transmediale/club transmediale-Salon

THE TRANSISTORS TOUR
Sound Art Activism and Migrant Resistance

Performances and lectures featuring:
> Manuela Bojadzijev of Kanak Attak
> Elliot Perkins (aka Phonem)
> Dont Rhine of Ultra-red.

18th June at Podewil, 20:30
Klosterstrasse 68-70, 10179-Berlin

The TRANSISTORS TOUR is a collaboration between members of the audio activist organization Ultra-red and the anti-racist organization Kanak Attak. Part research tour, part organizing campaign, part performance series, the TOUR features three artists and activists from diverse contexts and struggles, investigating spaces, experiences and struggles surrounding migration.

From Kanak Attak, Manuela Bojadzijev hosts the event, putting the performances in the context of her work with Kanak Attak and the "Trans-It! Migrations" project. "Trans-it! Migrations" is an international interdisciplinary research, sound, film, and exhibition project, focusing on the interconnections between an emerging European border regime and the movements of migration across these borders. At the conclusion of the TRANSISTORS TOUR, the artists will join the "Trans-It! Migrations" team for research into the experiences of residents in the One Thousand and One Roses refugee camp in Belgrade.

Formerly known as Phonem, highly respected electronic musician Elliot Perkins performs portions of "Eurodac Express"; a collaboration between Perkins and Bangladeshi video artist and migrant organizer Shahidul Alam of the Drik Project. Combining beats, field recordings and interviews, "Eurodac Express" traces the experiences of immigrants as they make their way across the EU into immigrant communities in Northern England, Germany and Italy.

Ultra-red founding member Dont Rhine debuts his "Jack Tactic" project. An essay in memory and sound, "Jack Tactic" reflects on the cultural and political history of House music within the context of AIDS activism up to today's struggles around globalization and migrant sub-cultures.


Dont Rhine (of Ultra-red)
Dont Rhine is a founding member of the Los Angeles-based audio activist group Ultra-red. Launched in 1994, Ultra-red grew out of Rhine's experiences as an AIDS activist with ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) / Los Angeles as well as being an organizer with the Los Angeles needles exchange, Clean Needles Now. Since then, Ultra-red has gone on to develop a range of projects around struggles for public housing residents, global justice and immigration. Currently, Rhine is working on a new project that returns to AIDS activism within the contexts of globalization and justice for migrants. The project, titled "Jack Tactic", brings togetherRhine's love of House music and the formal strategies of Musique Concrète.

Elliot Perkins (fka Phonem)
Berlin-based musician Elliot Perkins has released a number of highly acclaimed albums under the name Phonem. While most known for his classic IDM beats and dense synthetic textures, in 2003 Perkins joined up with Bangladeshi video artist and migrant organizer Shahidul Alam of the Drik Project for the on-going sound and image collaboration "Eurodac Express." This project traces the experiences of immigrants as they make their way across Eastern Europe through the EU and into immigrant communities in Northern England, Germany and Italy. Working with Alam has dramatically transformed Perkins work both formally and in terms of its relationship to audiences. Combining field recordings, interviews and beats, Perkins weaves a sound field at once intense, unpredictable and deeply engaged in the soundscape of everyday struggle.

Manuela Bojadzijev (of Kanak Attak)
Manuela Bojadzijev is an Frankfurt based activist with Kanak Attak - a national anti-racist organization launched in 1997 with chapters through-out Germany. Currently she is completing a Ph.D. on "Struggles of Migration" and is working in a research project based at the University of Frankfurt. An investigation of new forms of (transit-)migration in South East Europe, the research is international in focus and interdisciplinary with both film, sound and exhibition components. Bojadzijev has collaborated with Ultra-red on a number of projects including performances for Club Transmediale, Frankfurt Pol Festival and the Avanto Festival in Helsinki.


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