The closing event of Kuboraum’s 10 Years Of Travelling took place on December 8th in Berlin at the iconic Club Tresor.

Since 1991, Tresor has been a pioneer in shaping the sound of Berlin and more broadly the electronic music scene as it is today. Originally located deep in the underground vault of a huge former department store, Tresor was the first big club dedicated purely to techno: hard, cold and precise – euphoric through its speed and movement alone.

Its great impact on the people’s consciousness was also fostered by the in-house label Tresor Records, which served as a foreign imprint for Detroit DJs such as Jeff Mills, Mike Banks and Blake Baxter, who were travelling to Berlin to play residencies at the club. If techno was invented in Detroit, it’s from Tresor in Berlin that it spread into the world and the entire scene started.

After its move to a new location at the Kraftwerk Berlin in 2007, the club took on an expanded curatorial role, relaunching the annual Atonal festival and commissioning numerous multimedia events and art exhibitions with the neighbouring OHM gallery.

Back in August 2015 Kuboraum curated the first event off Atonal Festival in Berlin with Karl O’Connor aka REGIS as headliner of the festival: after a first meeting in New York, Regis and KUBORAUM came together to conceptualize a special limited series including a compilation of unreleased tracks carefully selected by Regis to present at Kuboraum’s Open Studio during the days of the festival. This was the first of a long series of curated events which made Kuboraum a leading voice in the culture, music, art community and an established curatorial project.

On December 8th Kuboraum celebrated their 10^th Anniversary in Berlin, precisely in Tresor’s Globus. To go back to where everything started, Kuboraum invited once again Karl aka Regis to bring his new instrumental project EROS as world premiere, among a range of special live acts, performances and DJ sets by some of the most interesting artists on the contemporary scene.

From a sound installation by Stefanie Egedy, to a live set by boundary-pushing electronic producer Loraine James, followed by live performances by the American art rock band EXPAT and ‘Canzionieri’, the new project ‘Canzonieri’ by Cosimo Damiano and Emiliano Maggi, DJ sets by multidisciplinary artist Slim Soledad and key figures of the roman techno scene DJ Red and Cosimo Damiano, alongside a site-specific installation by Domenico Romeo.

A specially curated lineup rejecting any definition of musical genre. A curatorial research of the non-genre, as a political and stylistic choice, which has always been part of Kuboraum’s identity and project. An insight of the contemporary moment bringing the work of different artists, proposing completely different genres, impossible to box in any rigid and suffocating category.

On this occasion we also celebrated the birth of the new Kuboraum logo, embodying our narrative, development and shaped identity in the past 10 years. Re-interpreting the original outline of a square symbolizing the architecture of a cubical room, the new Kuboraum logo stands as a manifesto of protection, inclusivity, diversity, liquid identity, and organic architecture.

To open 10 Years Of Travelling Berlin, Brazilian sound worker Stefanie Egedy presented Bodies And Subwoofers (B.A.S.), a sound installation investigating the ways in which specific frequencies – sub-bass, bass sounds, subwoofers – interact with multiple physical bodies (human and non-human) and the new realities that emerge from their interactions. Not only exploring the interaction of sound waves and human bodies, but also the correlations between sound and the structural aspects of the space where the installation is presented (dimensions, materials, walls, columns, and floor), to reveal the way they communicate with each other. With her installation, Stefanie created unique vibrational experiences intersecting sonorous and musical language.

For the whole duration of the night Domenico Romeo’s site-specific sculptural installation was on view on the ground floor. Connoted with a strong anthropomorphic and architectural component, Domenico’s living structure made of iron bars and nylon fabrics invited the viewers to recognize themselves in it and undertake multiple spatial experiences.

The first act taking place at the Globus was a live performance by ‘Canzonieri’, the new project by Cosimo Damiano and Emiliano Maggi, members of the group SALÒ. Rooted in the Italian folk literature, Canzonieri derives from the word ‘Canzoniere’ which is a collection of poetry intended to be sung. With their performance, Canzonieri invited the audience to enter an obscure and medieval microcosm filled with flutes, guitars, modular synthesis and voice, all wrapped in mysterious allure.

Following them, EXPAT – the duo comprising queer icon Mykki Blanco and Samuel Acevvedo – took over the stage with their eruptive energy. Combining queer, Black theatre and poetry with Latin American heavy metal and murky hardcore punk, they once again challenged the audience with extreme sound and expression for the Black/Brown wo/man and hardcore queer baptisms in the face of violent colonization.

