Creamcake | 3hd Festival 2018: System.Lure & Workshop “Laboratory for Musical Resistance”

About

The programme, titled “System.Lure”,  questions the relationship between humans and machines, the law and nation states, and the flow of money and people under capitalism by examining the oppressive structures of patriarchy and social convention. Instead of merely naming these issues, 3hd looks at possibilities for resistance. Sabotage, hacking and manipulation; diversion, entrapment and deceit. These are all typically concealed methods serving a political purpose, which form an essential part of grassroots activism and strategies of unlearning. By exploring the power relations of society at large, 3hd playfully acts out ways to dismantle the dominant architectures which confine us. In addition to HAU Hebbel am Ufer the events are happening at Säule, OHM, Studio 1 at Kunstquartier Bethanien, and the Internet and invites musicians, performers, and artists across media to raise questions about politics, contemporary media, community, protest, and activism. Next to two live-performances, at HAU the workshop “Laboratory for Musical Resistance” will take place. 

333
HYD, MHYSA, Yearning Kru
Friday, November 26, 9pm

Three artists with three separate agendas perform 3hd. Three threes become “333”, the Angel Number of power and energy and the title of the hybrid festival’s Friday event at HAU. It’s the metaphysical phenomenon where the Ascended Masters send a message informing its receiver of the Holy Trinity’s presence in their life — a synthesis of mind, body, and soul. A numerical sequence of encouragement from one’s guides, this idea is not for the non-believer. But for those who look beyond the godless conspiracy of rationalism, there’s power in opposing the fallacy of so-called “self-evident truths”. The Enlightenment is, after all, an ideology that dominates the Western world. Rationality is relative.

Of these three performers who are blessed with the support of these angels of growth in the number 333, each manifest their own vibration of creativity, self-expression and vision. Yearning Kru melds the endless data aggregation of the digital media stream with live improvisation and hyper-real visual montages. The Berlin-based artist’s work materializes through industrial constructions contrasted with psychedelic landscapes in a tension between limitation and limitlessness.

Queer Black Diva MHYSA fashions herself as an underground pop star for the queer resistance by producing experimental dance that tells the stories of other Black women and femmes from their perspective. Their fantasy album and “epic poem” speak of the hopes, dreams, desires and inspiration of music on the margins of the dominant narrative. Meanwhile, US-based singer-songwriter HYD is an ever-evolving, changing and fluid artist whose music and energy both inhabits and evades containers to create a sound that moves freely. It's a post-human performance that skirts the edges of emotion to arrive at the insight and understanding only achievable by embracing alternative logics. 

999
ƒauna, Nadah El Shazly, STILL
Saturday, November 27, 9pm

333 times the three in 3hd is 999. Following on from Friday’s “333” event at HAU Hebbel am Ufer, “999” aims to triple its odds in resisting the oppressive systems of a world built on numbers and focussed on profit. As an Angel Number, 999 represents something else. It’s a moment of completion that closes the gap between our earthly form and our higher selves, achieving a worldly perspective through the application of trust, faith, and love in our lives. On the surface, a number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and also label. Deeper down, the celestial 999 is  a symbol sent from the heavens and a value that doesn’t quite reach 1000. That liminal space is where the subversive potential of ideas outside of our comprehension lies.

There is strength in numbers and the “999” night’s three groups of three express this through their musical energies, invisible force fields and planes of consciousness that transcend the laws of science. ƒauna manifests locally in the radical potential of art and music, opening their third eye to a worldview that transcends social clichés and political events. The dystopian avant pop producer dissects new digital identities and promotes political activism in the face of an uncertain future. Nadah El Shazly constructs abstract mythological fairytales through an unplaceable sound that is nestled within the breaks between Arabic verses of love and betrayal. STILL’s shapeshifting and vernacular audio-visual worlds excavate an overlooked colonial past linking his Italian hometown to Ethiopia and Jamaica. Using the medium of language, the music is layered with meaning, contemplating the historical weight of words and applying a new and inclusive vocabulary for interpretation.

Laboratory for Musical Resistance
Workshop with Clementine E. Burnley and James K
October 25–27

3hd Festival is looking for emerging musicians, producers, writers, and authors to take part in the “Laboratory for Musical Resistance” cross-disciplinary workshop. Your role will be to develop a collective work guided by writer and community-organizer Clementine E. Burnley, and composer and artist James K.

Happening at HAU Hebbel am Ufer over three days from October 25 to 27, you'll collaborate with a diverse group of artists and writers to create new audio-visual piece. It will embody a symbiotic relationship between disciplines, envisioning what a “System.Lure” might sound and look like in 2018. Participants will focus on formulating and expressing their political hopes, desires, and ideas through text and sound.

With the support of two experienced artists, your collective thinking will be translated into a video installation as part of 3hd’s “999” event at the theater on Saturday, October 25. The structure and outcome of the workshop will largely depend on those who apply; it will be a bespoke project led by the combined abilities of all participants.

By creating a ground for thinking together, the “Laboratory for Musical Resistance” workshop aims to facilitate collective experimentation and exchange.