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.

The idea behind this proposed theme is to offer a way to explore and navigate the archive. These paired ‘terms’ are not synonyms nor are they binary oppositions but words that combine to (hopefully) produce un-rational anti-categories. The aim is to allow (encourage) the archive to be read in ways counter to normative or reductive categories. To allow things in the archive to appear in sometimes unlikely groupings and to resist essentialism.

Under this theme we’ve set out to group work that delves into archives for its source material, or performs some kind of archival work in situ, and at the same time we’ve gathered together work that leans in the direction of documentary in all its forms. A couple of highlights in this theme are Arthur Jafa and Kara Keeling’s sharing of film and you tube clips pertaining to queer and black world making and Ashley Hunt’s performed film documentary about Hurricane Katrina.

With these theme we want to set work that doesn’t seem to fit close to or in any category at all alongside work that deals explicitly with category and practices of categorising, or escaping category. A couple of suggestions for starting to investigate this theme could be Teresa Maria Diaz Nerio’s performed film lecture about Caribbean cinema and Fred Moten and Saidiya Hartman disucssing what it might mean to be fugitive.

This theme collates work/concepts that have been explored at a number of recent events. Some intial suggestions of where to start could be with one of boychild’s arresting lipsync performances, the live performative outcome of the No Total project or Park McArthur and Constantina Zavitzanos’s contribution to Episode 7: We Can’t Live Without Our Lives that included song, film, poetry and audience participation. The idea behind this proposed theme is to offer a way to explore and navigate the archive. The paired ‘terms’ the theme is composed of are not synonyms nor are they binary oppositions but words that combine to (hopefully) produce un-rational anti-categories. The aim is to allow (encourage) the archive to be read in ways counter to normative or reductive categories. To allow things in the archive to appear in sometimes unlikely groupings and to resist essentialism.

With this theme we’re aiming to highlight compositions that worked within very defined terms and situations, not necessarily musical, but formally closed in some way. Check out Mattin and Ray Brassier’s bamboozling scored performance about the limits of improvisation and freedom.

Sometimes we put on club nights. But we want to think beyond genre so we’re also considering patterns in this theme. Things that repeat and define surfaces, but also scenes that sustain themselves over time. Documentaion that speaks to the theme of Club and Patterns: First up the sets and performances from the Episode 6: Make a Way Out of No Way Club night. Then learn more about the history, politics and creative practices of the House|Ballroom scene in this discussion led by the Vogue’ology collective. It might be helpful to note that these paired ‘terms’ or ‘themes’ are not synonyms nor are they binary oppositions but words that combine to (hopefully) produce un-rational anti-categories. The aim is to allow (encourage) the archive to be read in ways counter to normative or reductive categories. To allow things in the archive to appear in sometimes unlikely groupings and to resist essentialism. And to encourge exploration into all the archive documentation.

Wherein (musical) compositions which are in some sense unfinished (scores for improvisers, for example) might be grouped with work that deals with postponement. A good place to start might be Walter Marchetti’s De Musicorum Infelicitate that we staged as a durational installation with the help of Esther Ferrer or Tony Conrad’s Ten Years Alive on the Infinite Plane or Joan La Barbara’s vocal fireworks.

This theme presents work that might range from field recordings of plants or protests, meditations on land and politics, site specific performances and so on. A starting point for browsing this theme could be checking out the documentation from Ashley Hunt’s performed film/documentary about Hurricane Katrina that was presented at Episode 3: Copying without Copying.

This theme in part arises from Episodes 6 and 7 which explored ideas and performances to do with the politics of care and of waywardness (among other things). It also offers a chance to re-frame some older performances. Two or three ways into the documentation grouped here: The Ueinzz Theatre Company talking about their relationship of creative practice and care together, Saidiya Hartman’s reading that elucidates her understanding of ‘Waywardness’ or Denise Ferreira da Silva and Valentina Desideri’s performed lecture about their Poethical Reading practice.

