In the contemporary landscape, the edges between different creative arts are getting more and more figurative. Composers write pieces for video-art and visual artists create sound installations. It is getting harder to differentiate, yet connections and finding common grounds becomes easy. We are acting a bit like radar – trying to identify these changes – a bit like sonar – navigating the unexplored areas. Like a Synthesizer of Arts – creating new qualities.
NeoArte – Synthesizer of Arts festival exists to inspire, support creativity. Its idea is rooted in artistic synthesis. It works as a platform connecting artists from various cultural backgrounds and realms of art by creating an influential environment, a chance for new connections and interdisciplinary effects.
NeoArte – Synthesizer of Arts Festival has been organized every year in Gdansk, Poland since 2012. Its initiator and producer is NeoQuartet – Polish string quartet from Gdansk, the prizewinner of prestigious Pomeranian Artistic Award 2019 and one of the most prominent ensembles in Polish contemporary (and not only!) music. Starting from 2023, the NeoArte festival also has its foreign editions. In March 2023, the event took place in Oslo, and now it will come to Reykjavik.
NeoArte | Synthesizer of Arts | Reykjavik edition is three days (March 22-24) of concerts and more: art installations, performance, panel discussions. In addition, the younger audience (kids and youth) will be able to participate in the uniquely designed workshops on creating contemporary music. All the events will take place in Nordic House in Reykjavik.
Festival’s composer in residence will be the outstanding Icelandic composer Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir, whose multimedia works will be presented on the first day of the festival. Among the performers we will see the most creative Icelandic, Norwegian and Polish artists, including S.L.Á.T.U.R., Halla Steinun, Reykjavik Ensemble, Piotr Kaliński, Filip Ignatowicz, Intelligent Instruments Lab, and Spectro Duo. What is more, the festival’s hosts NeoQuartet will present the effects of a two-year educational program dedicated to young composers – six premieres of multimedia compositions for acoustic and electric string quartet.
We will have a chance to listen to dozens of compositions written by composers from Iceland, Norway and Poland. An important point of the festival will be improvisation and the latest technology, including artificial intelligence. Each concert is planned as a multidisciplinary spectacle with the audience being not only the part of the performance, but also an element of the whole artistic process.
The NeoArte | Synthesizer of Arts | Reykjavik edition is a part of the Neo Voyager project funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway under the EEA and Norway Grants.