As the room started to fill up, London sound experimentalist Loraine James opened the dancefloor with an hour-long live set, blending IDM glitch aesthetics and her improvisational, jazz-rooted spirit into cohesive and emotive sonic creations. Testing the boundaries of dance music, she carried the audience on a sound journey through a fluid musical landscape where eclectic beats and sounds shift and flow at a mercurial pace, using fast change and rapid movement as effectively as samples and loops.

After Loraine James’ live set, Einstürzende Neubauten producer Boris Wilsdorf, Karl O’Connor aka Regis and MY DISCO’s Liam Andrews presented their new instrumental project EROS as a world live premiere. With fiercely lean sound, shaped by Wilsdorf’s manacled mixing and anchored in the swerve of Regis vocals and his snake-hipped rhythm section, EROS’ performance represented a lustrous new high point of contemporary industrial and dance music.

Later, Brazilian performer and multidisciplinary artist Slim Soledad took control of the decks, bringing the people back on the dancefloor with a wild DJ set, spanning from syncopated, twerk-triggering baile Funk to nosebleed-inducing techno; hardstyle bootlegs of pop songs to brain-frying electro. Following her, our friend and longtime collaborator DJ Red led the crowd on an ecstatic voyage, turning the Globus into an intimate room full of love and sharing, infused with a strong sense of community.

After DJ Red played her last record, the after party continued downstairs in Tresor’s basement. As soon as we got there, UK techno figurehead Regis took possession of the decks with a 2-hour DJ set bludgeoning the senses with his ascetic and pinpoint-focused sound. Cosimo Damiano followed for the closing act of 10 Years of Travelling Berlin with an immersive and hypnotic DJ set exploring the space between the conscious and subconscious.

Only a few people were left on the dancefloor but every single one was dancing.

On October 29th we celebrated the launching event of the new Kuboraum shop-in-shop at Atelier Mira in Brooklyn, NY.  The opening party hosted an immersive and captivating live performance by the Spanish non-binary artist Bella Báguena.

Bella Báguena’s artistic production focuses on gender self-examination and originates from an intuitive, emotional process carried out through different mediums: her voice, body movement and identity, as well as objects, spaces and technologies, to create sound, video, sculptural or performative pieces.
Led by her own intuition and curiosity, Bella’s artistic proposals navigate between different sources, spanning from the pop imagery and internet culture to nature and the body experience. Through a multitude of languages – words, body expression and the energy of her voice – Bella achieved a close and intimate connection between the audience and her own emotional experience during the performance.

During Terraforma 2022, Kuboraum supported and curated the Light Stage, which DJ Red took over for the closing act. Once again, she brought the crowd on a unique mystical journey like no other. Like a force of nature, she deeply connected with the surroundings embracing the gusting wind, falling leaves on the decks and vinyls covered in dust. Through her sound, she transported the crowd into a new space-time dimension of communion, exchange and ecstatic ritual. An all-embracing experience in complete symbiosis with nature’s frequencies.

As a homage to the purest form of the festival, Kuboraum launched the new ‘Dance Like Nobody Is Watching Mask X5’: an ode to the dancefloor, a temple where people meet, cohabitate, exchange and celebrate differences in the ecstatic ritual of dance. ⁠

The Ltd Edition X5 Dance Like Nobody Is Watching comes in forest green with 24h lenses and is only available in 50 pieces. All the proceeds will be donated to support tree-planting in the beautiful Villa Arconati.

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 and twisting politicized lyrics in Luganda, providing kinetic, mind-blowing entertainment, a nightmarish as explosive soundscape that would stay in your head for long and ignite any raving crowd. 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 & partner 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. This duo formation is a stripped down but expansive voyage through Lafawndah’s dynamic back catalogue. 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 to bring us back in time and immerse ourselves once again in Salò’s spiritual world and narrative.

For the closing act of ’10 Years Of Travelling’ Venice, Parisian DJ and producer Bambounou led the crowd on a sound journey into polyrhythmic techno, with a multifaceted sound spectrum expanding through futuristic interpretations of UK techno, IDM and tribal sources.

