So.

We think that the most exciting music, music that is actually, genuinely radical, makes a basic appeal to ideas. It reaches out, it tries to be bigger than itself, it engages with things other than the just musical; and occasionally, admirably so.

Also.

Music has always been most radical, and has the most to offer, when it's applied the incredible tools it has developed (ideas about how to improvise situations, how to deal with noise and the unwanted, how to foster intense social interaction) to unexpected situations. Or when it allows unexpected ideas, situations or ways of thinking, to gain purchase on it.

But so then.

Instal 10 is a festival of these kinds of situations, and of the cross-pollination (through performance, discussion and action) of ideas from experimental music with: radical thought, activism, geography, hard-core mathematics, everyday life, social interaction and/or politics….and more.

Remember.

Music is about more than just music.

What to expect.

3 days of events that explore un-average ideas² about sound and music; INSTAL features unrepeatable, unmissable gigs and performances, in-depth discussions, readings, films, installations. Local, national and international musicians, artists and thinkers. Some of the most intriguing young artists in the world alongside some of the most influential of the last 50 years.

A festival should be a bunch of intense experiences. INSTAL will have thrilling performances, (dry) humour, extremes of volume/ silence, immersive environments, and multiple permutations of kicks 'vs' contemplation and emotion 'vs' intellect… It might be gentle or inspiring. It might be challenging or troubling. The only specialist knowledge required is the knowledge that no specialist knowledge is required.

Now

If you were trying to convince us to come to a gig, we'd ask:

Who is this person?
What are they doing?
Why might I be interested?

Reasonable questions, which we'll try and answer about INSTAL 10 on the rest of this site.

² Way too many ideas to try and cram in here: but perhaps incl. how music can rethink it’s relationships with: everyday life, (social) geography, means for (collective) learning, philosophy (music’s obligation to think), how we change the collective conditions of existence (politics), the known/ the unknown, other art forms (visual art, film, literature…), (cultural) consumerism, music’s audience, festivals, you, and/ or us.