Ecstatic, extreme and staunchly experimental, SOFT CENTRE features an electrifying program of music, performance and art.
Carriageworks today announced the boundary-pushing program for SOFT CENTRE as part of Australia’s largest festival, Vivid Sydney 2023, taking place on 11 June from 1pm – 11pm with a full precinct takeover. Traversing leftfield club, noise and ambient music, contemporary dance and endurance performances, immersive A/V concerts, cutting-edge digital art and large-scale lightworks, SOFT CENTRE is a multi-sensory festival experience unlike any other.
Following their first outing in 2022, SOFT CENTRE returns with a program presenting an eclectic mix of cutting-edge creators from the local and global underground. Carriageworks will be transformed with daring performance art, pulsing music, and a monumental 22 metre projector screen that will be activated for immersive A/V performances. Renowned for their unique collaborations, SOFT CENTRE will also showcase a suite of newly commissioned cross-disciplinary works.
Highlights include:
- kaoss.in, a collaborative A/V performance between Finnish duo Amnesia Scanner (PAN) and digital provocateur Freeka Tet. Characterized by a deep fascination with system vulnerabilities, informational overload, and sensory excess, this closing concert fuses grotesque online aesthetics in hyper detailed 16K fantasy colour with Amnesia Scanner’s signature avant-EDM sound.
- Kenyan producer and DJ Slikback will perform alongside visuals from anonymous video artist Weirdcore, known for his work with Aphex Twin, M.I.A., Oneohtrix Point Never and The Caretaker.
- Harrison Hall + Sam Mcgilp team up with NAXS FUTURE, a Taipei-based media art collective, with Prairie WWWW to present BC, a groundbreaking hybrid live/digital dance work combining motion capture, immersive 3D technologies and live performance.
- Rising Emo Pop singer daine, who is the protégé of British superstar Charli XCX, unleashes an A/V concert with Eek.
- Club iconoclast aya (Hyperdub) presents a new live set, contorting language, dialect, gender and sexuality between controlled bursts of rhythm, noise and aural goop.
- Combining barbed industrial dancefloor forms with nu-metal, rap and noise, New York duo Deli Girls make their long-awaited Australian debut.
- Spanning continents and cultures, Hand to Earth is a rare collaboration between Yolgnu songman, Daniel and David Wilfred and Korean vocalist Sunny Kim, who sing in their native languages over hypnotic soundscapes composed by Peter Knight and Aviva Endean.
- The world premiere of Needlemouth sees Marcus Whale playing a hungry ghost plagued by insatiable desire alongside performance artist Eugene Choi, with costuming by Megan Hanson.
- Dancer and choreographer Amber McCartney presents her solo choreographic performance Baby Girl, an otherworldly investigation of physicality.
- Queer filmmakers Garden Reflexxx accompany ambient composer Lydian Dunbar (Tralala Blip, Room 40) for a world premiere live A/V show.
- Corin (UIQ) will present the Australian premiere of Lux Aeterna Live AV, with visuals by Tristan Jalleh, exploring the possibilities of a heightened collective consciousness in times of crisis.
Acting Carriageworks CEO Jonty Claypole said: “At Carriageworks we champion diverse art forms and can’t wait to welcome back SOFT CENTRE after last year’s incredible event which saw the precinct come alive with experimental art, music and performance. SOFT CENTRE is Australia’s premiere experimental arts and electronic music festival, and this year’s program promises to be just as dynamic, with cutting-edge artists from across the globe.”
The full line up is: Amber McCartney x Tas Dance pres. BABY GIRL; amby downs; Amnesia Scanner & Freeka Tet: kaaos.in; aya; BC by Harrison Hall, Sam Mcgilp, Naxs Future with PrairieWWWW; Bract x Bayang; CORIN presents LUX AETERNA LIVE AV [Visuals by TRISTAN JALLEH]; Cutting Room; D-Grade x Wingnut pres. Wings of D’sire; daine; deli girls; Hand to Earth; Lydian Dunbar x Garden Reflexxx; Nerdie; mad miran; Marcus Whale pres. Needlemouth [feat. Eugene Choi & Megan Hanson]; Slikback x Weirdcore pres. VOID; Utility x T Breezy x Walkerboy; and Zourrybot.
SOFT CENTRE is presented as part of Vivid Sydney 2023 on 11 June at Carriageworks.
Presale: 15 March, 9am
On Sale: 15 March, 5pm
Full program can be found here.
For media interviews please contact: Jasmine Hersee, jasmine@articulatepr.com.au, 0451 087 196 or Isabel Wright, isabel@articulatepr.com.au, 0400 359 485.