2 days – 3 stages – 25+ artists
Athens, Greece – KRAMA Festival, a 2-day multisensory voyage through the experimental & the contemporary, returns for its highly anticipated 5th year, taking place on the 22nd and 23rd of June 2024 at PLYFA Athens. The festival continues its tradition of showcasing an ensemble of visionary artists through a series of live performances, visual installations and DIY workshops across indoor and outdoor stages.
From free improvisation and experimental electronics to avant-garde and future pop sounds, KRAMA 2024 takes shape as a confluence of music lovers, creatives, artists, innovators and audiences of diverse backgrounds, drawing participants into a collective exploration of contemporary creativity’s multilayered manifestations.
Every year, KRAMA invites artists that are at the forefront of their respective fields and curates a handpicked, eclectic lineup: NYC-based Cretan artist Evangelia VS aka Abyss X will present a multimedia performance piece aiming to encapsulate the resilience of the female body as a platform for collective liberation while Krista Papista will showcase her unique show that engages in developing and queering politically charged Mediterranean and Middle Eastern sounds along with Balkan Pop and Euro Trash EDM. Anna Vs June & Marietta Manaroli will also present a new piece titled ‘lone’, a work in progress on the theme of loneliness where they will meet and test on stage how they converse, disagree and distance themselves (intentionally or not) from one another while Jay Glass Dubs will showcase a special project, paying homage to Vangelis Papathanassiou with a unique audiovisual exploration. The owner of Giallo Disco Records and 1/2 of ACID VATICAN, Vercetti Technicolor, will present his ominous electro work with a DJ set and MIZI will bring media rummaging to the stage; a molten liquid collage of sonic artefacts, motor noises, decaying pop music, hip-hop cuts, home-made tape recordings and mangled soundscapes.
Don’t miss out on Giannis Arapis Trio offering an unusual, fresh jazz perspective with lyrical yet bold expressions together with renowned composer Michalis Siganidis. Blending psychedelic and global dance music elements, Anatolian Weapons will present his sound via a DJ set that transcends cultural boundaries. Greek-American composer Christina Vantzou will take us on a psychoacoustic exploration of slow orchestral shifts, field recordings, archeo-fantasy, and mystical states, while Eleni Poulou will unfold her sonic collage of experimental beats and Greek Pontic music. Λυρικό φώσφορο (ENG: lyrical phosphorus) will take us on a sensory journey where sounds and images intertwine, seeking to create evocative audiovisual experiences while Bonebrokk, raised somewhere in-between 00’s internet music blogs and the Athenian underground, will showcase his distinctive take on today’s experimental club scene.
And there is more. Canadian musician RAMZi will be here with a fusion of soundscapes, electronic, and acoustic instruments, bridging nostalgia and futurism. Ukrainian-born Masha Kashyna will present her distinctive fusion of jazz, noise, and trip-hop, combining vibraphone melodies, saxophone solos, and electronic beats while MIRA新伝統 will introduce us to their unique audio-visual performance around the problematics of the Anthropocene, otherness, and posthumanity. Pulsating rhythms will intertwine with the ethereal hum of Xenon Plasma tubes, Tesla coils, electromagnetic field microphones and analogue synthesisers during George Moraitis’special performance while the AXONTORR duo will bring the noise, blending structured moments with noisy sound design, projections and self-made musical instruments. Finally, Blip will push the boundaries of sonic experimentation through improvisation and texture-rich compositions and Skraut will showcase their blend of acoustic and electronic soundscapes, redefining natural sounds through their own compositions.
Last but not least, you will be able to experience works that complement the music acts by talented visual artists that are a vital part of KRAMA, namely Alexandra Niaka, an interactive media artist that seeks creative answers to questions concerning the relation between human and technology; Erato Tzavara, a video artist who merges the digital realm with the physical body in order to create mesmerising narratives and Natalia Manta, a visual artist who crafts a symbolic universe where memory, time, and myth converge. The festival will also host KEIV, a project founded by artist Konstantinos Lianos, who will exhibit works in collaboration with Chris Ioannou that experiment with the post-digital congestion and digital/material dualisms as well as a DIY workshop titled Optollator Oscillator, where you will learn how to create from scratch a synthesizer’s basic circuit and control it with light – plus you get to keep it at the end!
22/6/24 | Day 1
Abyss X
Bonebrokk
Giannis A. Trio ft. Michalis Siganidis
Krista Papista
Masha Kashyna
MIRA新伝統
MIZI
Optollator Oscillator DIY Workshop
Vercetti Technicolor
λυρικό φώσφορο
23/6/24 | Day 2
Anatolian Weapons
Anna Vs June & Marietta Manaroli
AXONTORR
Blip
Christina Vantzou
Eleni Poulou
George Moraitis
Jay Glass Dubs
RAMZi
Skraut
Day 1 & Day 2
Visual Artists: Alexandra Niaka, Erato Tzavara, Natalia Manta
Installations: KEIV, Studio Precarity
Times: 17.00 – 01.00
About KRAMA Festival
KRAMA is a collective, an independent initiative showcasing artists from a wide spectrum of creative practices. Through a multidisciplinary approach, we bring together different forms of artistic expression in an effort to create a dialogue that transcends creative fields and geographical boundaries.
At the core of KRAMA lies a desire to create a space (tangible or intangible) for artists to converse, experiment, merge or deviate and ultimately form a community with shared commonalities and unique differences on the fringes of mainstream culture.
KRAMA was created in 2019 and took shape as an annual festival in 2019, 2022 and 2023, hosting 45+ musical acts and 30+ visual artists at venues such as Communitism, Romantso and Empros Theatre. The collective has also curated an audiovisual exhibition at KEIV in 2021 and the opening of Viron Erol Vert’s exhibition “The Hermit” at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens in 2023. KRAMA is also a resident at Stegi Radio, hosting a monthly radio show titled “KRAMA Entries”.
You can visit the festival’s social media for more information:
Event organiser: [email protected]
Contact and Press Office: Katerina P. Trichia – +306938300975 – [email protected]
06
25
20—21