Arika have been creating events since 2001. The Archive is space to share the documentation of our work, over 600 events from the past 20 years. Browse the archive by event, artists and collections, explore using theme pairs, or use the index for a comprehensive overview.
The various incarnations of nihilist thinking that popped up from time to time through the history of Arika events can be explored here in the context of work that deals with the body, abjection and performance. Episode 2: A Special Form of Darkness took the ideas of Abjection and Nihility to heart and most of the events had some relationship with this theme. Some highlights: Junko’s intense vocal performance, Taku Unami’s absurdist cardboard box theatre piece and Mattin and Ray Brassier’s experiment in self-organisation, handing over the final evening of Instal 10 to the audience.
A collaborative duo performance, Anoyonodekigoto sets up a sort of negotiation between a musician, a dancer, the audience and the space we’re all sharing.
Paul Sharits’ Shutter Interface is a multi screen installation born of an intent to reveal the material substance of cinema in its purest form: spatially.
No Wave, damaged garage jams and crazed instant vocal shrieks.
Jarringly beautiful and often maniacal expression of hallucinatory and very personal visions.
Tormented and drawn-out high-pitched yelps and drones, all interleaved with periods of torpid silence.
Jandek’s first ever live performance. Unannounced, the performance was a total surprise for everybody at the festival.
Merzbow takes the junk of sound and transforms it into blistering noise assaults with an incredible spectrum and impact.
Formed as a means to realise William Bennett’s goal of “a sound that could bludgeon an audience into submission”