Krzysztof Szymanowski was born in 1967 in Bydgoszcz. He became interested in photography through the photography club in primary school, and thanks to his father, who from the early 1960s actively expanded the family archive and organized slide shows for family and friends. There are no photos from this period that he remembers. After graduating from the faculty of civil engineering, he went abroad, where he very actively began to document fragments of reality that interested him, first using Soviet-made cameras, and after purchasing a Minolta camera in Switzerland with a whole set of lenses, he felt that taking photos was one of his favorite activities. From the early 1990s, he was personally associated with the activities of Bydgoszcz clubs (cultural clubs), especially the Trytony and Mózg club - he documented numerous musical and cultural events, both in Poland and abroad. He never decided to specify one approach, although he avoided creating events or compositions that he would like to photograph, in favor of carefully observing reality and trying to record his emotions. His photos were published in numerous music magazines, as well as biographies, album covers and posters. Recently, the album for MÓZG 30 was released, which contains part of the photo archive from 30 years of the Mózg club’s activity. He took part in several group exhibitions and shared photos to diversify anniversary and musical events. In addition to photography, he also deals with ceramics, plants, animals, the world and its problems, music, cooking, coffee, and sometimes himself.
“Perceptual feedback” - performance-interactive installation
The leading idea of the performance is to explore the possibilities of bringing performers into
a special state of consciousness by working with perceptual feedback: a permanent loop
between the locomotor system and the sense of vision that occurs when vision is stimulated
by movement, and then the visual perception of this movement triggers a new movement, the
perception of which induces another movement, etc., in an everlasting loop. The installation,
which integrates body movement with video image thanks to an original interactive
technique, is a tool used in performance to generate feedback. It allows the performers to
create virtual images using their bodies in motion, while watching the visual effect on video
projection in real time. In this performance, the perceptual feedback loop works as an
external driving force replacing the internal motivation of the performer.
Małgorzata Haduch - movement
Marta Mandaryna Wiśniewska - movement
Aleksandrov Kyrillos - movement
Michał Osowski - installation, music
Małgorzata Haduch – dancer/choreographer, graduate of the School for New Dance
Development in Amsterdam (2004), associated with the Dutch and Polish free jazz and punk
scene. During the last decade she has collaborated with such outstanding musicians as: Ab
Baars, Wilbert de Joode, Andy Moor, Paulina Owczarek, Marcin Masecki, Arvind Ganga. In
2013 she founded her own band Help Me To Crash, which her most important artistic duo
with Maria Mavridou and their joint performance No Sugar No Candy was born from.
Haduch was awarded twice a scholarship of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
and was awarded several times with funding from the Adam Mickiewicz Institute – Polish
Culture in the World Program. She is a laureate of the Creative Scholarship of the City of
Krakow, the Mexican Government Scholarship for Foreigners and the International Activity
Support Program. She teaches the Flying Low technique, composition and improvisation at
the Stage Choreography Course in Krakow and as part of the seasonal Improvisation and
Performance Practice workshops.
Marta Mandaryna Wiśniewska – one of the most recognizable artists in Poland. However,
dance is her main language of expression. In 2021, Mandaryna made her debut in the
experimental performance "oŚĆ!" directed by Małgorzata Haduch. This was Wiśniewska’s
debut, as she created a language of expression that she had not used before, performing with
an a cappella voice and minimalist movement. The artists’ next collaboration took place in
2024 in the production of the theatre show 15 Seconds of Fame (OFF POLSKA Program),
wherein Marta played a key role in the scenographic installation by Paweł Łubkowski.
Aleksandrov Kyrillos – an interdisciplinary artist, performer, improviser born in Mariupol,
Ukraine. He began improvising with his body and speech in the field of hip-hop culture at the
age of 14. This taught him to observe and to sample music. Currently he works with new
media, using photography, video and interactive sculpture. In 2017, Aleksandrov began cocreating
an independent off-theatrical initiative called Scena Supernova, exchanging
experiences with artists from various fields. He studies at the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine
Arts in Krakow at the Faculty of Intermedia. In his works, Kyrillos experiments with
different forms of artistic expression, such as performance, happenings, installations and
video art.
