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DARKITIS!

by Encore and Sexes

September 6 - October 27, 2018

DARKITIS! revolves around legendary speedcore techno DJ and producer Liza 'N' Eliaz (1958-2001). Born in Oostende into a family of musicians, Liza 'N' Eliaz early on started to study classical piano but then diverted into rock and new wave before discovering hardcore techno. Liza 'N' Eliaz subsequently became active as a DJ and producer and achieved an iconic status in the techno scene as the figure to speed up hardcore techno and being a pioneer in the newly established category speedcore. Being older than most of her peers, having an extraordinary appearance and being transgender further mystified Liza 'N' Eliaz. She has been called "Queen of Terror", whereas she fully rejected the term. And although she titled one of her famous pieces "Is it Dark?" she also rejected the notion that her music is dark, the title hence has to be read in a very ambiguous way.

For the upcoming show DARKITIS!, the collectives ENCORE and SEXES have been conducting research along Liza 'N' Eliaz. They take her as reference and starting point to investigate one possible facet of speedcore: perceiving speedcore also as a strategy to deal with personal experiences of fear. With a focus on finding tools to overcome fear within sonic extremism and identity politics in rave culture, they will revisit and analyse parts of the past of this niche and create new sculptural and sonic works.

About the collectives ENCORE and SEXES

ENCORE produces works with interdisciplinary efforts around topics of hardcore electronic music. ENCORE already produced works researching Gabberculture in rural areas, Rotterdam and early roots of NDW (neue Deutsche Welle). The ENCORE members initiated the project based on Liza 'N' Eliaz.

SEXES seeks to map the relations between identity and power. They judge culture to be the medium in which humankind communicates with itself and want to provide a platform for radical contributions to this discourse. It is run by a collective residing in the interweb.

Both collectives currently spend a research residency at AIR Antwerp and will present their works also at Het Bos in Antwerp from September 27 -30.

ENCORE

Merle Vorwald
Tea Palmelund
Johannes Buettner
Bastian Hagedorn
Ekaterina Burlyga
Bianca Ludewig
Gijs de Heij

SEXES

Lotte Meret Effinger
Marco Buetikofer
Florian Meyer