! TIME TO CELEBRATE !

• 15 years of Foton
• 15 years of FoAM
• 50 years of Beursschouwburg
• 10 years since the last FOtones night

Foton, FoAM and Beursschouwburg are uniting forces again to present FO[am]tones (aka FOtones Special Edition), a parallel world full of ear and eye candy. The outernational FO[am]tones line-up goes from minimal, psychedelic and physical electronica to high energy beats, breaks and bass. Intense horizontal listening experiences gradually transform into wicked dance-floor action, the whole wrapped up in a synaesthetic world of mesmerizing visuals, tactile sensations and edible treats.

WHEN: Saturday 25 April 2015 - 20:30 PM
WHERE: Beursschouwburg - Rue A. Ortsstraat 20-28 - 1000 Brussels - Belgium

ENTRANCE = FREE

line up between 21:30 - 05:00 in this order:

• Lophorina (CH / haunting electronica)
• Mahadev Cometo (CH / horizontal trance)
• Angel (FI/DE - physical resonance)
• Peter Van Hoesen (BE/DE - experimental warehouse techno)
• Lowdjo (BE - booty & bass)
• Antz (BE/JM - bashment)
• Filastine (US/ES/ID - outernational bass)
• 6siss (BE - cinematographic electronica)

light, imagery and scent

• FoAM (BE)

Foton, FoAM and the Beursschouwburg have their birthdays in 2015. Foton and FoAM their 15th, Beursschouwburg their 50th. On the 25th of April we’ll celebrate with a joint audiovisual party - FO[am]tones (aka Fotones Special Edition). Expect a peculiar blend of electronic music styles, visual media, edible and tactile materials to be fused in a memorable synaesthetic evening.

We will begin in a meditative atmosphere, a dark 'horizontal' listening space. Lophorina eases us into the evening with her minimalist trip through silence and chaos. Her sound flows into Mahadev Cometo’s melange of Indian sitar and electronic rhythms, followed by abstract resonances of Angel. Peter van Hoesen’s Berlin-techno coax us to move from intently listening to merrily dancing to Lowdjo’s booty & bass in a crescendo to meet Antz with his Jamaican joie de vivre. Filastine & Nova’s energetic percussion and melancholic vocals brings us back to the gritty reality of a globalised world and 6siss closes the evening with his quiet, cinematographic fade-out. All the while we are immersed in FoAM’s otherworldly ambience, constructed from light, air, pixels and recycled materials.

Dress-code: Anarchodandyist costumery

The following artists are invited to help us make the evening a truly special one:

Haunting electronica (Switzerland - The Wire, Modell) (live) - http://lophorina.bandcamp.com
Following several years' experience in the performing arts, Geneva based artist Lophorina explores a world of sound in tension where only the essentials are kept. Her vocal and electronic research mixes authentic tenderness and roughness, calm and chaos, taking the listener on a captivating sonic exploration. After a 10“ release on Modell her work got discovered by The Wire magazine, who published a Lophorina track on one of their latest compilation cds.

Horizontal trance (Switzerland - PIAS, Make Up) (live) - http://www.al-comet.com
Mahadev Cometo consists of Alain Monod aka Al Comet on sitar, and Bertrand Siffert on electronics. As a founding member of The Young Gods Alain helped to reshape the industrial sound of the eighties, and he kept on exploring new distinctive sounds ever since. After a 6 months residency in India in 2011 the combination of sitar and classical Indian ragas with hi tech western electronica became a fact, resulting in a highly psychedelic sound. Today Mahadev Cometo has performed at several shows and festivals in Europe (Boom Festival, Portugal), Nepal (Silence Festival, Kathmandu), and India. Come and take the trip.