Following  our ’10 Years Of Travelling’ event in Venezia, one week later we moved to Milano to celebrate at CASA FLASH ART ’10 Years Of Travelling’ Milan along with the inauguration of the new Kuboraum & Innerraum Flagship Store in the center of Milan.

Since 1967 FLASH ART has been a leading voice in the art world, creating culture in contemporary art, the pursuit of radicalism and the space of avantgarde. On April 28th Casa Flash Art hosted the premiere of the new performance SIRENOMELIA by polyhedric artist AGNES QUESTIONMARK (AGNES?) followed by a DJ set by PAN label head Bill Kouligas alongside an exhibition of Kuboraum’s artisanal one-of-a-kind Eye Couture masks, narrating the genesis behind the brand with its focus on precious Italian handcraft and its language of multitudes.

In constant research transcending the borders of the human body, Agnes? explores the abyss and fathoms the limitlessness of identity. As a human-aquatic hybrid creature, Agnes? serves as a metaphor for body and identity as liquid entities that constantly take new forms and shapes. An artistic project in constant evolution, springing from the artist’s ongoing and never-ending exploration of the self.

Agnes Questionmark (Agnes?) born in Rome, living in London, graduated from the Fine Arts program of Camberwell College of Arts in 2018. Although she began her journey with photography and sculpture, she now focuses on performance as a means to explore the relationship between humans and nature. Agnes Questionmark (Agnes?) has exhibited in several cities in Europe, including Rome, Florence, Barcelona and London. Her most recent projects include her solo show TRANSGENESIS presented by The Orange Garden in partnership with Harlesden High Street and Underground Flower (London), a special performance at Teatro Lliure (Barcelona), a two-person exhibition titled ‘Tides In The Body’ at Lychee One (London) and the performance ‘Il Cappello del Polpo’ at Palazzo Massimo in Rome. In 2019 she was selected to be part of the Midwater Residency in collaboration with Studio Forlane on the island of Poros, Greece. In the same year she exhibited in the Ancient City of Cosa, Ansedonia, for the second chapter of HYPERMAREMMA ‘The Submerged City’. In 2017 she was awarded the ‘Lorenzo Il Magnifico’ prize at the Florence Biennale in the Performance Art category. In 2022 Agnes Questionmark (Agnes?) will attend her MFA at the Pratt Institute in New York for which she has been awarded a Merit Scholarship.

The second act presented at our ’10 Years Of Travelling’ event in Milan was a DJ set by PAN founder Bill Kouligas, who carried the crowd on a voyage deep into the unknown through bold and other-worldly sounds rejecting any definition of ‘genre’.

Founder and artistic director of the multidisciplinary platform and record label PAN, Bill Kouligas is a key figure in recalibrating perceptions of the avant-garde and electronic dance music. In his artistic practice, Kouligas draws inspiration from diverse sources, traditions, and various subcultures. He adapts those sources and relates them to contemporary life through an evolving experimentation with different media in multidimensional works through sound, visual and performance. Through personal bonds with artists of different backgrounds and their shared passion for music, performative and visual art, philosophy, political and social studies, Bill has created not only a record label and music archive but an ever-evolving platform.

This year, in occasion of the 10th Anniversary, Kuboraum made its debut in Italy with the first flagship store in Milan, following the first and historical store in Berlin.
Not far from Milan’s city center, visitors are immersed into a blue ocean Odyssey of antiqued mirrors made in collaboration with the artist Emiliano Maggi. His glazed ceramic hybrids float and sink into the foreground of a patchwork wall of plaster, which was realized as a tribute to the Canova in occasion of the 200th anniversary after his death.

Emiliano Maggi’s alienating ceramic figures specifically produced for Kuboraum’s Milan space manage to combine psychedelic scenarios with mythological symbolism, rituals and rural iconography made of fairy tales and dreams with hypnotic settings from our own 1970s horror.

The eye leaps back and forth between the surface and the space, leading visitors to the second room that houses INNERRAUM.
A sci-fi style light box hosting an entirely glass made shelf structure produced by Glass Italia and designed in collaboration with the architect Andrea Eusebi. Given the strong display soul, the space offers an experience beyond the concept of retail, re-enchanting reality.

Constantly transcending and bridging narratives of eyewear, art and music Kuboraum unveiled an installation-window in collaboration with the artist Agnes Questionmark (Agnes?) during the 60th Salone del Mobile.

