System Shock: Kompopolex - Salzwasser, Atem und zwei Weltpremieren

In the organizer's words:

The Frequenz_Festival Kiel presents experimental music with audiovisual art from May 16-23, 2025 with the Kompopolex ensemble: Aleksandra Go?aj (percussion), Rafa? ?uc (accordion) and Jacek Sotomski (computer).

Program:

Mauro Hertig: Adoptions (world premiere)
Jacek Sotomski: System Shock (world premiere)
Rafa Ryterski: Breathe
Jorge Sanchez-Chiong: Salt Water
Simon Løffler: b

The project is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland as part of the program "Commissions" - the priority "Composition Commissions", which is implemented by the National Institute of Music and Dance.

Mauro Hertig's work Adoptions consists of a collection of mini-pieces that are, so to speak, given to the trio Kompopolex for adoption. In preparation for the Frequenz__ Festival 2025, they were played, nurtured, educated and cared for over the course of a year. There was regular consultation with the composer, who was able to give instructions and tips on how to maintain the mini-pieces. Recordings were made at monthly intervals to track and document the development of the pieces.

In this way, the mini-pieces are linked together with the help of the Kompopolex trio. The recordings and documentation made during the course of the year are also used. In the composer's mind, this form of work genesis is not only aesthetic, as a work that addresses the dependence of its own creation on composers and performers alike and reflects this development in the work, but also tests socially relevant approaches. Adoptions will be premiered in Kiel and then performed both at the WRO Media Art Biennale 2025 in Wroc?aw and at the MINU Festival in Copenhagen.

The year 2020 was an extraordinary, even groundbreaking year for modern history. And it's not just about the pandemic, but also about the social changes that took place around the world - from the Black Lives Matter movement, to Biden's victory in the US presidential election, to the ubiquitous protests in Poland on important (and often contentious) social issues. All of this can be broken down into individual denominators and verbs. One of these, used by Rafa? Ryterski chose as the starting point for his work is breath - its presence in public space, in the community, individuality and the possible lack of it, caused by the will of another person.

Breathe is a work inspired by the political and social situation in which people found themselves during the pandemic. It is a piece about violence perpetrated by governments and civil services against citizens worldwide. Starting with the murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, Dion Johnson, to the hatred towards people of Asian descent (because of the coronavirus), to the Polish hatred towards the LGBTQ+ community and the Constitutional Court's decision to strip women of their basic rights to make decisions about their own bodies, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to risk their health and lives by expressing their views during the lockdown. Breathe is a cry that represents the situation of citizens in the face of the methods of exercising power by those in power. It is a resistance to the violence we experience at the hands of those who are supposed to protect us.

The work b by Simon Løffler is a fascinating exploration of the body as a musical instrument. In this piece, the musicians merge into a single, coherent organism in which every movement, every delicate touch and every subtle interaction becomes a sonic experience. Through the simplest of movements - the musicians touch each other with their hands to make static electricity audible, and with their feet they activate various feedback patterns via unconnected guitar pedals - a complex, intimate interplay of sound and physicality is created.

Løffler's b challenges the listener's perception by emphasizing the subtle nuances and physical presence of the music. A piece that redefines both the physical and acoustic dimensions of music.

In System Shock, Jacek Sotomski unfolds a sonic journey that delves deep into the world of digital codes and incomprehensible data streams. The trio becomes an entity that plays with the fragility and complexity of modern systems. The cryptic codes of numbers and characters that run through the work are not just abstract signs, but carry the essence of a global digital chaos that carries both structure and destruction.

With a mixture of precisely calculated, algorithmic patterns and impulsive, almost chaotic soundscapes, System Shock challenges the audience to find their bearings in a world of constant flooding and blurring of meaning and significance. A work that combines technology, perception and sound in a fascinating way and creates an intense, almost physical listening experience.

In Salt Water, Jorge Sanchez-Chiong conjures up three DJ voices from the record box; echoes from a past processed with cuts and scratches that still reverberate and become part of the texture of the music that the ensemble creates together with them. Equally important for this texture are the drum rhythms, which produce the acoustic "glue" that holds almost every DJ set together: the beats. They quote extensively from the repertoire of rhythms that every turntablist has at their disposal, often from the distant past.

Further information and tickets are available at https://www.frequenz-kiel.de/programm-2025/system-chock-salzwasser-atem-und-zwei-weltpremieren

About the Frequenz_Festival:

For seven days, experimental music by young composers from all over Europe will be heard in Kiel - together with audiovisual art and interactive installations.

From 16 to 23 May 2025, the Frequenz_Festival Kiel will present a very special visual and listening experience with numerous highlights in the program. The works of the youngest generation of multimedia artists will be the focus of the ten concerts and four installations at six different venues in Kiel. Since the festival was founded, the Pumpe has become one of the most important cooperation partners and will once again host various concerts, two world premieres and the festival week's sonorous closing evening.
This year's program reflects socio-political themes that refer to the disintegration of social structures, the blurring of boundaries between the digital and real world or the loss of real contact with reality and create new artistic orders.

Price information:

plus advance booking fees