booklet (pdf) ECAS WP 2 - Stage

»The End«
13.10. - 21.10.2012 / Krakow, Poland

2012 marks the 10th edition of Unsound Krakow, and the growth of our festival from the city’s small underground cellars into an event with an international scope. This is partly thanks to the development of Unsound Festival New York - something we celebrate this year with a wide inclusion of artists from the USA.

We’re also connecting the 10th edition to “THE END”. This theme draws energy and ideas from 2012’s apocalyptic atmosphere which has affected much recent music, from the gently dystopian to fierce brutal dance tracks influenced by noise as much as techno.

We’ve also commissioned works inspired by “THE END” in different ways, including the ultimate focus of us all: our ability to design technology to bring about our own extinction. “THE END” also touches on the notion of festivals themselves, which can feel like microcosmic manifestations of the same dynamic that is bringing about end times: small, self-replicating worlds where choice is over-abundant and an ethos of consumption reigns. At their worst, festivals negate rather than inspire creativity.

Naming Unsound 2012 “THE END”, then, has been a way to evade a self-congratulatory response to the 10th edition, forcing us to question if success means keeping on keeping on. And if we do continue, what does growth mean?

Then, of course, we need to remember that, at their best, festivals embody all that is good about the current world: they create an autonomous zone, where globalization and technology can take on positive meanings, where people really do come together, where creation can be fostered and encouraged.

Every conclusion points to a beginning. “THE END”, therefore, can be taken as a positive theme, triggering thought, sound and image about ways into an unknown future.