With the long summer nights slowly ending and Autumn fast approaching, ACCA (Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts) has just announced its new Autumn 2017 programme. ACCA being the state-of-the-art cultural hub for the University of Sussex and adding to further culture to an already culturally-diverse city. With the season bringing a huge array of assortment and diversity, from the makers, creators and thinkers of both local and international companies and studios across the world. As well as a season filled with variance and variety regarding the performances, dances, music, discussion & debate, visual art and film.
The season has been driven by ACCA creative director, Laura McDermott, bringing an Autumn of new commissions, partnerships and unique one-off events from a huge matter of fields. Laura McDermott believes, “Partnerships, participation and collaboration are really important to us.” There is a dynamic amount of variation brought to us this Autumn, as Laura says, “It’s exciting to increase our music offer this season as well as continue on our journey to bring internationally renowned performance to the city.”
With a whole field of opportunity and divergence, ACCA’s Digital Festival Week is not one to miss. Opening the week and season, on 19 Sept sees ‘Plaid & Felix’s Machines’, Felix Thorn creates music through using audio-visual sculptures that he designs and constructs himself. Working alongside Plaid, an electronic music duo put together by Ed Handley and Andy Turner, the show brings together a blending of natural amplification and audio processing alongside mesmerising amounts of light and movement.
The following day, 20 Sept, sees double bill, ‘People Like Us’ and ‘Oliver Coates’ at the ACCA. ‘People Like Us’s’ Vicki Bennett, can be recognised as an influential figure in the on-growing area of sampling, appropriation and cutting up of found footage and archives. Whereas ‘Oliver Coates’ is arguably one of today’s most sought after contemporary cellists, being a regular collaborator with many major artists and bands, like Radiohead and Massive Attack. This music filled evening will leave you feeling transported into a new dimension.
Musician James Lavelle presents ‘Unkle Sounds’, combining DJ sets and visuals to create a showstopper of a night this 22 Sept. Although beginning out as an Indie record label boss of Mo’Wax, going onto a corporate record company Darkness, he came back with an array of dynamic visuals based around his UNKLE project. The music is completely different to where he began from, but the spirit of his passion and music has stayed the same.
Ending the week is Ryoji Ikdea ‘Supercodex’, on 23 Sept. Using raw data and mathematical models to generate and produce music and projections, as she reworks musical concepts from her 2012 performances into a more club-vibe showcasing performance.
Following on from the opening Digital Festival Week, the season is filled with further diversity and variation across all the platforms of performances, music, film, dance, visual art and discussion & debate. Many other works mark anniversaries of significant cultural and social historical moments in 2017. The 90-year-old Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) has been overlaid by Factory Floor, with post-industrial electronic music, as part of ACCA’s Cinecity programme.
With films showing at ACCA like Argentinian theatre-maker Lola Arias, bringing back MINEFIELD to Brighton 15-17 November after premiering at Brighton Festival 2016. The thoughtful work uniting British and Argentinian veterans after the Falklands War to explore their memories and thoughts of the happenings through footage, music and projections.
With so much coming to this years Autumn Season at ACCA, its an opportunity not to miss any new, old and everything in between coming to Brighton this Autumn. Check out ACCA’s website for more details and to book tickets for any upcoming events this season: