Music
Sat 27 Jan 2018

Nocturnal City 3: London - Manchester with Nik Void

Feat. Nik Void, Flora Yin Wong, LOFT + Afrodeutsche (DJ Set)

Sat 27 Jan 2018
16.00 - 00.00
£10.00 - £15.00
New Wing
Somerset House

An evening of music, panel discussions and installations exploring the state of nightlife and the London - Manchester interplay curated by Studios resident Estela Oliva with a special collaboration from Nik Void (Factory Floor, Carter Tutti Void).

Like London, Manchester has an influential past in the club scene and a fast-evolving new scene. But how can the two cities learn from each other to ensure alternative scenes continue to flourish outside the mainstream? This event opens a cultural exchange between both cities to explore common grounds and discuss opportunities. It invites participants to share ideas for making night spaces safer, and to question the future of nightlife.

This is the last in a series of Nocturnal City events exploring the state of nightlife and its influence. By connecting discussions in London with other world cities, the series explores how urban hubs and communities can learn from each other to create new cultural standards. From algorithmic dance parties to all-female techno collectives, the first virtual nightclubs to the queer club kids and their audacious fashion; a celebration of the scenes, the sounds and the first tube home.

Please note this is an 18+ event.

Nocturnal City 2: London-Barcelona

Full Programme

Doors Open 16.00

[CONVERSATIONS]

16.30-17.45
/ NEW SPACES /
Transgressing Structures, Making Safer Spaces.

This panel explores the role of makers of new spaces and independent collectives in shaping new forms of night culture which promote visibility, inclusivity and tackle harassment.

Moderated by Sapphire McIntosh (founder of Resis’Dance, actor and writer).

Panelists:

Amanda Maxwell (Boiler Room)
Amanda Maxwell works at Boiler Room's London HQ in the music team, sitting across activations for community rooted projects. She's a board member of women in music network shesaid.so and a regular contributor to panel talks on subjects related to inclusion, representation and equal empowerment within the creative industries. Amanda manages a number of London based artists and DJs.  
https://boilerroom.tv/

Chloe Pensavalle (co-founder at Club CITS, founder at Annex Agency)
Chole is the founder of Annex Agency, and co-founder of Club CITS, is a Manchester based club and NTS radio show. They are committed to promoting diversity in the local music scene and encouraging a wider group of people to get involved in playing, programming, producing and experiencing music.
https://castlesintheskymcr.com/
http://annexagency.co.uk/

Under One Roof by Meat Free (Alice Woods)
Under One Roof is a series of rave parties designed for people with disabilities, taking place at Manchester’s Texture. Curated by female collective Meat Free, the events seeks to create an environment for dance music fans whose disabilities preclude them from attending a mainstream event for any reason. It strives to maintain a club environment but uses less intense lighting, and a lower volume of music so it is less intense. A guiding principle of Meat Free is inclusivity, and Under One Roof is simply an extension of that - aiming to open up dance floors to as many people as possible.
http://thisismeatfree.com/under-one-roof/  

UNITI (Englesia)
UNITI is a London-based platform for LGBTQ+ womxn / nb DJs & musicians to express themselves in an all-inclusive safer space. UNITI consists of a selector crew lead by Englesia and GANX, with ears tuned to experimental club, drum tracks & LGBTQ+ dance music subcultures. They host a monthly show at London’s Radar Radio and are hosting parties around Europe celebrating all that is unique & alternative in dance music.
https://soundcloud.com/uniti 
https://www.facebook.com/unitildn

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18.00-19.30
/ CITY FUTURES /
Reimagining Nocturnal Cities

The tight conditions in London are leading to a cultural exodus with places such as Manchester becoming ideal spots for grassroots and alternative cultures to flourish. This panel sets out to reimagine how we can create conditions that allow the cities to create spaces where alternative nightlife can thrive.

Moderated by Dr Toby Heys (Reader in Digital Media, Leader of the Future Technologies research centre at Manchester School of Art).

Panelists:

Shereen Perera (Co-Director at Video Jam, Producer at GRRRL) 
Shereen is a cultural producer based in London/Manchester. She is the Co-Director and Music Curator for film and music night Video Jam - a creative collective exploring the relationship between moving image and live sound. Video Jam have curated events in New York, Argentina, Ibiza and Sri Lanka. The collective has worked with over 400 artists, all at different stages of their career.  Shereen is also a Producer for In Place Of War, an organisation working with artists in areas of conflict, her main project is co-producing GRRRL - a bespoke electronic music collaboration between independent, revolutionary women artists from around the world.
www.videojam.co.uk
www.grrrl.net

Lonelady
Artist, musician and producer from Manchester, signed to Warp records. Julie Campbell is currently doing a residency at Somerset House Studios working inside the navy’s former Rifle Range where she is developing a new album. Julie also organises Shutters Down! an experimental club night celebrating urban wilderness and the repurposing of derelict spaces. It’s an ongoing, irregular and shapeshifting event, taking place in unusual locations across the UK and beyond.
http://lonelady.co.uk/

Liam Young (Speculative Architect, Filmmaker)
Liam Young is a speculative architect who operates in the spaces between design, fiction and futures. He was named by Blueprint magazine as one of 25 people who will change architecture and design in 2010. He is founder of the futures think tank Tomorrows Thoughts Today (tomorrowsthoughtstoday.com), a group whose projects explores the consequences of fantastic, perverse and speculative architectures and urbanisms. Liam also curates events and exhibitions including the annual Thrilling Wonder Stories series and co produces the nomadic teaching studio the ‘Unknown Fields Division’ (unknownfieldsdivision.com) at the Architectural Association in London. http://www.tomorrowsthoughtstoday.com/

Rachael Williams (Programmer at Five Miles, Rye Wax)
Rachael is a freelance writer, venue booker, DJ, promoter and intersectional feminist.

