International Visitors Programme
For Rewire’s 2022 discourse programme RITUAL, the festival invited a series of artists and theorists to explore the theme of ritual in their work and to foster exchange between audiences and professionals in the fields of music/art/critical theory/digital culture during the festival from April 7-10, 2022. Find an overview and summary of the contributions/events/exchanges for each of the four international visitors below.
Brandon LaBelle (US)
Over the course of the festival, artist, writer and theorist Brandon LaBelle held a beautiful triptych of seminars at artist bookstore Page Not Found around the theme of Resonance. A group of students, researchers, sonologists and musicians attended each of the seminars, each of which leading to a longer informal conversation and discussion afterwards. Radio WORM held an extensive interview with Brandon LaBelle, that was published as part of their report on the festival right after on Mixcloud (https://www.mixcloud.com/radiowormrotterdam/rwgtrewire/) Next to the three seminars, Brandon contributed to the RITUAL zine with his text Poetics of Listening, and participated in the panel discussions Talking About Music (Korzo, 9 April) and Reflection on Ritual (Korzo, 10 April).
Momtaza Mehri (SO/UK)
Poet Momtaza Mehri was invited to contribute to the RITUAL zine and panel discussion Reflection on Ritual at Korzo on April 10. For personal reasons Momtaza Mehri wasn’t able to join the festival in person in The Hague, and instead contributed remotely. For the RITUAL zine, she shared an essay The Ritual is Not a Destination with an accompanying syllabus of listenings and readings. She also participated in the panel discussion Reflection on Ritual (Korzo, 10 April) with a remote reading, critically and poetically reflecting on the theme of ritual and the festival’s line-up. Attached to this report the RITUAL zine with Momtaza’s essay.
M Lamar (US)
Next to his music performance at the festival, M Lamar hosted a reading group at independent bookstore Page Not Found on We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity by cultural theorist Bell Hooks, to think through rituals of dominance and power. A dedicated group of bell hooks readers joined this intimate conversation initiated by M Lamar, that led to an open sharing of personal experiences of reading, rereading and how the important work of bell hooks continues to resonate with many of us. Next to his performance and the reading session, M Lamar also participated in the panel discussion Reflection on Ritual (Korzo, 10 April), together with Brandon LaBelle and Kristin Norderval. M Lamar was also interviewed for an article in Metropolis M (to be released).
DEBIT (MX)
At Rewire 2022, DEBIT shared a ritualistic performance of her debut album, encouraging the audience to engage with the environment and to take in the space. Alongside the performance she also offered a presentation on her archival research into pre-hispanic and Mayan instruments, and use of technology and machine learning to re-listen and re-sound these instruments. This culminated in an audience Q&A.