Michał Osowski – an interdisciplinary artist. He studied at the Institute of Sonology at the
Royal Conservatory in The Hague, composition at the Codarts Conservatory of Music in
Rotterdam, as well as interactive techniques at IRCAM in Paris. He presented his works at
the art venues like Cinémathèque Française in Paris or De Wereld van Witte de With festival
in Rotterdam, but also in unconventional locations, such as public buildings, streets, parks or
schools. He creates projects based on the use of interactive installations of his own design,
inviting audiences to active and spontaneous participation. While living in the Netherlands,
he implemented several original projects of this type, including Tracking Rotterdam
(2009-2012), Tussen Beweging en Geluid (2016), Cool in Beweging (2018) in cooperation
with various institutions and foundations, engaging local communities in participation. In
2020, he received a scholarship from the Polish Ministry of Culture.
https://artoffice.info/kunstenaar/michal-osowski/
With two acoustic instruments as a starting point, JJ-Duo creates music that with wild frenzy captures and lures the listener into the duo’s musical sphere. They occasionally play intensely and complexly with more musical layers than the musicians have fingers, and at times, they also dissolve it into a contemplative drone, that allows the audience to catch a breath... And then they fearlessly throw themselves into something new. Forward! A rally against the precipice - will they fly or will they fall flat to the ground.
Ryosuke Kiyasu has been active as a snare drum soloist since 2003 and is also known as a
drummer in SETE STAR SEPT, Kiyasu Orchestra, Mr. Keiji Haino’s band “Fushitsusha”. He
is also known as a founding member of “The Endless Blockade” in Canada. His solo
performances have been featured on BBC News and VICE Magazine, His performance in
Berlin in 2018 was a big hit on social media with over 23 million views. Between 2022 and
2023 he performed in the world’s largest classical percussion festival "Überschlag Festival",
"Dr. Martens Fest 23" in Italy, "Outsider Art Festival" in Finland, and "Alternativa Festival"
in the Czech Republic. He continues to travel around the world and performs in various
places. In 2023, at the Edinburgh Art Festival in England, a short movie of his snare drum
performance was shown as an exhibition and became a topic of conversation. He also
released a collaborative work with the Swedish apparel brand "Our Legacy". He has released
more than 200 albums, both solo and with his band.
Teaser: https://youtu.be/gSdcJOuHq8o
Kiyasu Web: http://www.kiyasu.com/
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dr.kiyasu/
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.kiyasu/
SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) is a duo from the center of Poland: Igor Gadomski i
Sandra Mikołajczyk, their activity isn’t easy to define, however one can expect to hear them delve
into darker fringes of dub. Their music is often described as a genre of submarine reggae, likely
influenced by the distinctive industrial sound of Łódź, and a heavy use of reverb effects. They draw
inspiration from the city and its distorted concept of tropical nature. As residents of the radio Capital,
they are hosting a show inspired by mental states and the circumstances of their creation, they also
bring an additional context and depth to SSRI’s music. Their debut album was released on April 29th
2024, by Pointless Geometry.
https://pointless-geometry.bandcamp.com/
https://radiokapital.pl/shows/ssri/
https://www.instagram.com/s__s__r__i/
Object blue is a London-based musician, who has been a staple name in rules-breaking dance music for many years. From the blistering club energy of her Hyperaesthesia collaborative EP with Nervous Horizon head TSVI, to the trance-dosed unconventionalism of her most recent release for Tobago Tracks, Grotto, object blue’s vision of electronic music is atypical and refreshing.
During the 20th Mózg Festival, an idea, born in the mind of Qba Janicki, will come to life -
Bydgoszcz Sonokinetic Meetings - as an implementation of the project Sonokinetic.
In the light of the dynamic development of nanotechnology and mobile devices, the availability of high-quality, portable, battery-powered audio equipment has become a common thing. Awareness of this situation allows you to create a completely new way to transmit sound, but also alter the direction of thinking about creating compositions. New textural properties appear, alongside the extensive element of chance, movement of the sound source in space, anti-phase and multidirectionality. In honor of the first edition of the Bydgoszcz Sonokinetic Meetings series, we would like to invite everyone who wants to take part in the project to take their speakers and phones to the event, during which we will collectively recreate a debut composition, by Rafał Ryterski, created especially for this occasion. Individual traces of the song will be placed on the Internet and marked with appropriate QR codes. Thanks to them, each participant of the concert/event will be able to choose a random music track to play on your device. Once everyone’s speakers are up and running, we will start practicing certain movements with our instruments (speakers). Afterwards, we will then travel on foot from the former Jutrzenka factory to the city gallery
BWA, spreading a spatial sound cloud along our route.