Physical resonance (Finland/Germany - Editions Mego) (live) - http://mirrorworldmusic.com/tag/angel
Ilpo Väisänen is one half of the illustrious Pan Sonic, and Dirk Dresselhaus is the artist behind Schneider TM. In 1999 they founded Angel, creating a time-transcending freeform sound, where weightlessness and electromagnetic gravity collide. They play improvised noise with a tendency to drone things out, entering a sonic no man's land in between industrial, dub, new music, punk, blues, freejazz and science fiction soundtracks. They regularly collaborate with other freeform musicians like Hildur Gudnadottir, Oren Ambarchi and B.J. Nilsen. Resonance for the whole body.

Experimental warehouse techno (Germany/Belgium - Time To Express, Tresor, Foton) (live/dj) - http://www.t2x.eu
Although considered as on of techno's tastemakers Peter Van Hoesen is someone who sculpts sound for many different environments: club, home, gallery and museum. On his own label Time To Express he releases catching textural compositions, and he records to great acclaim as Sendai alongside Yves de Mey. In performance terms Peter lays down dark and arresting techno sets, as well as hypnotizing, story telling musical journeys. Thanks to his high levels of creativity, quality and consistency he is renowned all over the world, appearing regularly in mythical places like The Bunker (New York), Labyrinth (Japan), Berghain (Berlin), Fabric (London), …

Booty & bass (Belgium - Discrepant, Comphusion, Foton) (dj)- http://www.lowdjo.info
Lowdjo is a dj with a range of alter-egos. He has an extremely varied taste, making him one of the most eclectic djs in Belgium. Lowdjo's sets are a journey through ethnic beats extraordinaire, laced with a tantalizing mix of contemporary electronics. He has a varied menu of assorted vibes that he's been using over the last 15 years to set dance floors on fire and keep people on their toes in over ten countries and two continents. You never know what comes next. Recently he's been releasing limited edition tapes on Discrepant (UK) and Comphusion (BE) that almost instantly sell out. For this special birthday edition he'll prepare us a bass-heavy electronic set, aimed straight at the dance floor… if you sit still during his mix you must have had your legs amputated.

Bashment (Jamaica/Belgium - Foton) (dj)- http://pages.foton.be/artists

Hans De Man aka Antz wears many masks: robotics engineer, Foton founder, sound installation artist, and schizophrenic dj. Since a couple of years he is living in Jamaica, a country where music is as important as oxygen. Expect an infectious set in true over-the-top bashment style, a bass-heavy crossbreed between Jamaican and European riddims: ragga, jungle, dubstep, grime, dancehall … all aiming straight at your booty.

Outernational bass (Spain/Indonesia - Jarring Effects, Post World Industries) (live) - https://filastine.bandpage.com//
Before getting into digital arts Barcelona­ based audiovisual artist Grey Filastine founded the prototype anarchist marching band Infernal Noise Brigade. Today he teams up with Javanese indie songstress Nova, who was half of the Indonesian rap sensation Twin Sista. Together they deliver the grittiest transnational bass music: low frequency pressure morphs with top notch beat science, acoustic instruments and field recordings. Prefix magazine calls it “the prototype of globalized urban sound”, Pitchfork describes it as “awesome and delicate … hybrids so fluent they defy classification”. Music as a weapon against stale politics, it is still possible.

Cinematographic electronica (Belgium - Ledebronx Recordings, Comphusion) (live) - http://6siss.bandcamp.com
Peter Adriaenssens is a young and upcoming producer from Belgium, creating a unique and enigmatic blend of electronica. A marriage between idm, cuts & clicks, off beat and progressive cinematronica, his compositions result in a dramatic and nearly visual sound. To be discovered.

Synaesthetic experiences - http://fo.am

A transdisciplinary network for speculative culture, FoAM creates immersive experiences for all senses. Using audio-visual, tactile and edible media, FoAM transforms the monotones of the everyday into ethereal atmosphere of peak experiences, where technology becomes indistinguishable from magic. FoAM's members will infuse FO[am]tones with visual memories, alchemical treats, graceful (digital) decay, physical translucency and anarcho-dandyist costumery.

