Upstream presents an evening of whirling energies where stark physicality and brooding circuitry entwine.
The evening starts with Kris Kuldkepp’s no input synthesiser, where the mixer’s insides are twirled outwards and twisted into sonic gestures. Ka Baird’s performance ‘A thousand miles of hungry static’ explores the spectral forces of reality through extended voice and microphone techniques, live-processed flutes, samples, and feedback in a performance which embodies their signature tone - simultaneously confrontational, mysterious, visceral, and humorous. Finally, the enigmatic 011668 spins us into a whirlwind confrontation with petrocapitalism on a colossal scale, unraveling a contemporary creation myth whilst incorporating elements of butoh dance, Japanese sci-fi and film noir.
011668
011668 is an American interdisciplinary artist exploring spirituality, mythology, and cosmogony through the digital age. Acknowledging industrial forces as our modern pantheon, 011668 unravels a contemporary creation myth while fusing elements of butoh dance, tokusatsu, and film noir.
Ka Baird
Ka Baird is a performer, sound artist, musician and composer based in New York City. Using extended voice and microphone techniques along with electronics, feedback, field recordings, and traditional instrumentation, they explore the outer dimensions of sound through performance. They create a present tense sound with a vigorous, ritualistic delivery that seeks extreme release through physical exertion and psychic extension. Ka has collaborated with many other artists, both in structured compositions and through their dedicated practice of improvisation.
Their solo releases include "Sapropelic Pycnic" (Drag City 2017), "Respires" (RVNG Intl 2019), "Brooding Exercises" (Longform Editions 2021), and "Vivification Exercises" (RVNG Intl 2021) and "Bearings: Soundtracks for the Bardos" (RVNG Intl 2024). Recent performances include Unsound Festival (Krakow, PL), Lampo (Chicago, IL), Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago, IL), MoMA PS1 (Queens, NY), Issue Project Room (Brooklyn, NY), The Kitchen (NYC), Le Guess Who (Utrecht, NL), and the Festival Of Endless Gratitude (Copenhagen, DK).
Kris Kuldkepp
Kris Kuldkepp is an experimental musician and performance artist based in Hamburg, Germany. Kris' work focuses on the perception, materiality, and behavior of sound, emphasizing its resonance in physical spaces. With a background in classical and early music performance on the double bass, Kris now works with experimental practices combining double bass, modular synthesizer and DIY instruments.
Since 2019, Kris has collaborated closely with music theater director Lisa Pottstock to develop innovative and thought-provoking performative music theater pieces that critically engage with contemporary political discourses. Recent projects include “industrial Mechthild” at Theater Magdeburg and “Der Geheimnisvoller Koffer von Herrn Benjamin” at Tübingen's State Theater. Other collaborators include experimental musician Jeff Surak, the Ensemble of Estonian Electronic Music Society, and MOLJEBKA PVLSE.
Gefördert durch die Hamburgische Kulturstiftung. Außerdem gefördert vom Musikfonds e.V. mit Projektmitteln der Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien.
