Ben Frost, Daniel Bjarnason, Sinfonietta Cracovia with film manipulations by Brian Eno & Nick Robertson (Photos: Stephen Cardinale for Unsound Festival)

It has been a highly provocative and musically charged past week and a half. For those who have been following Artcards Review, I’ve been covering Unsound Festival 2011 here in NYC since its opening on April 1st.  And yesterday was the final wrap up of an entire week and a half of experimental music and sonic arts events. The shows were aesthetically diverse and seemed to have opened up new pathways for a lot of local sound art enthusiasts. Besides igniting interest through cross-cultural collaborations, audiences also got a chance to get a closer look at the artists’ practices through “conversations” during Unsound Labs. In retrospect, Unsound 2011 seemed to have a much less focus on electronic music per se, with a more diverse palette on genres ranging from Iceland’s Ben Frost and Sinfonietta Cracovia, to Lustmord and Deaf Center, both deep, dark, and ambient in its own ways, to the Bunker nights of techno music to the finale disco party by local hosts Kiss & Tell. Even though I wanted to attend it all (trust me, I penciled it all in my calendar), I would not have been able to write this recap if I did. But apparently Stephen Cardinale, Unsound’s official photographer shot through the entire week of events, and here it is below.

Ben Frost at Alice Tully Hall

Daniel Bjarnason and Ben Frost at Alice Tully Hall

Anna Zaradny at ISSUE PROJECT ROOM

HATI + Z'ev at ISSUE PROJECT ROOM

Deaf Center at Judson Church

Sinfonietta Cracovia at Judson Church

MERCE at ISSUE PROJECT ROOM

Morton Subotnick / Atom TM / Visuals: Lillevan at David Rubenstein Atrium, Lincoln Center

Morton Subotnick / Visuals: Lillevan at David Rubenstein Atrium, Lincoln Center

Robert Piotrowicz at Littlefield

Harald Grosskopf at Le Poisson Rouge

Lustmord at Abron Arts Center

http://www.unsound.pl/en

Unsound Festival New York is presented by Fundacja Tone, the Polish Cultural Institute in New York and the Goethe-Institut New York

Music for SOLARIS (North American Debut) a tribute to the novel “Solaris” by Stanislaw Lem.  Composed for twenty‐nine string players, two percussionists, prepared piano, guitars and electronics. Performed by BEN FROST (Iceland/Australia), DANÍEL BJARNASON (Iceland), SINFONIETTA CRACOVIA (Poland) with film manipulations from BRIAN ENO / NICK ROBERTSON (UK)

KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI (Poland) performed by SINFONIETTA CRACOVIA (Poland)
STEVE REICH (USA) performed by SINFONIETTA CRACOVIA (Poland)

Ben Frost

Official Website:
http://unsound.pl/en

PRESENTED BY:  Unsound Festival New York, Sacrum Profanum, The Adam Mickiewicz institute, Krakow Festival Office, the Polish Cultural Institute in New York and the Goethe-Institut New York @ Alice Tully Hall Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, 1941 Broadway, New York, NY

(All images courtesy of Unsound Festival New York)