In reminiscence of Agnes Questionmark’s (Agnes?) performance SIRENOMELIA presented at Casa Flash Art during Kuboraum’s ‘10 Years Of Travelling’ event, the window was home to the 25 kg silicon tail realized by the multidisciplinary artist Anthr0morph.  In constant exploration of the self, polyhedric artist Agnes? questions the boundaries of identity and shapes her work around the idea of a fluid, visceral and ever-changing limitless identity. In SIRENOMELIA a mermaid-like mythological creature emerged from the abyss of Casa Flash Art, encouraging the audience to embark upon their own journey of self-exploration.

Back in July 2021, Kuboraum collaborated with Terraforma to celebrate the launch of the new Terraforma Journal issue #1 at the evocative location of Berlin’s Funkhaus Harbour.

The new editorial project by Terraforma represents the desire to create a new, ever-accessible platform in which sound, art, ecology and contemporary culture intersect and interact. Composed by different editorial sections, the first issue explores and broadens the pure notion of festival, not only as a time-space limited entity but as a ‘collective, multilateral, interconnected manifestation of dynamicity’. In this attempt, the journal encapsulates a multiplicity of voices and perspectives that push this concept further with the final goal of providing a platform for creative exchange. The same definition of festival applies mutatis mutandis to what Terraforma Journal stands for, as a space of exchange and encounter within shared cultural, social and political symbols.
To celebrate the launch of the new Terraforma Journal, Kuboraum + Terraforma invited the legendary DJ Stingray and DJ Red, bringing people together again on the dancefloor.

Representative of Kuboraum’s identity and project, Dj Red opened the floor at Funkhaus Harbour and brought the crowd on a mesmerizing sound journey. In her 4-hour set, she turned the dancefloor into a space of creative exchange, connecting the community grooving to the same beat in an ecstatic dance under the sunset light.

Following her, Dj Stingray took over the spaceship embarking upon an immersive 2 hours DJ-set, giving no time to rest and gracing the decks with eclectic, dystopian electronic sounds.

Since the 90s, Sherard Ingram has been one of the most influential artists in the Detroit underground scene. A menacing node in the vast tangle of electronic music’s history, present and future. Founder of Urban Tribe, Ingram worked alongside electro pioneers such as Drexciya, Anthony Shakir, Kenny Dixon Jr aka Moodymann.
DJ Stingray’s aesthetic was greatly influenced by the duo Drexciya. Their ethos was based on the afro-futurist narrative concept of a sonic fiction. Through sonic engagement with water, futurity and the transnational dimension of transformation, listeners embark upon a universal journey to a place of self-discovery. In this context, a mythical creature emerging from the aquatic underworld was named DJ Stingray by James Stinson. Besides adding to the consistent aquatic tropes, the name also acutely embodied his slippery, killer attitude behind the decks.

With more than three dozen releases, Ingram collaborated with labels as Retroactive, Aphex Twin’s Rephlex label, TRUST and Mo Wax, later forming Micron Audio in 2008. In 2017 his first mix CD, Kern Vol. 4, was released by Tresor.

From futuristic electro to conceptual ambient to downtempo works, his style is characterised by fast-paced, inventive beat patterns and constant shifts in tones. Warp-speed slithery, metallic techno with an Underground Resistance punk edge and a rising sense of momentum.
A highly specialised, fine-tuned scientific experiment conducted by a skilled researcher: not euphoric, but more intellectual in nature. Always hectic and highly engaged, but never unfocused.

The collaboration between Kuboraum and Terraforma finds ultimate expression in the recorded soundscape curated by Dj Red and DJ Stingray during the event at Funkhaus Harbour in Berlin, which is available on Soundcloud.

We were thrilled to guest the East African arts collective NYEGE NYEGE on decks at our KUBORAUM OPEN STUDIO Thursday January 30th 4-9PM, on the occasion of a future collaboration ready for hard booty trance under the Ungandan sun.

NYEGE NYEGE based in Kampala, Uganda, was established to support the East African music community offering residencies and studios to emerging musicians that have what it takes to bring their careers to the global stage, alongside their record labels Nyege Nyege Tapes and Hakuna Kulala and an artist management agency. The Nyege Nyege festival was subsequently born as a platform to showcase the artists’ new productions, developing both the local arts and culture industry, connecting underground musicians from around the continent with one another and is creating meaningful employment to many young people involved in the creative sector.

