Presence(s)

12. Musica Electronica Nova 
16–24.05.2025

Presence(s) 
Olga Humeńczuk – NFM Director
Pierre Jodlowski – Artistic Director 

For several years now, a certain type of artistic projects have been qualified  as “Post-Internet culture”, referring to integration of the global network into creative practices of all kinds. Acceleration, a sign of our times, today brings a new issue: the inclusion of AI processes, which can (as it is said…) replace part of human actions or thoughts. We cannot really acknowledge AI as being such a deep change in our cultures as, most of the time, AI is just an extension of big data management without any kind of autonomy or self-conscience. But, as a matter of fact, a new era of relationships between humankind and machines is indeed beginning…

This is in this context that the programme of this new edition of MEN festival has been conceived. And probably with a “malicious” aim which would be to emphasise the human presence as a “wonderful need” in such a “technological context”.

Most of the pieces in the programme have a certain relationship with the new media: real-time electronics, sensors, video tracking… And each time it seems that our look, even fascinated by the extensions that those tools provide, cannot avoid focusing on the deep presence of human gestures. For this edition we have prepared a wide range of projects, from solo (Małgorzata Walentynowicz or Gośka Isphording ) to the orchestra and choir of the NFM. In collaboration with the Wro Art Center, the exhibition of the 21st WRO 2025 Qualia Media Art Biennale will be shown in the NFM gallery space, and a concert-performative installation will take place as part of this partnership. 
We will present our special cycle Akusma Forum, dedicated to electroacoustic music and new discoveries of international scene: this year with programmes from Greece, Poland, France, and Canada. As a sign of the importance of human presence, we will invite two projects with dance (Greece and Switzerland) including video projection and interactive lights. Two major European ensembles will be our guests: Black Page Orchestra from Vienna and Vortex from Geneva. Even though they are coming with very different programmes, among them two new premieres commissioned by the festival, those ensembles share an expertise in integrating the most advanced technologies with an awareness of their fragile and ephemeral existence. Once more, the human factor is probably what builds up the energy on the stage: human presences, augmented or not, playing in those complex networks of sound and visuals, trying to find a poetic path, meaningful and deep, as an opposition to the constant flow of data which overwhelms us.

Maybe one project of this edition would summarise or symbolise the general theme: “Des Éclats” by French performer Hervé Birolini; in this project the artist built an ensemble of 16 Tesla coils (visible electric discharge generators), by means of which an external electric field enters in dialogue with neural networks. During the performance, we see electric arcs, shaping a constant energetic flow around the performer, his body, his gestures… one can ask himself or herself if this tension would exist without the human presence?

Pierre Jodlowski
Artistic Director of Musica Electronica Nova

Random Check 7
Accompanying event 16–24 May 2025
16.05
Fri.
11:00 AM
Krupa Art Foundation
Astralis
Concert
18.05
Sun.
6:00 PM
NFM, Red Hall
Black Page Orchestra
Concert
16.05
Fri.
8:00 PM
NFM, Red Hall
Black Page Orchestra & François Sarhan
Concert
16.05
Fri.
9:00 PM
NFM, Red Hall
Homo ludens – recital by Gośka Isphording
Concert
17.05
Sat.
5:00 PM
NFM, Black Hall
Buy ticket
Last tickets!
Recital by Małgorzata Walentynowicz
Concert
17.05
Sat.
6:00 PM
NFM, Red Hall
Orchestra & Electronics – Parts 1, 2, 3
Concert
17.05
Sat.
7:00 PM
NFM, ORLEN Main Hall
Mountain & Maiden
Screening with live music
17.05
Sat.
10:00 PM
NFM, Red Hall
Concert of Polish Composers’ Union
 
18.05
Sun.
8:00 PM
NFM, Black Hall
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Last tickets!
L’Être contre le vent
Concert
21.05
Wed.
9:00 PM
NFM, ORLEN Main Hall
Young Composers
Concert
22.05
Thu.
6:00 PM
NFM, foyer -3
Des Éclats
Performance
22.05
Thu.
9:00 PM
NFM, Red Hall
Greeting the Sun
Immersive contemplative space
23.05
Fri.
5:00 PM
NFM, Black Hall
Akusma Forum – France, Canada
Electroacoustic concert
23.05
Fri.
6:30 PM
NFM, Black Hall
KTVC [hypnos]
Performance
23.05
Fri.
9:00 PM
NFM, Black Hall
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Mini Akusma Forum
Electroacoustic concert for kids
24.05
Sat.
11:00 AM
NFM, Black Hall
Mini Akusma Forum
Electroacoustic concert for kids
24.05
Sat.
12:00 PM
NFM, Black Hall
La Forme de l’âme
Dance, video & electronics
24.05
Sat.
6:30 PM
NFM, Chamber Hall
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Last tickets!
Ensemble Vortex
Concert
24.05
Sat.
8:30 PM
NFM, Red Hall
Olga Humeńczuk
Director

Olga Humeńczuk is a manager with many years of experience in running a cultural institution and producing artistic events, as well as a certified cellist. As a coordinator of works related to the design and construction of the National Forum of Music – on the part of both the investor (City of Wrocław) and the organisation (NFM) – she worked with acoustic designers, architects, engineers and other investment partners. At the same time, she participated in the process of merging the Witold Lutosławski Philharmonic in Wrocław and the International Festival Wratislavia Cantans and creating the organizational structure and internal processes of the newly established institution: the Witold Lutosławski National Forum of Music.

Pierre Jodlowski / fot. Łukasz Rajchert
Pierre Jodlowski / fot. Łukasz Rajchert
Pierre Jodlowski
Artistic Director of Musica Electronica Nova

Pierre Jodlowski is a composer, performer and multimedia artist. His music, often marked by a high density, is at the crossroads of acoustic and electric sound and is characterized by dramatic and political anchor. His work as a composer led him to perform in France and abroad in most places dedicated to contemporary music aswell as others artistic fields, dance, theater, visual arts, electronic music. His work unfolds today in many areas : films, interactive installations, staging. He is defining his music as an "active process" on the physicall level [musical gestures, energy and space] and on the psychological level [relation to memory and visual dimension of sound]. In parallel to his compositions, he also performs on various scenes (experimental, jazz, electronic), solo or with other artists.

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Forum Musicum
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