She is currently working at Five Miles in Tottenham and Rye Wax in Peckham, where she is dedicated to creating inclusive and safe environments in spaces not traditionally thought of as being queer friendly. Rachael also guest lectures at Syracuse University teaching nightlife marketing.
https://twitter.com/rachaelwilliams
http://fivemiles.london/

[INSTALLATIONS]

16.00-23.00

Where the City Can’t See by Liam Young
#Videoinstallation
The first fiction film shot entirely using laser scanning technologies. The film explores the subcultures that could emerge in a near future in which technology and surveillance are ruling our cities. Directed by Liam Young and commissioned by Abandoned Normal Devices.
http://www.liamyoung.org/

NeuroSpeculative AfroFeminism (NSAF) by Hyphen-Labs
#VRexperience
Get your brain optimised at Brook’s Salon, a Neurocosmetology lab where black women are pioneering techniques of brain optimisation and cognitive enhancement. The work addresses issues of gender and racial visibility in the world of art and tech.

Hyphen-Labs is an international team of women of colour working at the intersection of technology, art, science and the future.
http://www.hyphen-labs.com/

The Secret Duties of Master and Servant by Clon
#VRexperience
Become a DJ in front of a crowd of virtual ravers who can be controlled with musical gestures. The work is an exploration of concepts of power and dominance in the music industry.

Clon is a hybrid studio for art and new media. Currently Somerset House Studios residents.
https://www.clonworks.com/
 

[MUSIC PROGRAMME]

19.30-00.00

The evening programme has been curated in collaboration with Nik Void, and will feature artists from London and Manchester. Three live electronic acts including a special dance floor set by Nik Void, as well as DJ performances to celebrate the awareness of club culture’s importance to our cities’ future cultural fabric.

AFRODEUTSCHE

19.30-20.45

Afrodeutsche (DJ set)
AFRODEUTSCHE is the project of Henrietta Smith-Rolla, a British born Ghanaian/Russian/German composer, producer, singer and DJ based in Manchester. Her production crosses a wide range of styles, classical solo piano, techno, house and electro. AFRODEUTSCHE recently composed a section of the film Baraka and performed live at the RNCM as part of Video Jam.

Currently artist in residence at Chetham's School of Music, she runs a monthly show on NTS 2. Her debut album is set to be released soon on SKAM records.

20.45-21.15

LOFT (Live)
LOFT is a Manchester based artist. Their work concerns whirling club mutations filtered through queer discourse. Following a slew of devastating live performances LOFT has become a city renowned dance floor QT. Part bingo caller part harbinger of accelerationist capitalism, their live sets leave one with a sense of feeling safe in the knowledge that although everything’s fucked we all might just about make it. Their recent releases with Astral Plane Recordings and Wisdom Teeth showcase a melange of memories of the UK hardcore continuum; a rupture in genre boundaries between the playful elasticity of bubblegum pop, morose tonality of hauntology, and all out 'ardkore assaults.

21.30-22.15

Flora Yin Wong (Live)
London-born producer, writer and DJ, Flora Yin-Wong (aka ||FLORA) works with field recordings, dissonance, and influences from contemporary club culture. Her debut EP 'City God', on New York’s PTP, was inspired by Daoist traditions, using distorted sounds from temples, and traditional Eastern concepts. She has released on Berlin label PAN, also on Caridad Records alongside Amalia Ulman, Lolina (Inga Copeland), and IVVVO. Flora is working on a full-length as well as new remixes for Holodisc and Milan's Haunter Records.

Earlier this year, she was invited to curate a show at London's Cafe OTO to perform her debut live show, as well as also supporting Kara Lis-Coverdale. Besides previously DJing at the likes of Berghain, and Bloc for PAN’s showcases, to across the UK, and internationally. She also regularly guests on shows on NTS Live, Radar, and BCR.
https://soundcloud.com/floraytw

Nik Void

22.30-23.15

Nik Void (Live)
Nik Void is an experimental electronic artist and producer, best known as one half of DFA signings Factory Floor and as one third of Carter Tutti Void alongside Cosey Fanni Tutti and Chris Carter (Throbbing Gristle / Chris & Cosey).

For Nocturnal City, Nik Void presents dance floor focused live set, stemming much of her inspiration from the new agent of change being introduced by Mayor Sadiq Khan to protect nightclubs in the capital. Her performance will reverberate the collaborative partnership with the performer and the audience creating a sense of balance and equal existence, free from tensions. With a nod to the past muffling the groove with 909 and 808s, to a step into now by soaking up the genres of techno, avante-garde and noise to further dislocated distortions.
https://soundcloud.com/nik-colk-void

23.15-00.00

Sophie Coletta (DJ Set)
Sophie Coletta is a London-based writer and DJ who has shared lineups with the likes of Regis, Mick Harris and Helena Hauff, among others. She plays regularly at longstanding London underground techno night Kaos, and has appeared on bills for nights such as Proteus and Ambivalen+. She recently curated a programme of sold out live events for Hull City of Culture 2017 that traced the history and legacy of the radical performance art group COUM Transmissions, featuring Cosey Fanni Tutti, Genesis P-Orridge, Carter Tutti Void, Surgeon, Blackest Ever Black and more.
https://soundcloud.com/sophie-coletta

Nocturnal City is commissioned by Somerset House, and curated by Studios resident Estela Oliva.

Special Thanks: Tom Higham, Harry Murdoch, Conor Thomas, Ana Quiroga, Giulia Ferrazzi.