Mc Yallah, Debmaster, Catu Diosis, Don Zilla, DJ Diaki, Afrorack, Duma [Kanja&Sam] were all in Berlin on invitation from CTM Festival.
MC Yallah, one of the pioneers of female hiphop in Uganda, who recently released an album on Nyege Nyege Tapes and has received international accolades for the best albums of the year section.
The tour will also mark the European premier of Brian Bamanya also known as Afrorack, who is the first African to build his own synthesiser.
Amongst the upcoming Kampala DJs who are also gaining international interest are Catu Diosis who everyone remembers from a blasting main stage show at Nyege Nyege with her dancers.
Samuel Kisakye also known as Don Zilla has been with Nyege Nyege for over five years, he just released his second EP that has been widely received internationally.
Duma, a grindcore project from Kenya, set to release an album in 2020.
DJ Diaki aka Diaki Kone, Balani show DJ, and radio animator in Sanakoroba, Mali. One of the originators of Balani Show sound system sound, DJ Diaki plays in the style of Balani mix with high energy balafon samples, crashing drums, and live remixes that he calls Balani Fou, considered the Singeli of the West.

Hibotep is a self-described cultural nomad, her one rule is that rules are there for breaking; a philosophy that extends to her DJ sets where, trap, hip-hop, house and genres such as Kenya’s Taraab or Morocco’s Gnawa, collide to create a vibrant contemporary collage.

KUBORAUM & OPERATIVA ARTE CONTEMPORANEA WERE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION SPETTRO SOUND SYSTEM BY THE ARTIST EMILIANO MAGGI ON THURSDAY APRIL 26TH, DURING BERLIN GALLERY WEEKEND 2018.

SPETTRO SOUND SYSTEM IS THE SOUND INSTALLATION SPECIFICALLY CONCEIVED BY EMILIANO MAGGI FOR THE VISIONARY SPACES OF THE KUBORAUM FLAGSHIP STORE IN BERLIN.
THIS PROJECT IS THE RESULT OF THE THE ARTIST’S RESEARCH ON THE INTERCONNECTION BETWEEN SOUND, FORM, FUNCTION AND THE TRANSFIGURATION OF INSTRUMENTS AND MUSICAL EFFECTS THROUGH THE USE OF ALIENATING CERAMIC SCULPTURES THAT REINVENT APPEARANCE AND PERCEPTION.
FIVE GLAZED CERAMIC SCULPTURES ENCOMPASSING WITHIN THEIR SHELL FIVE FUNCTIONING MICROPHONES WILL STOOD OUT IN THE SPACE. THE MICROPHONE/SCULPTURES ARE THOSE THAT ACCOMPANIED THE ARTIST DURING THE LAST FEW YEARS OF PERFORMANCES AND LIVE SHOWS, THE SAME SHELLS THAT HAVE HARNESSED AND MAGNIFIED HIS VOICE AND THAT NOW PRESENT THEMSELVES AS A HOMOGENEOUS SCULPTURAL CHOIR.
MICROPHONES AND SPEAKERS, CONNECTED TO AN EIGHT CHANNEL MIXER, RESONATED THE VOICE OF THE ARTIST WHO PERFORMED A SERIES OF VOCAL EXERCISES GRADUALLY MODIFIED THROUGH DISTORTIONARY AND HYPNOTIC EFFECTS.
IN ADDITION, THE SOUND OF THE AMBIENT BACKGROUND NOISE CAPTURED BY THE MICROPHONES WAS ALSO HEARD, BLENDING INTO A UNIQUE
DREAMLIKE AND ALIENATING POLYPHONY.
ON DISPLAY NEXT TO THIS ONEIRIC SOUND INSTALLATION THERE WERE PRESENTED FOUR CERAMIC SCULPTURES ESPECIALLY CONCEIVED BY THE ARTIST AS A SCULPTURAL DIALOGUE WITH FOUR KUBORAUM MASKS, AS THE RESULT OF AN ABSURD INTERCONNECTION BETWEEN THE ARTIST’S ORGANIC SHAPES AND THE KUBORAUM ARCHITECTURAL GEOMETRIES.

