Organiser Efa Supertramp reports on the upcoming Crux Festival, 13–14 April at Rich Mix, London.
This April the audio-visual (AV) collective Crux will be hosting their first ever festival to celebrate a decade of putting on events by hosting two days of performances, workshops and stalls that celebrate the best in the music and video tech.
Over the past ten years, Crux have been championing electronic music and video projection artists in some of London’s best underground spaces such as New River Studios, Iklectik, Five Miles and Music Hackspace (all of which have sadly closed down apart from the first). They are also known for giving a platform to up-and-coming artists and those experimenting with new technologies and music tools. For anyone interested in electronic music production, this is an event not to be missed with not only a jam-packed programme of AV performances, but stalls by Ableton, Mazetools and Endless, EMOM (Electronic Music Open Mic) slots and an open audio-visual jam.
Continuing the legacy of women being at the forefront of electronic music (well documented in the film Sisters with Transistors), the Crux Festival line-up features some of the most exciting up and coming female artists working in this field. This includes AV performances from I Am Fya, AJA and Waterflower (two of whom are interviewed below) as well as a workshop from Halina Rice on immersive audio. The VJ (video-DJ) line-up is healthily dominated by women, including L’Aubaine, Oddscene and Mouse on the Telly.
DMLab is a project by the disability music charity, Drake Music and they will be hosting a workshop at the festival exploring accessible music technology. This one-hour DMLab ‘taster session’ will welcome award-winning artist Elizabeth J Birch, who will perform a short set, which will then be followed by a panel discussion exploring access in music and accessible music technology.
The festival will also host a panel discussion chaired by Eve Horne, founder of We Are the Unheard, on the subject of celebrating women’s innovation, creativity and fearlessness in the male-dominated electronic music world… So next time you hear any electronic music promoter tell you there aren’t enough women in the scene, tell them to look more carefully, the scene is brimming with girl talent!
You can buy tickets for Crux Festival through Rich Mix’s Box Office, with a number of different (day/workshop/after party) ticketing options available.
festival.crux-events.org