Alexander Roberts (UK/IS) & Ásrún Magnúsdóttir (IS): Danceoke...

21st and 23rd of September at 10.30pm, 22nd of September at 11pm @ &TD Atrium Danceoke exists in different forms all over the world. From Stockholm to Tokyo to New York, where ever you go people can be found dancing in big groups in front of big screens to known dances captured on video. Back in their hometown Reykjavík, their danceoke club nights have become a big thing, attracting large crowds every month. Festival participants can get involved by simply turning up and starting to dance, they can make requests during the evening or in advance, request a solo or a duet… In Zagreb, artists and DJs Ásrún Magnúsdóttir and Alexander Roberts will DJ a danceoke set for three nights. The sets will be eclectic and draw inspiration from the queerest, poppiest dancing classics, to monumental moments of dance and performance art history, to locally inspired, obscure dancing gems. Expect a mash-up of Beyoncé, Yelle, Marina Abramović, Mary Poppins, and so on… This is everybody’s danceoke. BIOGRAPHY Alexander Roberts is a curator, creative producer and artist, based in Reykjavik, Iceland. Currently the Programme Director of the MFA in Performing Arts at the Iceland Academy of the Arts, he is also Co-Director of RDF and co-founder of A! International Performance Festival in Akureyri. Alongside his curatorial work – Alexander is a partner in a number of artistic collaborations – working closely on numerous activities with choreographer Àsrùn Magnúsdóttir, choreographer Katrín Gunnarsdóttir and performance making duo Dance for Me. Ásrún Magnúsdóttir is a choreographer, artist, performer and a DJ. She wants to stretch the dominant modes of dance and choreography. She created many works which have been well received (nominated for awards and awarded). She has made different works for both stage and site-specific. She’s often...

(The) Lesser Men(HR)...

22nd of September at 9.30pm @ &TD Atrium (The) Lesser Men deal with the intricacies of the basic everyday experience, things that go unnoticed just because of the unrelenting force and grind of the repetitive. The band tries to put to use, even exploit, standard pop concert conventions, just slightly distorted, the culprit being the eye of the camera. The project in question is planned as an experiment in conventional performative action. In other words, the band take on traditional, that’s not to say conventional concert form, certainly not the rock bravado and posturing. The disturbing and sickening mechanics of The Everyday is bread and butter of (The) Lesser Men. In musical terms, combined with the video art element of the set, (The) Lesser Men deal with the political discourse through the rhetorics of escapism, invading the infinite pockets of uncharted linguistic space that tend to shut down just as swift as they open. The musical search is set up within the all-conquering  mindboggling dumbness of popular culture in the provincial late-capitalist society. That in itself is the reason why (The) Lesser Men as a musical quartet doesn’t dwell in the deeply experimental, uncharted audio and visual experience, yet it is experimental as experimental goes. BIOGRAPHY (The) Lesser Men is a four-piece band from Zagreb formed in 2012. Members are Branko Skendžić (drums, percussion), Denis Brčić (bass guitar), Neven Svilar (guitars, vocal) and LesserManBasic (synthesizers/keyboards, guitars, harmonica, vocals). They will release the Bedrooms (Geenger/Ammonite Records) on the day of the concert promotion of the album. + special gues The Marshmallow...