It turns out that this is not the first time that we have established a permanent orchestra, which exists to perform during the Mózg Festival. Years ago, it was the Bydgoszcz Orchestra of Contemporary Music that performed works composed specifically for the orchestra. Unfortunately, due to the lack of suitable musicians, it quite quickly ceased to be exclusively a Bydgoszcz orchestra, and soon afterwards the idea eventually died. In celebration of Mózg ’s 30th birthday, we announced a recruitment for the Round-About Birthday Orchestra and over 30 great musicians signed up and played at the concert, under the guidance of Marek Chołoniewski. The number of people who volunteered for this initiative was so impressive that we decided to support the orchestra ’s activities by calling it the Round-About and Festival Orchestra, however we also wanted to make sure that there was a reason for the orchestra to meet and play together at least a couple times a year. One such reason is, of course, the Mózg Festival. This time the orchestra will be led by Wojciech Rusin, who will announce the event as follows:
Anna Jędrzejewska - fortepian (klawisz)
Jacek Buhl - perkusja/perkusjonalia
Marcin Karnowski - perkusjonalia
Adam Kempa - gitara elektryczna
Kasia Golla - wiolonczela
Wojtek Więckowski - gitara
Kamil Kowalski - elektronika
Grzegorz Pleszyński - trąby własnej roboty
Krzysztof Ostrowski - trąbka
Tobiasz Mullai - saksofon
Tim Sanford - saksofon
Marek Pospieszalski - saksofon
Adam Gwizdała - trąbka
Michał Kostrzewa - saksofon
Piotr Kikta - klarnet
Nick Dunston is an acoustic and electroacoustic composer, improviser, and multi-instrumentalist. Called an “indispensable player on the New York avant-garde" by the New York Times, his performances have spanned a variety of venues and festivals across North America and Europe. His work explores notions of ancestral memory, embodiment, and Afro-surrealism. As a collaborator, he has worked with artists such as Marc Ribot, Ches Smith, Vijay Iyer, Mary Halvorson, Moor Mother, Son Lux, Lotte Anker, Elliott Sharp, Joy Guidry, Imani Uzuri, and Amirtha Kidambi. In addition to seven albums released under his name, as a composer Dunston has been commissioned by artists and organizations such as Wet Ink Ensemble, Bang on a Can, JACK Quartet, A L’ARME! Festival, PULSE String Quartet, and Ekmeles. In 2020 in collaboration with Dogbotic Labs, he co-created Ear Re-training, a music composition course focusing on media-bending experimental techniques and concepts. He released his trio album Spider Season in 2022 in which Pitchfork Magazine noted “Even in a trio setting, Dunston’s curiosity creates a plethora of possibilities. No two songs of his ever sound alike.” His work can also be heard in the 2022 film Everything Everywhere All At Once, which won the Oscar that year for Best Original Score. His most recent album, COLLA VOCE was released in 2024, and regarded “As strong as his previous work has been, this new creation, which he bills as an “Afro-Surrealist Anti-Opera,” achieves new heights.” Nick Dunston has given artist talks and presented his works at academic institutions such as The University of Southern California, California Institute of the Arts, The University of Iowa, and Stony Brook University. Dunston currently resides and maintains an active presence in both the Berlin and New York experimental music scenes.
Bogdan Raczyński is a neurodivergent, omni, immigrant born to political refugees in Poland; he is currently based in Portugal/Scotland. His work exists at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI), immigration, nature, and the act of defying musical norms. He has produced for Björk and the Sony PlayStation, but also remixed for Autechre, CLPPNG, Jonsi, and Ulver, and had the chance to work alongside Aphex Twin and Squarepusher. Over the last 30 years, he has released music on Ghostly, Planet Mu, Rephlex, and Warp Records. More recently, Raczyński’s sound works incorporate data from the environment: about migration, pollution, and AI (for which he was recently interviewed by Wired magazine).
Ranter’s bay is the solo project by Niet F-n, Italian sound artist, musician and founder of Kaczynski Editions. He is involved in various musical projects such as The Off-Keytchen, ranter’s groove, or 23RedAnts. He often collaborates with visual artists and with theater companies, for example in Spain or Taipei. His music has been published by Crónica Electronica, Setola di Maiale, Creative Sources, zeromoon and on his label Kaczynski Editions. He builds his own bended instruments and often uses field recordings in his works. As a supporter of free culture, he releases his music under a Creative Commons license. During this tour he will present his latest album I Will Destroy Everything I Love (KE 2023).