These paired ‘terms’ are not synonyms nor are they binary oppositions but words that combine to (hopefully) produce un-rational anti-categories. The aim is to allow (encourage) the archive to be read in ways counter to normative or reductive categories. To allow things in the archive to appear in sometimes unlikely groupings and to resist essentialism.

Here we’re grouping documentation of the many performances of improvised music that have taken place at our festivals over the years but also work that tests out a hypothesis in real time. Current highlights from this collection include William Parker and Daniel Carter’s freewheeling duo exploration, John Tilbury and Wadada Leo Smith’s meeting across traditions and Howard Slater’s talk about individual and collective practices in free jazz.

If someone installed something in a space at one of our events; you’ll probably find it grouped here. But also work that is situation sensitive, site specific or determined by a place or space. Check out the durational installation version of De Musicorum Infeliciate that we worked on with Walter Marchetti, Gabriel Bonomo and Esther Ferrer.

During KYTN 10 we organised some events that were explicitly billed as Investigations. These were situations where people coming to the festival could access, or get involved with, the processes and concepts some of the artists were using. Here we’re grouping work of that ilk along with projects that explicitly deal with information, perhaps in aesthetic or political terms. A starting point: Graham Harwood’s film lecture about aluminium and it’s place in historical, political and economic structures of power from Episode 1: A Film is a Statement or Ashley Hunt’s performed lecture/documentaryabout Hurricane Katrina.

A theme where we group documentation of some talks / workshops along with work that comes from or moves towards organising and activism. Sometimes both at once! Highlights; include Ann Cvetkovich talking about feelings, depression and creative survival, and the Vogue’ology collective leading a discussion with Episode 5 participants about the history, politics and creative practices for the House|Ballroom scene.

Grouped under this theme we are including performances that are explicitly drawing on or related to Noise as a ‘musical’ genre but also as a concept from information theory. Alongside this we’re looking among the archive for work where the idea of ‘no signal’ seems a key element. Keiji Haino’s torrential solo vocal performance from Episode 2: A Special Form of Darkness offers a way in.

This theme gives us the chance to present work that deals with ‘things’ ‘objects’ ‘objectivity’ ‘instrumentality’ and, on a more practical level, musical ‘instruments’ and so forth. Check out Dawn Kasper who took both of these notions and played with them in her performance at Episode 2: A Special Form of Darkness.

This theme might cover performances showing a disciplined and dedicated approach to a technique or process. Perhaps where a performer is recognised for having etablished a performance practice. For example, check out John Tilbury’s piano performance at Episode 4: Freedom is a Constant Struggle.

In here you might find examples of work that arises out of strict adherence to a procedure or a process. The process might be carried out live as in the case of Christof Migone’s Hit Parade at A Survey is a Process of Listening at the Whitney or it may have led to an outcome such as a film such as Robert Nelson’s Bleu Shut.

The Publication | Secret theme opens up links between things we’ve published, other people have released, things we will publish in the future, things that happened but which we didn’t tell anyone about and work that is just plain secretive.

Under this anti-heading we’re gathering instances of work where radio as a form as well as a technical process is foregrounded. But also work which, similarly, foregrounds mediation in some critical way.

Under this heading you might find work that arises out of a kind of proffessorial vibe; maybe august historian of the AACM George Lewis hanging out with Ultra-red at A Survey is a Process of Listening. Then there have been performances at Arika events that resonate with the old Second Vienese School of composition. Instrument builder / hacker Nicolas Collins once referenced Anton Webern’s music as inseperable from the taste of Sachertorte cake on Sauchiehall Street one summer’s evening. Maybe checking out Radu Malfatti’s composition for the Northern Sinfonia will help tie all that together.

Can things be otherwise than they are? Some of the work shown at Arika events asks “What if?” on some pretty radical levels. We’re also grouping work here which explores identity, and the negotiation of identities through different modes of performance. Some fine examples include the boychild performances from Episode 5: Hidden in Plain Sight and the rich and in depth Realness discussion between participants at Episode 6: Make a Way Out of No Way.

