Unsound Festival 2024: Noise and Experimental Music in Krakow

The Unsound Festival, one of Europe's premier experimental music festivals, took place in Krakow, Poland, from September 29 to October 6, 2024. Founded in 2003 by Mat Schulz, the festival has grown alongside the city, evolving from small medieval cellars to diverse venues including a 19th-century medical lecture hall, the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology, Kijów cinema, Łaźnia Nowa theater, post-industrial space Kamienna 12, PURO Kazimierz hotel, and the ICE Congress Centre designed by Arata Isozaki & Associates. The 2024 edition's theme was 'noise'—unwanted sound that tests auditory perception, from cities to wars to technology. Schulz emphasized the political dimension, noting that noise and protest intertwine. Highlights included performances by Japanese noise legend Keiji Haino at Kamienna 12, avant-garde composer Ash Fure's 'Animal', The Body with Dis Fig, Marco Fusinato's 'DESASTRES' (previously at the 59th Venice Biennale), and a collaboration between Mica Levi and Sinfonietta Cracovia. The festival also featured commissioned works like Chris Watson & Izabela Dłużyk's 'Białowieża' and Saint Abdullah, Eomac & Rebecca Salvadori's 'A Forbidden Distance', co-commissioned with Berlin Atonal, Semibreve, and Sónar. Unsound has expanded to over 30 cities worldwide, including Minsk, Almaty, Tbilisi, Vladivostok, London, Toronto, New York, and Adelaide, but remains rooted in Krakow's evolving urban landscape.