So it’s there, around the corner, the Forum für Freiraum 2022 between the 26th and 31st of December. Oh godsss.
I had the absolute privilege and pleasure to work with the inspired Kurationsteam of the Freiräume Initiative and Upstart on the following evening program. It was this addictive mix of ambition, dramaturgy and finding new ways of making worlds collide. I am so proud of what we achieved. Here’s an insider view on the program.
FFeierabend in der Sonne
Ah Rote Sonne. As most of you know, in 2017, once a week, I organised shows there. The Munich Again Thursdays. Crazy times and crazy ideas that now feel live a fever dream. 1, 2, 3 Bands every Thursday, with DJs, in the city center, with a budget and workforce so minimal that it doesn’t compute with this new Neustart-gefördert Kulturangebot at all. So Upstart and I took a stroll down memory lane and really (REALLY) enjoyed ourselves putting a Dream-Lineup with the “AG Kuration” of the Forum. They brought young, fresh names, while Upstart and I provided the names of some of our long-time faves. The result is like a well-spiced curry, where everything tastes unique but cohesive at the same time.
The Schiller-Takeovers
And now let’s talk about the Schiller-Takeovers. Nearly 8 years ago now, we had a big jam in a rehearsal room that kind of triggered a chain reaction that lead me to where I am right here, right now. In some way, all the energy that I invest in bookings or supporting bands come from the wave of love and inspiration that hit me that night. This love and inspiration – it has been, since then, my turn to spread it around. To find stages and spaces for music that still have to be heard yet, for artists and audiences to discover something together, in and out of themselves.
Freiraum. Free space. Space of freedom. Oh. Oh yeah.
On the 16th of November I pitched the Takeover Idea to the Forum organisation. Give a room every day to different constellations and collectives. Let them go wild with ideas – let them share their skills, sounds and mindsets. Workshops during the day, concerts and jams in the evening. On a list of 15+ possible takeovers, we settled down with the 4 ones that we felt would create the most inspiring space for the artists and the audiences themselves.
Freiraum for Schaufel & Besen, who made me discover so many new Bands since they officially started this year and inspire me with their energy, relentlessness and for filling such a huge gaping hole in the musical networking in this city.
Freiraum for Echokammer, my OG and love at first hearing, who keep on surprising me with each release and concert with their evergreen and outstanding quality – Echokammer artists, who are all so authentic and unapologetic and all so true to what they do best.
Freiraum for Alligator Gozaimasu, a artfully executed utopia in the form of a Munich-based international music collective with more than 60 members all around the globe, gathering together mesmerisingly free sound experiments in beautiful compilations.
Freiraum for Höllenfrau and Institut für Leistungsabfall und Kontemplation, who constantly paints this silent city in vibrant colours through collective or individual performances and experiments: they use noise as a weapon against complacency and zealous cleanliness.
Nightly schedule
Monday, 26. December
Rote Sonne: Panty Paradise, the queer-transbische Kunstmaschine start the night with cuddle noise. DJ Handplant feat. Pacifico Boy serve Footwork-inspired sounds with screaming word and spoken sound – aaand it’s an absolute premiere! Follows Sendling Allstarz, the gabber sound of all the good demos in the last years and we close the night with Anna Butter and her experimental, deconstructed danceable music with obscure surprises and noise.
Tuesday, 27. December
Rote Sonne: mol opens this evening of lyrics and beats with soft and aerial hip hop tunes and warms up the room for the stunning Ebow, who doesn’t need to be introduced anymore. An eternal headliner what is often described as: Widerständig und hyped. Straße und Softie. Hochpoetisch und not giving a fuck. For those wanting more, we warm up the dancefloor with Packed Rich & Jessica Pham and their improvised House, Downtempo and Boom Bap melodies and end on a high note with hnrk of teamsesh.
Schillerstraße: Schaufel & Besen and Zombie Sessions take over the Klangkeller. At daytime they offer a sound engineering workshop at 15.30 and then in the evening we get the whole shebang with g.rag/zelig implosion deluxxe, Uschi, El Búbú and Früstück im Bett.
Wednesday, 28. December
Rote Sonne: a dance between giants, between alchemists of electronic music awaits you with Detroit legend Dopplereffekt as they open the night with a dialogue between synthetic voices and visuals. We then dive into an acid bath with Tin Man‘s live set. The two evergreen, cerebral-but-anchored performances give then room to Iso E Super to fill the club with off- and break-beats and noisy retrofuturistic sounds, before MISSTRE55 and Sash of Cosmic Suprise Union close the night with eclectic, genre-bending tones.
Schillerstraße: the Echokammer Takeover starts in the afternoon with a transdisciplinary experiment mixing percussions, sound engineering, synthesizers and dance with Zoro Babel and Manuela Rzytki. Let’s push the boundaries of dance music with tangible, tactile explorations. The resulting performance(s) will be open to the festival guests to see and even to take part of. We follow with some performances of the beloved Grexits and Die Lore, and an improvised Session with Echokammer usual suspects – but I can’t tell you who yet (because I don’t know), but make sure to be there!
Thursday, 29. December
Rote Sonne: we close our four-days-program in Rote Sonne with a literal bang with BDB, a young postpunknoiserock band with enough energy to move moutains and with a longtime fantasy of mine, Friends of Gas-Nina’s voice on the fat soundsystem of the club. We end the night with a special guest, Barbnerdy comes back to town (if you don’t know Barbara, she started the booking agency around the Label Disko B and the Club Ultraschall back in the 90s) and Mindsight of Cosmic Suprise Union closes the Sonne-Programm with sounds from and for the future.
Schillerstraße: when I offered to Rag Treasure and Klaus E. Dietl of Alligator Gozaimasu to take over our Klangkeller, they understood the potential of this artistic occupation on the spot. From a collective music video recording workshop to film projections to end with three experimental sessions during the evening. Each session will be between 30 and 45 minutes and showcase members of the collective and their friends. From beaty noise to radical softness to political musical statements, this day and evening will sure create inspiring memories and connections for old and new audiences.
Friday, 30. December
Schillerstraße: no time to grief the pulsating Sonne evenings. We end this Takeover Programm with Institut für Leistungsabfall und Kontemplation and Höllenfrau. In typical Höllenfrau fashion, I have very little idea where this is heading, but fully consenting to an evening of anarchistic (but organized!…) noise improvisations, with, from what I know, 3M and special guests from Big Data, but not limited to.
….This is it.
I have to say, I started this article days ago, but between carrying chairs and couches from floor to floor, moving Programmpunkte around and so many meetings, I couldn’t seem to be able to sit down more than 10 minutes to write this. Maybe it’s out too late, but at least it’s out and the utopias behind this Forum keep on being documented.
I wish all our guests an amazing week, with a head full of political discourse, revolutionary ideas, newly acquired skills, art, and of course, music.
Come say hi. You know where to find me.