After a year devastated by the effects of COVID-19 we have been hard at work working out just how and what we are going to do in response to this unprecedented and catastrophic pandemic which has affected so many of us in life-changing ways. We are happy to finally share with you our plans for our 2020 festival...
Broadcast from Sheffield Industrial Museum in Virtual 3D and Hope Works Sheffield, UK with smaller socially distanced audiences for certain performances.
We are responding to the new reality we’ve been living through by using space in a different way; working to create virtual experiences that are engaging, thought-provoking & immersive. The core of the festival will now be an exploration of 3D sound at Sheffield Industrial Museum (SIM) and the use of large spaces for very few people. We’ve invited a host of incredible artists to create work especially for this system as an artistic response. From Mark Fell’s remote audience participatory installation to a huge collaboration with Uganda’s Nyege Nyege festival via Anna Zaradny, Rojin Sharafi and Annie Hall. Rian Treanor is working with 14-17 year old kids to create networked collaborative music and The Black Dog are on board with a new commission. Add a multi-continental live coding Eulerroom* broadcast via the 3D system in binaural sound and it’s a varied and exciting collection of work presented in a completely one-off way in the main hall of SIM. We will be broadcasting the performances in Binaural (Virtual 3D) sound so as an audience member at home you can also experience the immersive 3D sonic sound installations, virtually. This will be augmented by visual art and VR aspects we will announce in a couple of weeks.
It will be a mainly online participatory framework with the capacity for smaller socially distanced real life audiences for certain performances. SIM is an incredible industrial Museum in Sheffield, the move to host the centre of the festival there last year was a huge success, we feel there’s so much more to explore here so are delighted they have invited us back to use the space again, in an inverted way reflecting the way all of our lives have been turned upside down... in 3D!
We will also be streaming dj sets from a huge array of Sheffield’s finest crews, collectives and sound systems from Hope Works with the possibility of some socially distanced performances at Hope Works announced nearer the time. We have a vital debate strand where we will be discussing emergent issues from this year of crisis and isolation. We will be conducting workshops and talks in a variety of subjects from well being and ecology to DJ/production methods. Rebecca Salvadori’s new film commissioned by No Bounds 2019 “ Different Beginnings ”is premiered at the festival and we have a new collaboration with Memory Dance where archive film is broadcast through the night ( afterparty viewing material style ). Our collaboration with Sheffield DocFest brings a new film “Sisters with Transistors” and our poetry strand will be focussed around a new Sheffield project "Northern Gravy".
Entry to the Festival will be on a pay as you feel basis for online with ticketed sections for the physical socially distanced aspects. We hope you can support us and the artists who have committed work in support of the festival in any way you can afford. Join us again after months of isolation to celebrate, communicate, enjoy and discover so many amazing creations and ideas... together.
