_mediaklub: Rehearsal of the Victory Day Gig

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), the annual electronic music conference and festival that hosts more than 1,200 events at over 300 locations across the city. It is also the first year that the Rijksakademie is part of ADE's Arts & Culture programme. On Friday 23 October, _mediaklub, including former Rijksakademie tech fellow Dmytro Tentiuk, presents 'Rehearsal of the Victory Day Gig' in the Rijksakademie's Schip space.

'Rehearsal of the Victory Day Gig' is a networked audiovisual performance, developed from the online meetings that helped _mediaklub stay together during lockdown and, later, during Russia's war against Ukraine. When Max Robotov joined the Ukrainian Army, while the others were separated by cities, countries and time zones, this format became a way to remain close and keep working. The delays, glitches and interruptions that once made collective music-making almost impossible became the structure of the work. The performance is built around Max's voice from the front line, his commands, and the attempt to play together through unstable connection and distance.

The _mediaklub group is based on the idea of an open visual and sound environment, which members of Photinus, the Ukrainian new-media community, can join at any stage. Over time musicians, artists, programmers and, by way of exception, the robot GAIA have joined the group. This openness shapes the use of different media in the performances, from sound to video mapping, and has become the key to the group's sustainability: constant interaction between the participants, independent of external circumstances.

_mediaklub's performances and installations have been shown internationally at daadgalerie (DE), NAMU (UA), the Kyiv Biennial (PL), Mystetskyi Arsenal (UA), Fridman Gallery (US) and the Rijksakademie (NL), among others.

Entrance is free; RSVP is required.