Conflux Festival 2023 ‘Living Machines’ recap

For its second edition, Conflux Festival returned to Rotterdam from June 15th to 18th with a packed program, featuring performances, conferences, and, once again, opportunities to dance and unleash our inner spirits. Following the theme of 'Living Machines,' the festival continued its exploration thread of humanity's relationship with machines and technological advancements, building upon the discussions initiated in the previous year's 'Exit Human - Conflux Festival 2022.' As humanity's reliance on machinic systems grows, questions about the origins and nature of consciousness became increasingly urgent. Central to this year's festival exploration were inquiries about whether machines live among us or if we are living among machines, and how we can learn from each other's experiences.

Through its exhibitions, Conflux Festival challenged the human-machine dichotomy and prompted reflections on our relationship with artificial systems. At V2_, artists like Claire Williams, Evelina Domnitch & Dmitry Gelfand, and Jorrit Paaijmans presented multidisciplinary works under the title ‘Living Machines,’ offering alternative views on how technology influences human perception. Meanwhile, at Roodkapje, a showcase of kinetic light installations and screen-based experiments by the Macular Collective, celebrating 15 years of their nomadic lab practice, could be seen.

Throughout the festival, innovative sound performances, live audiovisual presentations, and experimental cinema showcased by internationally renowned artists unfolded across Rotterdam’s environments. From the public sound art intervention at Plein 1940 to the expanded cinema showcase at BRUTUS, the immersive screen-based performances at Arminius, and the experimental theater and sound performances at WORM, attendees were invited to engage with the broad and murky boundaries between humans and machines.

The festival, similar to the previous year, started with a performance on the V11 vessel by Goldblum, the duo of Marijn Verbiesen (Red Brut) and Michiel Klein (Lewsberg) presenting beautiful DIY sound collages of portentous tape loops, sparking bells, and haunting keyboard melodies. A highlight of the first evening was the presence of industrial veteran Drew McDowall, a member of Coil, who debuted with his latest album written on the horror, beauty, and enduring mystery of the Pandemic on the multichannel Kinetic Sounds installation.The evening continued with more performances, among which by Mint Park.

Friday night featured an expanded cinema showcase at BRUTUS, beginning with Michela Pelusio’s presentation of her SpaceTime Helix, followed by performances by Acidic Male and Jelmer Noordeman, Encor Studio, and Telcosystems culminating in an intense display with a large smoke field and strobe lights. As the night approached, the festival stage became dance floor orientated. At POING on Friday, bass-driven techno took center stage with daring performances by Rhyw, Zohar, Nala Brown, and local talents Ruwedata, Nikos, and Mark Rutta.

The third day of the festival saw the commencement of the conferences, hosted at WORM, exploring modes of perception shaping sentience and its emergence, analyzing phenomenological experiences of both machinic and biological systems. With a special focus on the nonhuman experience of consciousness, the conference, through talks and presentations, offered alternate perspectives on our rapidly integrated human-machine world. 

The 2023 edition reconfirmed its stance on AV performances, featuring a collaborative work by sound artist Ulla and visual artist Nan Wang. The Saturday night at Arminius church featured, indeed, a one-of-a-kind audiovisual performance, where Ulla’s acclaimed sonic landscapes were harmonizing with Wang’s absorbing visuals.

 

As night fell again, POING and WORM’s sounds were a warm invitation to a visceral engagement with the ritualistic human-machine interactions of the dance floor. Plunged into darkness and sensorially deprived by strobe and smoke, attendees embarked on a journey of unconscious processing amidst pulsating beats and immersive environments. On Saturday at WORM, rRoxymore’s playful leftfield house met electro-industrial techno by Oliver Ho as Broken English Club, alongside Bas Mooy, Rita Maomenos, and visual artist Cem Altınöz, with support from Afra, dirtydms, and vox supreme.

The festival concluded on Sunday, June 18th, with a screening of Joost Rekveld’s new film at Cinerama and a final event hosted at WORM. The headliner of the night was Olivier Sagazan’s Transfiguration, his practice of ‘Living Performance Art’ challenging the very essence of organic life. After these four intense days, the question ‘Are machines living among us, or are we living among the machines?’ seems even more pressing. The answer is left to you.

 

The festival concluded on Sunday, June 18th, with a screening of Joost Rekveld’s new film at Cinerama and a final event hosted at WORM. The headliner of the night was Olivier Sagazan’s Transfiguration, his practice of ‘Living Performance Art’ challenging the very essence of organic life. After these four intense days, the question ‘Are machines living among us, or are we living among the machines?’ seems even more pressing. The answer is left to you.

For full program of Conflux Festival 2023, check here.

All photos by Pieter Kers I Beeld.nu

Program 2023

  • Conference

    Curiosity abounds when dealing with nonhuman forms of consciousness in relation to the very human forms of emotional and intellectual expression inherent to the art and music presented at Conflux Festival. Do abstraction and beauty translate? Do intention and meaning change? Can one compose for another type of consciousness? What dreams do machines and bees share?

    The one day Conflux Festival conference happening at Worm explores machine hallucinations for waking humans through talks and presentations by theorists, artists and performers from the festival program in response to the festival theme of Living Machines. With special focus on the nonhuman experience of consciousness, the conference presents alternate ways of understanding our rapidly integrated human-machine world.