HOW TO KEEP YOUR MIND CLEAR?
Anna Pašić is a harpist and composer living in Warsaw. After many years of cooperating, recording and performing with various artists, she decided to share her work as a soloist. She played during W BRZASK x Ephemera, S.P.A. in Sauna (an abandoned Soviet swimming pool) at the invitation of the hosts - Jerzy Mączyński and Katarzyna Dębska. In 2024, she opened the evening before the Warsaw concerts of Mary Lattimore (USA) and Piernikowski. When playing the harp, she appreciates the spacious sound and sonoristic possibilities of the instrument. Using various playing techniques and a looper, she creates layered musical forms. The harpist’s past collaborations have undoubtedly influenced her work with many artists, such as Ben Frost (Fortitude, Raised by Wolves), Stefan Wesołowski (Wolf, Love Express. The disappearance of Walerian Borowczyk), and Piotr Kurek (Smartwoods).
Jędrzej Siwek is a sound artist, composer, and educator. He tells stories with sound. He is a creator of post-classical, experimental, electroacoustic and electronic music. He runs his own workshops on experimental music. Siwek is the author of, among others, a contemporary interpretation of La Mer by Claude Debussy, or the diptych Music for Sci-fi Movies. His last album Requiem had its premiere during the Sacrum Profanum festival in Cracow.
After 12 years since the group’s last concert, the brotherly producer quartet Tirvyous Wagon returns to the stage enriched with new knowledge and experience. For the 20th edition of Mózg Festival Marek Pospieszalski, Tomasz Sroczyński, Bartłomiej Chmara and Qba Janicki will prepare their premiere of an electroacoustic composition using traditional instruments (viola, percussion), personally-constructed instruments, a reel-to-reel tape recorder, kinetic controllers, and a number of analog and digital peripherals, used for processing and distributing multi-channelled sound.
Trondheim Voices is a groundbreaking Norwegian ensemble made up of between 6 to 12 improvising vocalists, constantly challenging and changing the framework for how a vocal ensemble can produce sound art. Each singer’s individuality, and their timbre combined with the other voices, are in focus, resulting in a unique quality to the group’s collective sound. Through their many collaborations with cutting edge composers like Christina Kubisch Christian Wallumrød, Marilyn Mazur, Jon Balke, Mats Gustavsson and Maja Ratkje, they have made solid statements as developers within the stage of vocal and improvised music. Trondheim Voices are exploring and developing new music in the interaction between the singers, the audience, their surroundings, and new technology.
Wojciech Rusin is a Polish-born audio visual artist based in London. He draws inspiration from alchemical and gnostic texts, early renaissance choral music and Eastern European mythologies. He released Syphon LP on ad93 in 2022 and The Funnel LP on Akashic Records in April 2019. He designs and makes 3D-printed reed instruments, reworking ancient designs with contemporary 3D modelling technologies. In 2020 he released Meat for the Guard Dogs on Cafe OTO’s Takuroku digital imprint, and the Rufus Orbis cassette for Boomkat Editions / Documenting Sound series. His music has been featured on BBC Four and he has worked for The National Theatre and The Southbank Centre.
In recent years, Toma Kami has been shaping an eclectic, yet recognisable sound with several outings with Bristol’s Livity Sound, as well as his own imprint, mb studio, with the latter being a home to his Speed Oddity releases. He has a specialization in rhythmic variety, partly informed by his dynamic DJ sets, that have become well known synonyms for wild rides through the likes of heavy bass, dancehall, techno, jungle, electro, rap, and any other style that matches his expression of any physical, and also his unusual energy on the dance floor. This is an outstanding approach that has seen him tour the likes of USA and Asia, as well as world renowned clubs like De School and Berghain, and perform at festivals like Dekmantel. Through his label mb studio, Toma continues to push his own sound and vision, as well as fresh music from exciting new producers coming from the burgeoning French scene and beyond.
Admission to all festival events is granted upon presenting an invitation.
You can obtain a free invitation on link below.
Mózg Festival - International Festival of Contemporary Music and Visual Arts is a meeting of artists active in all areas of contemporary music, performance art, audio and video installations in which music plays an important role.
