FOR ITS 10TH ANNIVERSARY KUBORAUM LAUNCHED BACK IN APRIL A YEAR-LONG SERIES OF EVENTS, ’10 YEARS OF TRAVELLING’, SHOWCASING THE BRAND’S LONG-STANDING NARRATIVE OF EYEWEAR, ART AND MUSIC.
10 YEARS OF TRAVELLING STEMS FROM KUBORAUM’S MANIFESTO ‚WE TRAVEL TO KNOW OUR OWN GEOGRAPHY’ AND CELEBRATES THE JOURNEY THAT STARTED IN BERLIN BACK IN 2012. AN ONGOING, TRANSCENDENT JOURNEY BEYOND THE BORDERS OF THE BODY IN REACTION TO THE STAGNANT, IMMOBILE CULTURES PRE-DETERMINED BY IMPOSED EXISTENTIAL REALITIES. A JOURNEY TO KNOW AND BUILD ONE’S OWN GEOGRAPHY, ORIGINATING FROM THE NEED FOR SHARING AND THE INNATE DESIRE TO BUILD A COMMUNITY. ONLY A CURATORIAL RESEARCH NOT LIMITED TO PRESENTING CONTENTS BUT SERVING THE HIGHER PURPOSE OF TRIGGERING A MOVEMENT WILL BE ABLE STIMULATE SUCH JOURNEY IN EACH OF US. ULTIMATELY, THE FESTIVAL SHALL SERVE AS A MAP TO ONE’S OWN JOURNEY TO EXPLORE ONE’S SELF.
BROUGHT TOGETHER BY THESE SHARED VALUES, KUBORAUM & TERRAFORMA PRESENTED A CO-CURATED EVENT-SERIES PART OF 10 YEARS OF TRAVELLING TAKING PLACE THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE YEAR IN DIFFERENT LOCATIONS. EVOCATIVE LOCATIONS WERE TRANSFORMED INTO SPACES OF CREATIVE EXCHANGE, EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSIC, ART AND THE URBAN DIMENSION.
THE OPENING EVENT OF ’10 YEARS OF TRAVELLING’ TOOK PLACE IN VENICE DURING THE OPENING OF THE 59TH VENICE BIENNALE ON THE WEEKEND OF APRIL 22ND AND 23RD. DURING THIS TWO-DAY EVENT KUBORAUM SHOWCASED ARTISANAL ONE-OF-A-KIND EYECOUTURE MASKS NARRATING THE GENESIS AND EVOLUTION BEHIND THE BRAND WITH ITS FOCUS ON PRECIOUS ITALIAN HANDCRAFT AND ITS LANGUAGE OF MULTITUDES. ALONGSIDE MULTIDISCIPLINARY ACTS OF CUTTING EDGE ARTISTS WERE BROUGHT TO THE AUDIENCE: A LIVE SET BY STILL + ECKO BAZZ, LIVE SHOW BY EXPAT, A DEBUT PERFORMANCE BY SINGER LAFAWNDAH TOGETHER WITH PERCUSSIONIST AND COMPOSER FORRESTER, FOLLOWED BY A LIVE ACT BY THE GROUP SALÒ AND A POLYRHYTHMIC CLOSING SET BY PARISIAN DJ AND PRODUCER BAMBOUNOU. 10 YEARS OF TRAVELLING VENICE WAS CARRIED OUT IN PARTNERSHIP WITH COMBO, THE RESTORED MONASTERY FROM THE 12TH CENTURY WHICH WAS TRANSFORMED INTO AN EVOCATIVE FESTIVAL LOCATION.
THE OPENING ACT ON APRIL 22ND PRESENTED A LIVE SHOW BY MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST SIMONE TRABUCCHI AKA STILL AND UGANDAN RAPPER ECKO BAZZ, FOLLOWING STILL’S RELEASE KIKOKOMMANDO ON PAN AND HAKUNA KULALA.