KUBORAUM WAS INVITED BY VINCENZO SCHILLACI TO CURATE A SITE SPECIFIC INSTALLATION WITH A SPECIAL SELECTION OF PERFORMANCES AND LIVE SETS IN PALERMO, DURING THE OPENING WEEKEND OF MANIFESTA #12, THE EUROPEAN NOMADIC BIENNIAL OF CONTEMPORARY ART.

WE WERE THRILLED TO SHARE A UNIQUE DEEP SENSORIAL EXPERIENCE IN THE ATRIUM OF PALAZZO MAZZARINO.
IT WAS ACCOMPANIED BY THE OLFACTORY LYRICS OF ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PERFUME CREATORS: MEO FUSCIUNI, FOLLOWED BY A DEEP SYNCRETIC JOURNEY FROM THE HYPNOTIC EMILIANO MAGGI WITH HIS LIVE SET “ESTASI NEOMELODICO.
THE EVENT CONCLUDED WITH THE DEEP SOUND LANDSCAPES OF VARG AND ANNAMELINA WITH THEIR VISIONARY PROJECT FLORA.

KUBORAUM CONTINUES ITS OPEN STUDIO EVENT SERIES, THIS TIME PRESENTING THE NEW ALBUM OF SICILIAN SOUND DESIGNER AND PRODUCER NINO PEDONE AKA SHAPEDNOISE.
TO CELEBRATE HIS FORTHCOMING NEW ALBUM ‘AESTHESIS’ BEING RELEASED ON NUMBERS, SHAPEDNOISE BROUGHT TOGETHER HIS FRIENDS FOR A SPECIAL DJ PERFORMANCE IN THE INTIMATE AND DISTINCTIVE ATMOSPHERE OF THE KUBORAUM STUDIO. DURING SEVERAL YEARS THIS SPACE BECAME AN IMPORTANT DESTINATION FOR SHARING CULTURE IN BERLIN.

THE ILLUSTRIOUS GUESTS INVITED TO SHARE AN EPIC CONSOLE ARE BILL KOULIGAS, OWNER OF THE MULTIDISCIPLINARY LABEL PAN, FELLOW HARDCORE ITALIANS GABBER ELEGANZA, FOUNDER OF NEVER SLEEP AND RECENT COLLABORATOR, ALONG WITH RISING POLISH TECHNO PRODUCER MARTYNA MAJA AKA VTSS WHO RELEASED ON SHAPEDNOISE’S REPITCH LABEL.
RENOWNED PHOTOGRAPHER LEONARDO SCOTTI PRESENTED PHOTOGRAPHY FROM ‘AESTHESIS’ SHOOT IN GIBELLINA, A TOWN THAT HAS BECOME A PRECIOUS ARCHIVE OF CONTEMPORARY ART, A VERITABLE MUSEUM IN THE OPEN AIR.
FILMMAKER AND COLLABORATOR PEDRO MAIA C VISUALS FROM THE ‘AESTHESIS A/V SHOW’ INCLUDING FOOTAGE FROM BRAZILIAN PERFORMER AUN HELDEN, FOLLOWING THE SHAPEDNOISE & PEDRO MAIA LIVE DEBUT AT BERLIN ATONAL THIS AUGUST.

SHAPEDNOISE DESCRIBES ‘AESTHESIS’ AS ‘INFORMED BY A SET OF KEY ELEMENTS THAT INTWINE ALL THE TRACKS TOGETHER, LIKE STEPS IN A LONG RESEARCH PROCESS. IT IS INTENDED AS A SENSORY EXPERIENCE WHERE THE SENSES ACT AS AN INTERFACE, SOUND AS SPACE’. HIS EXPERIMENTATION WITH UNORTHODOX RHYTHMIC STRUCTURES AND RADICAL CINEMATIC DESIGN REVEALS ACTIONS GROUNDED IN DIRECT EXPERIENCE BUT ‘INSPIRED BY A KIND OF SPECULATIVE REALISM’.
NINO PEDONE’S EXPLORATION OF NOISE AND MENTAL WITH RAVE AND HARDCORE. HIS AFFINITY WITH GRITTY TECHNO AND MODERN RAP/TRAP BLEED THROUGH WITH EARTH-SHATTERING BLOCKS OF BASS AND BEATS CONVEYED WITHIN HIS PRACTICE OF SONIC SCULPTURE. ‘AESTHESIS’ MELTS THESE SOUNDS DOWN, EVOLVING THEM INTO SOMETHING NEW OF HIS OWN – A COMPLEX, HYBRID BEING DESIGNED TO BE PLAYED LOUD.