Artists from all over the world are invited to participate in the festival, as one of the festival's goals is multiculturalism and presentations that foster learning and understanding of the multifaceted nature of cultures. The festival showcases the latest performance techniques and interdisciplinary combinations within the context of and respect for tradition. Outstanding individuals from the world of art and young artists whose work to date bears the hallmarks of exceptionality are invited to take part in the festival. The participation of local artists fulfilling the above-mentioned assumptions is also an indispensable element of the festival. All artistic activities are treated as a means of gaining a deeper understanding of the surrounding reality and the changes taking place in the world, as well as the personal development of both the creators and recipients of festival activities.
To make the ideological assumptions clearer, successive editions of the festival are given a theme. The themes of the editions of the festival derive from each other and complement each other; they define the essential thoughts of the festival's creators. The festivals taking place in 2019-2021 were held under the motto “ART AS A WAY TO UNDERSTANDING”. We believe that art, especially contemporary art, is a tool for activating the hidden possibilities within the brain that allow us to perceive and understand what surrounds us. In other words, we proceed from the assumption that art is not an end in itself, but is a tool to achieve other, deeper goals. At different times, other forms of artistic activity have had different social functions. The same applies to our times. The three previous editions of the festival also dealt with themes closely related to the problems of contemporary communities and were accompanied by the following themes: “COME DOWN TO EARTH”, “SPIRITUALITY IS EVERYWHERE” and “MAKE ART NOT WAR”.
The next four editions of the Festival have been given the theme “DO NOT FORGET TO KEEP YOUR MIND CLEAR”. We believe that nowadays, when we are attacked by an overabundance of often contradictory or false information, when many values are collapsing, when the meaning of right and wrong is being lost, when millions of people are living in uncertainty, be it because of pandemics, ongoing wars or looming ecological disasters, it is extremely important to make an effort to keep our minds clear. Only clear-minded, independent people are able, as a society, to cope with the problems of the modern world on a personal, local and global level. Presenting properly selected artistic activities and placing them in the right context can have a significant impact on increasing the perception of the audience participating in the artistic activities, lectures and meetings that are part of the festival. A broadened perception means a clearer mind, which is in turn capable of making independent wise decisions.
By default, the festival is an international event. It is important for us to reach out with the ideas of the festival to societies in other countries. That is why, for the sake of broader understanding, we decided to devise the festival slogan in English. The multicultural nature of the festival stems from our conviction that knowledge of cultural differences and conscious acceptance of these differences is the basis for international understanding. We also believe that contemporary art, including experimental music and all other interdisciplinary forms of creation, significantly influence human creativity and produce the ability to think independently, free of stereotypes. A human being, by interacting with contemporary art on a daily basis, while having knowledge of the cultural diversity of the surrounding community, has the chance to live in it in a conscious manner, without fear, full of understanding for the needs of others, with the ability to stand up for oneself and one's fellow citizens, as a member of a developing multicultural civil society.
Mózg Festival is an interdisciplinary event in which music plays a special role, and in addition to music we will see performance art, audiovisual installations, film, multimedia art. The program also includes lectures, workshops and meetings with significant figures from the fields of art and philosophy. The program of the festival is constructed so that all of the above-mentioned arts intermingle, and meetings and conversations build a context for artistic activities.
The festival has no stylistic restrictions. The criterion in the selection of artists is the authenticity of the art presented and the highest level of performance. The festival is accompanied by educational activities: workshops, lectures, meetings of festival guests with artists and recognised authorities from the world of art, philosophy and sociology.
Part of the project is professional audio and video documentation and archiving, which is intended to disseminate culture, promote the city of Bydgoszcz and the region, as well as strengthen identity.
This year, the festival will take place in three places: Teatr Polski (chamber room), the BWA Gallery and at the Mózg club. Admission to all events during the festival will be free. Free participation in the festival will be possible with an invitation, which you receive by email. This is a tested way of creating a festival community, i.e. a group of people united around certain ideas. This method creates a sense of participation in a specific social group, which grows from year to year, but remains defined by its interests.
The festival organizer will ensure accessibility for people with special needs. Most of the festival events will take place in venues adapted to the needs of people with physical disabilities. In the Mózg Club, where there are no facilities for people with physical disabilities, such people will have the opportunity to send a request for participation in the event. The club will provide the services of staff to assist the wheelchair user to find their way around the building to attend the event. The project website and all information about the event published online will have a version for the visually and hearing impaired. Printed materials will have a QR code which will redirect to a page that allows them to read the material.
Applications for the participation of deaf people shold be submitted at least 7 days before the event to the following address: fundacja@mozg.art.pl