THE MILAN-BASED, MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST SIMONE TRABUCCHI DEBUTED AS STILL ON PAN IN 2018 WITH ‘I’ AS PART OF A WIDER VISUAL ARTS PROJECT UNEARTHING THE HISTORIES THAT CONNECT HIS HOMETOWN OF VERNASCA TO ETHIOPIA AND JAMAICA. THE LP FEATURED A BATCH OF BANGING, MULTI-LAYERED DANCEHALL TRACKS VOICED BY SIX MILAN-BASED, AFRICAN-ITALIAN VOCALISTS AND SINGERS.
STILL’S KIKOMMANDO RELEASE ON PAN AND HAKUNA KULALA IS A MIXTAPE, VIDEO SERIES AND PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK PRODUCED BY STILL FEATURING KAMPALA-BASED ECKO BAZZ, BLAQ, BANDANA, BIGA YUT, FLORENCE, WINNIE LADO, SWORDMAN KITALA, JAHCITY. THE PROJECT WAS RECORDED IN THE EAST AFRICAN SUMMER OF 2018 DURING TRABUCCH’S TWO-MONTH RESIDENCY AT THE NYEGE NYEGE LABEL AND COLLECTIVE’S VILLA, IN COLLABORATION WITH HAKUNA KULALA WHERE HE SET UP A TEMPORARY STUDIO.
TOGETHER WITH ECKO BAZZ THEY DELIVERED A CATHARTIC AND CAPTIVATING LIVE PERFORMANCE BLENDING ELEMENTS OF GRIME, DANCEHALL AND US HIP-HOP, TWISTING POLITICIZED LYRICS IN LUGANDA. WILD, PURE AND UNADULTERATED, UGANDAN CONSCIOUS RAPPER AND MC ECKO STEPPED UP TO THE MIC AND CHANNELED HIS ENERGY IN A FRENETIC FREESTYLE OVER CLATTERING HEAVY DRILL INSTRUMENTALS BY MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST STILL. FLIPPING BETWEEN INTENSITY FROM VERSE TO VERSE, ECKO INSTANTLY CONNECTED WITH THE CROWD SPREADING HIS STABBING SOUND WITH LOUD FEROCITY AND MAGNETIC CHARISMA. GRIMY, RHYTHMIC AND INTROSPECTIVE VOCALS OVER HECTIC BEATS RESONATED THROUGH VENICE AND BEYOND.
THE SECOND ACT ON APRIL 22ND WAS A LIVE PERFORMANCE BY EXPAT, THE AMERICAN PERFORMATIVE ART ROCK BRAINCHILD OF QUEER ICON MYKKI BLANCO & SAMUEL ACEVEDO WHO TOOK OVER THE STAGE WITH AN INTENSE, DRAMATIC AND THEATRICAL LIVE SHOW. EXPAT COMBINES THEATRICAL POETRY STEMMING FROM THE BLACK QUEER DIASPORA WITH THE GOTH AND HEAVY METAL MUSICAL TRADITIONS OF LATIN AMERICA. THEIR MODUS OPERANDI IS THE RECLAMATION OF EXTREME SOUND AND EXPRESSION FOR THE BLACK/BROWN WO/MAN AND HARDCORE QUEER BAPTISMS IN THE FACE OF VIOLENT COLONIZATION – A LIVE FUSION OF SPOKEN WORD, SOUND COLLAGE, DIY NOISE AND ROCK’N’ROLL THAT’S ROOTED IN RADICAL FREEDOM. WITH THEIR RAPTUROUS HEAT AND HARD POETRY, THEY ONCE AGAIN LEFT THE AUDIENCE WITH NO OTHER OPTION THAN TO EMBRACE THE HERE AND NOW.
TO CLOSE THE FIRST DAY OF 10 YEARS OF TRAVELLING VENICE, ROMAN SOUND ARCHITECT AND DJ COSIMO DAMIANO TOOK OVER THE DECKS AT COMBO, OFFERING SONIC SEQUENCES SEWN FROM PULSATING PATTERNS AND LUCID BEATS.