A SERIES OF ARTISTIC COLLABORATIONS ARE HEARD THROUGHOUT THE ALBUM – FROM THE ACUSTIC R&B OF ALBUM OPENER ‘INTRIGUING (IN THE END)’ WHICH FEATURES VOCALS FROM MULTIMEDIA ARTIST E. JANE’S ALTER EGO MHYSA, TO JUSTIN K BROADRICK (FOUNDING MEMBER OF GODFLESH AND ZONAL) ON ‘BLAZE’ AND ALBUM CLOSER ‘MOBY DICK’; A COLLABORATION WITH SCOTTISH LEGEND DREW MCDOWALL (EX-COIL AND PSYCHIC TV MEMBER) AND RABIT (FOUNDER OF HALCYON VEIL).

This Kuboraum curated event featured a live performance by the intriguing duo FLORA, Varg & AnnaMelina, while exhibiting works by Swedish artist David von Bahr together with the works of Kuboraum’s Artist-in-residence, the Italo-Brasilian artist Vinicius Jayme Vallorani.

19TH APRIL 2019
A MULTIMEDIA INSTALLATION USING SOUND, VIDEO-PROJECTIONS, EYE-COUTURE MASKS, NEW CREATIONS, ARCHIVE PIECES, LIGHTS, PRINTS ON SEVERAL DIFFERENT MATERIALS, HAND PAINTED AND BURNT PLEXIGLASS, ONE DJ, DANCING PEOPLE.
AN EXCURSUS ON THE RELATION BETWEEN THE MASK AND THE CONCEPT OF IDENTITY, THE DANCE FLOOR AS AN INTERACTIVE AFFIRMATION OF HYBRIDIZATION AND LIQUID IDENTITY. THE CONCEPT OF IDENTITY IS THE FIELD OF EXPERIMENTATION WHERE THE WHOLE KUBORAUM PROJECT EMPHASIZES ON THE ANXIETY THAT EACH ONE OF US HAS RELATED TO THE CONTRAST BETWEEN PRESENTATION AND SELF-REPRESENTATION.
KUBORAUM USES THE GAME OF MASK AS A HYPOTHETICAL SOLUTION TO THIS ANXIETY. THE MASK AS OUR LIQUID ARCHITECTURE, OUR LIGHT BOX AND OUR DARK BOX, A LIQUID ARCHITECTURE WHERE WE EXPERIENCE OURSELVES AND ALL OUR IDENTITIES IN BETWEEN THE CITY-SCAPES. A BOX FULL OF LIGHT LIKE A DANCE FLOOR IS THE REPRESENTATION OF AN EMOTIONAL ARCHITECTURE THAT ARISES FROM THE CONSTITUTION OF A GROUP ENTITY, A LIQUID IDENTITY FORMED BY MULTIPLE INDIVIDUALS AND MULTIPLE IDENTITIES. THROUGH OUR LIQUID BOX, OUR LIQUID ARCHITECTURE WE EXPERIENCE OUR IDENTITIES, THROUGH THE DANCE FLOOR, A NEO-CONTEMPORARY ORACLE FOR THOUGHTS ABOUT OURSELVES, WE MEET, WE EXCHANGE, WE DANCE AND WE KNOW OURSELVES THROUGH DIFFERENCES WITH EACH OTHER. THE DANCE FLOOR IS A POLITICAL ENTITY, IT IS COHABITATION, IT IS THE LIBERATION OF DIFFERENCES, IT IS ENJOYING THESE DIFFERENCES, WITHOUT ANNULLING THEM. THE IDEA THAT WE ARE ALL THE SAME IS TERRIBLE, EACH OF US IS MULTIPLE AND DIFFERENT, WE MUST LEARN TO ENJOY THESE DIFFERENCES, THROUGH THE OTHER WE MUST LEARN TO KNOW OURSELVES. THE DANCE FLOOR IS A POLITICAL ENTITY THAT EDUCATES US TO ENJOY THESE DIFFERENCES BY CELEBRATING THEM IN THE ECSTATIC RITUAL OF DANCE.
THE SOUNDSCAPE DURING THE EXPERIENCE WAS CURATED BY DJ RED.