Tangental oscillations – http://agalmic.org/
Nik Gaffney is the co-founder of FoAM and operates as a tangential generalist, designer, programmer and sous-chef with a focus on long-term thinking, experiential futures and stochastic tinkering. Since 1998 he has intermittently operated as a human fragment of farmersmanual, a pan-european, multisensory disturbance conglomerate. His work has been presented at venues worldwide, including the Centre Pompidou, ICA, COP15, Ars Electronica, NTT-ICC, Iceland Design Center, Vooruit and Z33. In 2014 he was awarded an honorary membership of the Cloud Appreciation Society for his photographs of Undulatus Asperatus.

Live coding – http://www.pawfal.org/dave/blog/
David Griffiths is the founder of FoAM Kernow and an award winning game designer, creative coder and livecoding artist. With an early education in weaving, bell ringing, 8 bit computers and animation, he worked in the games and film industries for 10 years (Moving Picture Company, Sony Eyetoy R&D) and went on to robotics research for the FP7 EU funded Lirec project with FoAM. Alongside Aymeric Mansoux and Marloes de Valk he created the satirical Facebook game ‘Naked on Pluto’ which won the Telefonica Vida competition in 2011. He performs internationally with ‘slub’ a livecoding algorithmic rave group and also works with scientists for bioinformatics and science outreach work.

Spatial transformations – http://cockyeek.tumblr.com/ http://fo.am/sphaerae/
Graduated as an award-winning experimental fashion designer in the 90s, since the millennium Cocky’s work has been mainly revolving around lightweight spatial compositions and her favorite media have become wind and air. This resulted in floating and flying experiments in large, voluminous forms. In 2012 she created Sphaerae, an inflatable multi-dome pavilion for immersive and synesthetic experiences (presented at Ars Electronica, TodaysArt 2013, GOGBOT and AxS- Pasadena). With Schweigman& she created the scenography for two contemporary theatre pieces; Frame (Shanghai 2012) and Blaas (2013 Oerol, Torino, Boulevard/Den Bosch, Fort aan de Klop/Utrecht 2013-2014). Cocky is the co-founder of FoAM Amsterdam, as well as a teacher and member of the core team of of the ArtScience Interfaculty in Den Haag.

Physical prototyping - http://theunkarelse.net/
FoAM's interdisciplinary researcher and generalist with a wide range of interests including theoretical physics, palaeolithic & medieval history, augmented foraging, augmented ecology, fruit growing, guerilla grafting, inflatable architecture, proprioception & somatosensory map and comics.

Peak experiences - http://fo.am/people/maja/
Maja Kuzmanovic is a generalist, experience gardener, oscillating futurist, cook, patabotanist and a recent apprentice in the craft of doing nothing. Throughout the 1990s, she worked in MR, VR and online, infusing digital technologies with physical movement, narrative alchemy and audiovisual poetry. For her works, Maja was elected one of the Top 100 Young Innovators by MIT's Technology Review. She initiated FoAM in 2000 and has since functioned as FoAM's principal invigorator, eco+media artist and head chef.

Culinary atmospheres - http://fo.am/people/rasa/
Rasa Alksnyte is a member of FoAM, teacher, dancer-choreographer, photographer, cook and an artistic advisor-mentor, working with anything that grows and transforms - from plants, to movement, food to children. She studied dance at the Vilnius conservatory and the Contemporary dance school P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels. She worked with a range of choreographers, theater directors, video artists such as Pal Frenak, Tamar Rogoff, Carlotta Ikeda, Ko Murobushi, Eisa Jocson.

Ethereal drones, otherworldly voices - http://www.loganartsmanagement.com/stevie-wishart.html

Stevie Wishart is a composer, performer and improviser. She explores medieval and contemporary extremes, using voices, ancient technologies such as the hurdy gurdy, and electronic music technologies of our own time. She has composed for modern orchestras and vocal groups and for her own group, Sinfonye. As a composer she works acoustically with music notation, sometimes combined with improvisation, sometimes using computer music systems, and sometimes using all these elements.