CO-FOUNDER OF DELTAPLANET RECORDS, COSIMO DAMIANO HAS A STRONG BACKGROUND IN ROME’S RAVE AND FREE PARTY SCENE. FROM HIS RESIDENCY AT EX-DOGANA, TO HIS LONG-TIME COLLABORATIONS AND PROJECTS SUCH AS SALÒ, DELTAPLANET AND NEURODREAMERS WITH ALESSANDRO ADRIANI ON PINKMAN. THROUGH HIS MUSIC, DAMIANO AIMS TO REACTIVATE LOST FUTURES AND WITH THE SAME INTENTION HE CREATES A CONNECTION BETWEEN TECHNICAL TECHNOLOGIES AND STYLES FROM DIFFERENT ERAS.
THE DAY AFTER, LFAWNDAH GRACED COMBO WITH HER DEBUT SHOW AS A LIVE FLAUTIST ALONGSIDE PERCUSSIONIST AND COMPOSER SEBASTIEN FORRESTER. WITH FORRESTER PROVIDING A PULSING BACKDROP OF LIVE DRUMS AND ELECTRONICS, THE DUO PUT LAFAWNDAH’S STORYTELLING AND INSTRUMENTAL EXPLORATIONS AT THE FOREFRONT.
THROUGH HER POWERFUL VOICE SHE ENGAGED WITH THE AUDIENCE ON A DEEP LEVEL OF INTROSPECTION, ALLOWING COMPLEX TEMPORAL LAYERING TO EMERGE, LEANING TOWARDS AN INTIMATE DIMENSION YET WITH A LINGERING AIR OF SECRECY. AN EMOTIONALLY CHARGED PERFORMANCE THAT INEVITABLY TOUCHED EACH SOUL PRESENT.
FOLLOWING LAFAWNDAH’S PERFORMANCE, THE SECOND ACT FEATURED A LIVE SHOW BY MULTIDISCIPLINARY COLLECTIVE SALÒ: THE MANIFESTO OF A DREAMY AND DECADENT ROMAN RENAISSANCE PROPOUNDED BY EMILIANO MAGGI, TONI CUTRONE, GIACOMO MANCINI, COSIMO DAMIANO AND STEFANO DI TRAPANI.
SPRINGING FROM THE PASOLINIAN MACROCOSM, SALÒ’S ANTHOLOGY IS BASED ON DUALITIES: FINDING PLEASURE IN THE DECADENT, ON LITERATURE AND PERVERSION, ETERNITY AND SITUATIONISM, THE GROTESQUE AND THE VISIONARY, FANTASY AND REALITY, THE BAROQUE AND THE CONTEMPORARY, CRITIQUE AND PROVOCATION. SALÒ’S BOUNDARY-REJECTING PERFORMANCES ACT AS A MEDIUM TO TRANSLATE DUALITIES INTO RITUAL PRACTICE AND OPEN A WINDOW IN A PERFORMATIVE DIMENSION WHICH DENY ANY FORM OF CANONICITY OR MORALITY.
DURING THE PERFORMANCE, SALÒ IMMERSED COMBO INTO THEIR ALLUSIVE AND MURKY IMAGERY, COMBINING PSYCHEDELIC SCENARIOS AND MYTHOLOGICAL SYMBOLISM THROUGH A SYNAESTHESIA OF NOISE MUSIC, ESOTERIC ATMOSPHERES, BAROQUE COSTUMES AND PERFORMANCE. A 20-MINUTES LONG LIVE EXTRACT FROM SALÒ’S OTHERWORLDLY PERFORMANCE IN VENICE IS AVAILABLE ON SOUNDCLOUD.
FOR THE CLOSING ACT OF ’10 YEARS OF TRAVELLING’ VENICE, PARISIAN DJ AND PRODUCER BAMBOUNOU LED THE CROWD ON A SONIC JOURNEY INTO POLYRHYTHMIC TECHNO, WITH A MULTIFACETED SOUND SPECTRUM EXPANDING THROUGH FUTURISTIC INTERPRETATIONS OF UK TECHNO, IDM AND TRIBAL SOURCES.