DURING THE FORTH EPISODE OF OUR ATONAL OFF EVENT SERIES, WE HAD THE HONOR TO HOST & SHARE WITH A SPECIAL CROWD A UNIQUE MOMENT FOR THE UNDERGROUND MUSIC SCENE: THE 25TH YEAR OF THE LEGENDARY DOWNWARDS RECORDS.
THE WELL VISITED OFF JAM SESSION WAS A VERY NOTABLE AND INTIMATE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION AND THIS SET IS DELIVERING THE EXACT ATMOSPHERE AND VIBE THAT WAS EXPERIENCED DURING THIS EVENING.

DOWNWARDS IS A RECORD LABEL FOUNDED IN BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND IN 1993 BY REGIS AND FEMALE, IT HAS A FUNDAMENTAL AND INFLUENTIAL IMPACT ON THE ELECTRONIC MUSIC AND TECHNO PANORAMA WE KNOW TODAY SINCE ITS BEGINNING.

REGIS, LAYNE, JIM NINGUS AND JUSTIN ANASTASI CREATED AN INCREDIBLE AND INTIMATE BEAUTIFUL VIBE WITH THE MUSIC THEY CREATED.

A SPECIAL THANKS TO KARL O’CONNOR AKA REGIS AND TO DOWNWARDS FOR THOSE INCREDIBLE 25 YEARS. WITH YOUR SOUND, YOU HAVE DESIGNED A UNIQUE AESTHETIC WHICH DEEPLY INSPIRES ALL OF US.

THE NAME OF THIS INSTALLATION BY THE ARTIST VINICIUS AND CURATED BY KUBORAUM FOR TERRAFORMA 2019 IS A QUOTE FROM THE BOOK FREE PARTY BY FRANCESCO MACCARONE PALMIERI, 2002, MELTEMI EDITORE.

WE WANT TO REPRESENT A DANCE FLOOR THROUGH THE USE OF FLAGS, A DANCE FLOOR BEING USED AS A METAPHOR FOR A POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ENTITY, THE DANCE FLOOR AS THE IDEAL OF A SOCIETY OF INCLUSION AND COHABITATION.
THE DANCE FLOOR IS THE REPRESENTATION OF AN EMOTIONAL ARCHITECTURE THAT ARISES FROM THE CONSTITUTION OF A GROUP ENTITY, A LIQUID IDENTITY FORMED BY MULTIPLE INDIVIDUALS. THROUGH THE DANCE FLOOR, A NEO-CONTEMPORARY ORACLE FOR THOUGHTS ABOUT OURSELVES, WE MEET, WE EXCHANGE, WE DANCE AND WE KNOW OURSELVES THROUGH DIFFERENCES WITH EACH OTHER.
THE DANCE FLOOR IS A POLITICAL ENTITY, IT IS COHABITATION, IT IS THE LIBERATION OF DIFFERENCES, IT IS ENJOYING THESE DIFFERENCES, WITHOUT ANNULLING THEM.
THROUGH THE FLAGS WE RECOGNIZE OUR FELLOWMEN, THROUGH THE FLAGS WE PLACE OUR BORDERS, THROUGH THE FLAGS WE DEFINE THE OTHER, THROUGH THE FLAGS WE CREATE EXCLUSION AND DIVISION.
IS THIS PERHAPS THE MOMENT TO RECOGNIZE US UNDER A SINGLE FLAG, THE ONE OF THE HUMAN RACE? AFTER A WHOLE EXISTENCE OF STRUGGLES, WARS AND DIVISIONS, AFTER HAVING DRAINED THE PLANET OF ITS RESOURCES, A STEP AWAY FROM MAKING THIS PLANET WE CALL MOTHER EARTH, AN UNLIVABLE AND HARMFUL PLACE, THE WHOLE HUMAN RACE SHOULD RISE UNDER A SINGLE FLAG.

VINICIUS IS CURRENTLY ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE AT KUBORAUM STUDIO IN BERLIN.

KUBORAUM WALL PAPER INSPIRED BY AFROFUTURISM, JUNGLE MUSIC AND LIQUID IDENTITIES.
DISPLAY WITH BURNT AND HAND-PAINTED ACRYLIC AND SEVERAL WHITE ACRYLIC PAINTED ELEPHANTS.