SHAPE+: Aleksandra Słyż, Forces, Aid Kid, Pjoni, Martins Kohout

Artist talks
18:00 Aid Kid + Pjoni
19:00 Martins Kohout
→ Free admission

Performances
20:00 Forces
21:00 Aleksandra Słyż – Primal Rituals
→ 290 CZK presale via MeetFactory
→ 350 CZK at the door

◐ Aleksandra Słyż – Primal Rituals
Dance and the primal mysticism of sound have played a crucial role in pagan rituals since the very beginning of human history. Many of those strived to mirror the movement of the inexplicably glimmering Sun, the ancient lifecycle of the evershifting forest in which spirits of the dead, as well as the primeval deities, were believed to live and like larvae or fire morph into countless entities shaping the world of the indigenous tribes.

Due to the records of the rites being very sparse, it is, however, a difficult task to explore and precisely reconstruct those practices, which leaves a wide field for speculation and hypotheses, not least when it comes to their artistic depictions. This also applies to ancient Slavic mythology and its complex set of beliefs that are yet to be rediscovered. 

Primal Rituals is a multimedia performance inspired by scientific sources about dance as an element of Slavic rituals, diving into the broad symbolism associated with different attributes of human existence and nature present therewithin. By combining modern technology with the ancient accounts, the work seeks to evaluate and interpret the somewhat forsaken realm of Slavic culture with its many facets. The performance provides the spectators with a glimpse into the organic evolution of a society in which the old symbolism has taken root and which is still being formed by it to this day.

Eliška Jirsová – performance
Simona Machovičová – performance
Anna Kokocińska – concept, performance
Aleksandra Słyż – concept, data sonification, music
Maks Posio – concept, real-time video 

The project was created during a SHAPE+ residency at Meet Factory, Prague and supported by Music Academy in Poznań.

◒ Forces
Constantly mutating rhythms and sharp digital textures shape the sound of Forces. Forces is the electronic music project of Finnish interdisciplinary artist Joonas Siren. Different SuperCollider live-coding and processing techniques are used to make dense atomized swirls; electronic and sometimes chaotic abstract oceans of sound. Forces’ music has been released on Infinite Machine, Gin & Platonic, Genot Centre, Conditional and Bio Future Laboratory, and has also been played in mixes by experimental producers like Aphex Twin, Daniel Ruane and ZULI. The newest gabber-influenced algorithmic/spectral drum machine record “Inertia” was released on Mexico City based Infinite Machine in July 2022.

Artist talks

◐ Martins Kohout (aka TOLE): RawBliss Feeldings

◓ Aid Kid 
Aid Kid aka Ondřej Mikula is a musician, composer, producer. In April 2015 he released his eponymous debut album, which attracted positive critical acclaim (including the Vinyl Award for Discovery of the Year). On his second album, Cinematographer's Journal (2019, BiggBoss), Aid Kid abandons the club sound and explores ambient surfaces, piano and live instruments. The third record, Collection (2021, Addict Sound), is then a return to dance-tinged electronica. He is currently active in the audiovisual collective Lunchmeat, working on film and stage music or venturing into gallery spaces. For his music for the film Arvéd (2022, directed by Vojtěch Mašek) he won the Czech Lion together with Pjoni. As a producer, he has contributed to many successful albums, such as Lenka Dusilová's River (2020, Animal Music, 3x Anděl Award) or Zvíře nam Podzim (2019, Indies, 2x Anděl Award). His regular collaborators include Pjoni, Katarzia, Oliver Torr and Petr Ostrouchov. He performs live in the bands Kittchen and Tomáš Sýkora Trio or alongside Lenka Dusilová or Katarzia. His solo concerts are based on improvisation of his compositions with the help of analogue and digital hardware. In his eclectic DJ sets, he focuses on current club trends, experiments, as well as listening electronics.

◐ Pjoni
Jonatan Pastircak studied music production and sound engineering to London at the SAE Institute. He then returned to Bratislava where he currently works as a music producer, composer and sound engineer. He has been involved in music since the age of 10, when he founded the band Tucan (2004-2010) with his peer Adam Matej. Later he started to create electronic and electroacoustic music and as a duo Ink Midget & Pjoni won the Radio Head Award in 2011. He has been part of many other musical groups and has composed music for several short and long films, including Arvéd (dir. V. Mašek, 2022) Světlonoš (dir. T. Nvotová, 2022) Suspicion (dir. V. Mašek, 2022) and others. Michal Blaško , premiere 2021) Lines (r. Barbora Sliepková, 2021) In the Net (r. B. Chalupová and V. Klusák, 2020), Swordfish (r. Tereza Nvotová, 2017), Dirt (r. Tereza Nvotová, 2017) and theatre performances such as Clean House (r. A. Lelková, 2022). The Impatience of the Heart (r. Júlia Rázuszová, 2021), Antigone (r. Ondrej Spišák, 2018 ). He currently performs under the pseudonym Isama Zing. He is the co-author of several audiovisual installations and performances, such as Plain, which was also shown at the Pioneer Works gallery in New York. In recent years, he has been actively involved in music production, with the albums Celibate (Katarzia), September (Zviře jmeńem podzim), Sparkling (Zrní) and Antigone (Katarzia) under his supervision, and has co-created several audiovisual installations and performances, such as. Plain, which was also shown at New York's Pioneer Works gallery. In recent years, he has been active in music production, with albums such as Celibate (Katarzia), Září (Zvíře jmeńem podzim), Jiskřící (Zrní) and Antigona (Katarzia) under his supervision.

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