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Just when you think WSK Sound and Art Festival couldn’t get any more, erm, mind blowing, here it comes again, on its 6th year heralding the first human-robot orchestra performance in the Philippines.
The Relay Robot Orchestra is playing The Eye at Green Sun on Pasong Tamo Extension in Makati on Fri, Nov 13.
“For the first time in Filipino history, we will have robots playings against and for human performances,” festival director Tengal Drilon tells Coconuts Manila.
“We’ve been taking more cues and inspiration from Science, and for the first time in a long time, we’ve managed to bridge the gap between the science community and the art community and pick the top minds together in an intimate, delicate, and the labor of love for experimentation and discovery!
The human contingent is comprised of Filipino sound artists Tad Ermitano, Caliph8 and Malek Lopez, as well as Bryan Day from the US and Tetsu Kondo and Fumitake “Bun” Tamura of Japan.
“The Kampung Lab artists have been working on this show for the past few days already,” continues Drilon, saying the 1000 square meter venue at the 4th floor of the hotel will be filled with 16 projectors to create a 360 degree projection space.
Kampung Lab, as we all do not know, is kind of a digital village cum exhibition-workshop where WSK artists work on their art. They’ve been at it, since Nov 3 actually, working on projects such as the Relay Robot Concert.
Of course that’s just the festival’s opening party. From robots and humans, WSK then puts focus on the supposed contrast between the living and the dead on the second festival day, Sat, Nov 14. From Green Sun, the festival transfers to Pineapple Lab in Poblacion for a concert headlined by Dutch sound poet Jaap Blonk and American synthesizer music pioneer Bob Ostertag.
Joining them are sound artist Bryan Day and WSK alumni Un Escargot Vide of France, Terence Lau of Singapore, and Fest director himself Tengal to represent the Philippines.
WSK is closing the fest on Sun, Nov 15, by launching Heresy, a platform for women artists working on sound and multimedia. “It pushes for more gender-inclusive new media arts community by providing a venue for featuring women artists and cultural practitioners as the main performers, producers, and collaborators of artistic and performative work,” Drilon says.
On Sun, guests will be treated to an all-female collaboration, exploring the interaction of sound, movement, space, and light. In the piece, the dancer becomes the composer, the composer the dancer, the lighting designer the dancer, and the dancer as the lighting designer.
The collobration is among sound artist Teresa Barrozo, video artist Joee Meijas, dancer Kristie Belano, production designer Rafaeela Las, and writer Franchesca Casauay. Watch a video of their rehearsal below:
Kampung Lab Day 5 multimedia performance rehearsals! Testing out the visuals and choreography for the HERESY launch, happening on Nov15 at the #WSK2015 closing party at @pineapplelabph ! With @kittieeeeebelle @joeemejias @ch3x @teresabarrozo @unggoyungguyan
Posted by WSK 2015 on Saturday, 7 November 2015
WSK Festival is supported by the Japan Foundation and wearesynesthesia.com. Nov 13, 7pm. The Eye 4/F, Green Sun, Pasong Tamo Extension, Makati, PHP600. Nov 14 & 15, Pineapple Lab, 6071 R. Palma St, Poblacion, Makati (PHP350). Tickets
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