A one day festival of experimental electronic and contemporary classical music

The first INSTAL festival (programmed by Barry Esson of Arika and Tiernan Kelly) featured a line-up including Robert Lippock, Philip Jeck, Fennesz, Paragon Ensemble, Icebreaker International, Defaalt and Rhomboi. Following on from the success of the Polaroid event in 1999, which crossed new boundaries in presenting contemporary classical music and electronica in a club environment, the Arches hosted INSTAL. INSTAL featured leading international experimental electronic artists, together with a full and challenging program of contemporary classical works, presented in promenade style in the unique confines of The Arches, which was at the time one of Scotland’s foremost venues for performance, music and clubbing, located in several underground railway arches beneath Central Station in Glasgow.

The festival was reviewed by Diskant here and by Lorna Rankin for The Scotman here and by Neil Cooper for The Herald here.

Neil Cooper wrote that “It went like clockwork. From the 100 metronomes lined up like pretty maids in a row, welcoming the curious to this day-long sen-surround of experimental, electronic and contemporary classical exercises in sound, a dozen acts dovetailed in rapid-fire but oderly succession across three spaces designed to drift through, in and out of focus.”

Diskant said “So that was Instal and it left me feeling very positive. To see so many people coming out and listening to the sort of music you only read about in The Wire is the sort of thing that gives me faith in people’s taste and the world in general.”