    Artists

    Click on names for more info

    Laura Tripaldi
    Soft Machines. Material Interfaces Between Bodies and Technologies
    Nicky Assmann
    Artist Talk
    Jorrit Paaijmans
    Artist Talk
    Joost Rekveld
    Analog Dreams of Nature
    Dave Murray-Rust
    Claire Williams
    Artist Talk
  • Club Nights

    After the neurological demands and multisensory stimulation of the Conflux's Festival day program, by night you're invited to viscerally engage in the techno-driven sounds of the club nights happening at POING and WORM across two dancefloors. Plunged into darkness and sensorially deprived by strobe and smoke, surrounded by other bodies ensnared in the ritualistic human-machine interactions of the dancefloor, here the unconscious processing can begin.

    At POING on Friday experience an afterhours program of bass-driven techno with daring producer and Fever AM label co-founder Rhyw playing with Amsterdam experimental bass artist Zohar and rising Rotterdam dubstep DJ Nala Brown from the female-focused AMPFEMININE collective. Plus local support from Ruwedata, Nikos and Mark Rutta (AKA Mark & Ruta Genyten).

    At WORM on Saturday, the playful leftfield house sounds of rRoxymore meets electro, industrial and seering "Mensch-Maschine" techno with Oliver Ho DJing as Broken English Club alongside Rotterdam techno veteran and Mord Records chief Bas Mooy, with a special collaboration from Perron resident Rita Maomenos and visual artist Cem Altınöz. Plus local support from Afra, dirtydms and Vox supreme.

    Artists

    Click on names for more info

    Rhyw
    rRoxymore
    Broken English Club
    Bas Mooy
    Afra
    Zohar
    Nala Brown
    VSK
    Rita Maomenos & Cem Altınöz
    RVRS
    Vox supreme
    dirtydms
    Ruwedata
    Nikos
    Noach & Tyn
    Mark Rutta
  • Exhibitions

    Are machines living among us or are we living among machines? And how can we learn from each other's experiences? This year’s Conflux Festival dives deep into the human-machine dichotomy and raises questions about our relationship with artificial systems through two exhibitions exploring the festival theme of Living Machines.

    At V2_ artists Claire Williams, Evelina Domnitch & Dmitry Gelfand, Jorrit Paaijmans, Louis-Philippe Demers and Entangled Others Studio present multidisciplinary works at the intersection of science, art and technology. Under the title ‘Living Machines’ the selection of artworks show alternative views on how technology influences human perception. The second exhibition at Roodkapje presents kinetic light installations and screen based experiments by artistic researchers from the Macular collective, who celebrate 15 years of their nomadic lab practice.

    The exhibitions are free of charge. Opening times:

    Thursday 15 June: 18:00 - 21:00
    Friday 16 June: 14:00 - 20:30
    Saturday 17 June: 14:00 - 20:30
    Sunday 18 June: 14:00 - 20:30

    Artists

    Click on names for more info

    Entangled Others Studio
    SEDIMENT NODES
    Macular: Nicky Assmann
    The Abysses of the Scorching Sun
    Macular: Daan Johan & Joris Strijbos
    Cycles
    Macular: Daan Johan & Joris Strijbos
    Revolve
    Macular: Eric Parren
    Drifting
    Macular: Nicky Assmann & Joris Strijbos
    Liquid Solid
    Jorrit Paaijmans
    Automatic Signum Series
    Jorrit Paaijmans
    Linearis Objectum No.3
    Louis-Philippe Demers
    A Monocular Dialogue
    Evelina Domnitch & Dmitry Gelfand
    Hilbert Hotel
    Claire Williams
    Zoryas
    Macular: Matthijs Munnik
    Citadels
    Macular: Matthijs Munnik
    Barycentre
  • Performances

    Conflux Festival explores the broad and murky boundaries between humans and their machines over a four day program of innovative sound performances, live audiovisual presentations and experimental cinema showcases by a cross-section of internationally renowned artists, happening across a diverse range of environments throughout the city of Rotterdam.

    For the free opening concert on Thursday, Conflux Festival presents a public sound art intervention at Plein 1940 featuring elements of the Kinetic Sounds multichannel sound installation. On Friday, the concrete cathedral Brutus will host an expanded cinema showcase of audiovisual works going beyond the traditional frame of a screen. On Saturday, visual artists and musicians will present a series of immersive screen-based performances at the Arminius Kerk, and on Sunday experience experimental theater and sound performances at Worm.

    Artists

    Click on names for more info

    Drew McDowall
    Leila Bordreuil
    Telcosystems
    Ulla & Nan Wang
    AV live collaboration
    Joost Rekveld, Fani Konstantinidou & Anne La Berge
    #2623
    Acidic Male & Jelmer Noordeman
    AV live collaboration
    Michela Pelusio
    SpaceTime Helix
    Olivier de Sagazan
    Transfiguration
    Encor Studio
    INITIATION
    Mint Park
    Macular: Daan Johan
    Line-AV
    Joost Rekveld
    Film Screening: Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59
    Pandelis Diamantides
    Παλμός
    Goldblum
    Paul Devens
    Pulses, Pops and Kaboom
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