about us

SpaceFest!
Shoegaze, space rock and alternative music festival and workshops

GDAŃSK – ŁAŹNIA CCA / KLUB ŻAK
WORKSHOPS 2-6.12.2013 / CONCERTS 6-7.12.2013

 

SpaceFest! is a festival of shoegaze, space rock and alternative music, which comprises concerts, workshops for musicians from Poland and abroad, meetings with alternative music legends, a competition for up-and-coming young bands and CD releases.

SpaceFest! is not a typical festival. We want to break away from the classic festival formula and enhance our project with such elements as cooperation with foreign musicians, joint workshops, promotion of young bands, artistic happenings, publishing CDs with music created during the festival and the cheerful integration of SpaceFest! musicians and participants.

 

Concerts

The concert part is going to take place on 6-7 December at Klub ŻAK (www.klubzak.com.pl).
This time, apart from Polish and British musicians, we have also invited artists from other parts of the world. For the two days we have scheduled concerts of the most interesting bands of the alternative, shoegaze and space-rock scene.

Another highlight will be the performance of a workshop collective Pure Phase Ensemble 3 created especially for the festival. The band is going to perform pieces composed during the 4-day workshops held at Łaźnia CCA. This year’s workshop will be run by Ray Dickaty (ex-Spiritualized) and Laetitia Sadier (known from Stereolab).

The festival’s line-up will be completed by a young Polish band selected in a nationwide competition.

Between gigs the participants will have a chance to listen to special shoegaze and indie rock sets played by local DJs. We have also planned music video screenings and meetings with the festival musicians.

 

Workshop

12 musicians from Poland and abroad are going to be invited to take part in the workshop: both those on the threshold of their musical breakthrough and artists with more considerable experience. The main idea behind the workshop is to create an international instrumental collective that will compose the music material to be presented to the public at SpaceFest! Through workshop improvisation the musicians will arrive at a joint artistic vision resulting in a set of unique songs. The live material from the concert is going to be recorded and then published on CD in 2014.

 

Competition

We are committed to promoting up-and-coming young bands. That is why have launched a competition for Polish bands that was advertised on our festival’s website and various music portals. The selection was based on records sent to the organisers until 30.09.2013. The competition’s jury comprised music journalists and the festival’s organisers. Two winners of the competition will be invited to play at the festival.

 

CD and DVD

All concerts taking place during the project are professionally recorded in order to be published at a later date. 3 August 2012 marked the premiere of the concert album Pure Phase Ensemble Live at SpaceFest! comprising songs composed during the
workshop and performed live at the first edition of the festival. The CD is available at nasiono.net
The video version of the concert (DVD) is also going to be published.

 

History – SF! in 2011 and 2012

The following artists played for us in 2011 and 2012:  Mark Gardener (Ride), Damo Suzuki (Can), 2kilos &More, Sea Dweller, Simon Scott (Slowdive), Ścianka, White Noise Sound, Jaime Harding (Marion), Klimt, Fuka Lata, Manescape and the fantastic Pure Phase Ensemble – a 13-person international music collective created during the festival workshops and curated by Ray Dickaty (ex-Spiritualized).

The first  and second edition of SpaceFest! was met with interest by a broad group of independent music fans from Poland and abroad. The festival was attended by shoegaze fans from e.g. Sweden, Great Britain and the entire Poland. The third edition of SpaceFest! is set to be even more exciting.

 

Organisers: Anna Szynwelska, Karol Schwarz

The SpaceFest! festival is organised by Nasiono Association in cooperation with “Łaźnia” Centre for Contemporary Art and Klub ŻAK, with the support of the City of Gdańsk.