EXBERLINER Issue 170, April 2018

WHAT’S ON — Music
going on. MD: That dynamic of funding also looms over everything.
If you want to play with AI, you’ve got to play with these
people who can give you that ability, and they’re almost always
corporations. The kind of tech-art-melding is a very old thing
now. It’s kind of like the old operas that were made to entertain
the biases of the funders: you can’t go to a festival without there
being like a multi-screen immersive whatever, and there’s always
some kind of sponsor. Is this the new opera? Is this just making
artwork to complement rulers?
Do you have ways of escaping data collection?
MD: Ultimately, when you look at the most successful people on
Youtube or Instagram, their core job is to collect data on you. In
music, the trend line suggests that we need to become more like
those people to survive. You see high-profile musicians working
with large companies on their home surveillance devices and
selling them. It’s pretty high time we figure out our position in relation
to this. Rather than non-participation, what can these techniques
be used to build that people wouldn’t need to be afraid
of, that would actually be useful... HH: ...to feel empowered that
you have agency in this world? Facebook isn’t that old. Facebook
could be replaced by something else. There just has to be enough
will from the public that they need an alternative. n
Preview
Enter the Hexadome
This month, Berliner Festspiele continues its foray into
the world of immersive art with the ISM Hexadome,
a six-screen, 360-degree multi-channel audiovisual
system created by Berlin’s Institute of Sound and Music for
artists to use as a multimedia playground. With Brian Eno,
Thom Yorke, Australian producer Ben Frost and Berlin’s
own Holly Herndon spearheading the lineup, the Hexadome
seems like a music geek’s dream come true. Just be aware
that not everyone billed will be showing up in person! After
his artist talk (Mar 31, 19:00), Eno can only be experienced
through his artwork (Apr 2-5, 18:00). The same goes for
Radiohead’s frontman, who collaborated with Dutch AV
wizard Tarik Barri on his contribution (Apr 7-8, 10:00; or wait
until June 1 to see the pair live at Tempodrom). Fans of Holly
Herndon will, however, get the chance to see her live twice
(Apr 6, 20:00 and 22:00) with a subsequent installation two
weeks after that (Apr 21-22, 10:00). Participating in the latter
will be Frost and visual artist MFO, who will also show up for
a live set (Apr 18, 20:00 and 21:00). Also in the mix: Berlin
electronic scene vets Frank Bretschneider and Rene Löwe;
international experimental sound artists like CAO and Lara
Sarkissian, and many more. — MH
ISM Hexadome Mar 29-Apr 22, Martin-Gropius-Bau,
Kreuzberg, more info at berlinerfestspiele.de
ALTERNATIVE MUSIC AND ART AFTER 1968
15.3.–6. 5.2018
www.adk.de/underground-improvisation
Funded by
ISM Berlin
In cooperation with
MARCH 2018
Funded by
Media Partners