annual festival, SPOR also presents independent activities beyond the festival. SPOR New Music School is the institution’s most recent commitment to contemporary music and sound art for children, where children’s creative power is in the main focus.
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