Is it finished yet? Do we need to do that again? Work featured here is about onging practices of diverse kinds and forms. Some highlights that might help you to get into this theme could be the dance/conversation event with Miss Prissy, Pony Zion Garcon, Kia Labeija and Danielle Goldman and the Ueinzz Theatre Company’s No Ready Made Men which expresses an ongoing theatrical rehearsal as a way of caring for each other.

Work grouped in this theme might deal with bringing something from the past back into a present day context or perhaps the literal and/or obsessive repetition of something many times over. Highlights include the loud and emotional collective reading of Zong!, or the epic public reading of transcripts from one of the Combatant Status Review Tribunals that took place at U.S. military prison camp in Guantanamo Bay. It is our intention that the paired ‘terms’ that this theme is comprised of are not synonyms nor are they binary oppositions but words that combine to (hopefully) produce un-rational anti-categories. The aim is to allow (encourage) the archive to be read in ways counter to normative or reductive categories. To allow things in the archive to appear in sometimes unlikely groupings and to resist essentialism.

Some suggestions of ways in to exploring this theme could be Hortense Spillers’ conversation with Denise Ferreria da Silva on fleshliness and bodiliness and the From Subjection to Subjection discussion with Reina Gossett, Charlene Sinclair and Saidiya Hartman or Mujeres Creando throwing eggs in their Recipes to Change Society provocation.

Arika have engaged in the presentation of many types of screening works, expanded cinema practices, films and clips. The archive includes discussions surrounding the films we screened and film performances, but not the actual films we screened. Here is a few suggestions of ways into investigating this Screening and Projection theme. The Museum of Non-Participation is a live expanded cinema and spoken word event from Episode 1: A Film is a Statement, Teresa Maria Diaz Nerio’s film/lecture performance about Caribbean cinema and Pauline Boudry and Renate Lorenz’s punk, drag, queer film and lecture environment.

Grouped here are performances and talks about or exploring sociality, and performances and talks that involve lots of people (thematically or literally). For example: the second part of a wide ranging and vital conversation between Amiri Baraka, Fred Moten, Sonia Sanchez and Wadada Leo Smith. The Ueinzz Theatre Company discuss the relationship between their creative practice and care. Or the sets and performances from the Episode 5: Hidden in Plain Sight Club night.

While ‘Listening’ and ‘Talking’ might at first glance seem to imply one another we’re aiming for this theme to become more contradictory and messy as we add documentation. Two suggested starting points to explore this theme could be Ray Brassier & Thomas Metzinger discussing neuroscience and experience, Howard Slater talking about individual and collective practices in free jazz and the From Subjection to Subjection talk from Episode 6. In this theme, these paired ‘terms’ are not synonyms nor are they binary oppositions but words that combine to (hopefully) produce un-rational anti-categories. The aim is to allow (encourage) the archive to be read in ways counter to normative or reductive categories. To allow things in the archive to appear in sometimes unlikely groupings and to resist essentialism.

This theme brings together work and concepts that have been explored throughout the archive. It might lead you to the euphoric-psych-fuzz-excess of Acid Mothers Temple or the Bain Brothers shaking the Arches to the core with super low frequencies.

This theme groups work that might involve some high level technical specialisms (special microphones, hi-fi audio, code etc) along with projects where deconstructed objects/instruments are made to do unusual things, are re-purposed. And so on.

This theme groups work that might focus on the voice, or where the presence or absence of the artist(s) is significant in some way. Some ways in to exploring this theme of Voice and Presence could be via M Lamar’s deeply operatic performance at Episode 6: Make a Way Out of No Way, or through Ayreen Anastas and Rene Gabri’s live (but at a distance) film performance from Episode 1: A Film is a Statement.

Across a number of Arika events Writing and Reading have been key practices with numerous iterations. As a way in here are a few highlighted events: Fred Moten’s reading of his poems at Episode 4: Freedom is a Constant Struggle, Amiri Baraka and Henry Grimes’s poetry and double bass duo and Evan Calder Williams’ talk about horror and darkness.