Khan Of Finland

2010 OFF Festival

OFF Festival is a unique event on the map of summer music festivals in Europe. The organizers invite only indie, low-fi, experimental, and avant-garde artists who are worth showing, including bands like The Flaming Lips and Dinosaur Jr. This year’s special event is devoted to Frederic Chopin. Born in Poland 200 years ago, the composer’s music will be mixed by artists such as Fennesz and William Basiński. In addition, well-known artists, like Wilhelm Sasnal, are invited every year to paint murals in the city. This year, the OFF Festival has changed the location from Poland’s Mysłowice to Katowice. Definitely worth visiting.

Rocking Under The Rain in Bogota, Colombia

Rock al Parque is the largest open-air free music festival in Latin America, held at the el Parque Simon Bolivar in Bogota, Colombia. This year the main guest, as usual, was the heavy rain. However, more than 300,000 people enjoyed the powerful and eclectic tunes of 45 bands from England, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, America, France and, of course, Colombia, since the aim of the festival is to showcase upcoming local bands. The Philharmonic Orchestra of Bogota is in charge of this unique open party, which has been gathering youngsters from all the corners of this ten million city, and beyond, for fourteen years. Read more

We salute Splendour!

As the final festival devotees gather their bags, pick up their muddy gumboots, and make their long journey home, the hills of Byron Bay seem eerily quiet. Over 17,500 music fans poured into Belongil Fields for the three day Splendour in the Grass event to watch music juggernauts Devo, Sigur Ros, Wolfmother, The Presets and The Cold War Kids do their thing. Read more

Beardyman

Current UK beat-boxing champ, Beardyman, recently kept impatient crowds entertained between sets at London’s Lovebox Weekender. We spoke to the Brighton resident about his offbeat style: ‘I’ve been doing it since I was a baby, but I never knew it was called beat-boxing. I thought it was just a habit, like biting your nails, and people were always telling me to stop. Being a good beat-boxer is a mixture between being a good DJ, a cheesy street magician and a vocal athlete’.

James Jirat Patradoon

Sydney-based artist, James Jirat Patradoon on his career defining moment: ‘If I could trace my artistic inspiration back to one event, it would have to be the Neo Tokyo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in 2001. I had never seen art like that before; I didn’t know you could be so playful with it. I vividly remember the Yoshitomo Nara sculptures made out of bandages, and Kenji Yanobe’s atom suit and Godzilla/Astro Boy sculptures that blew bubbles. It was just so fun. I think because a lot of Japanese art contains references to pop culture, it’s more accessible for audiences. They aren’t so intimidated by it because it can be quite light-hearted but still have a serious undertone to it’.

Operation Soapbox

A haven for all things creative, London’s Southbank Centre recently collaborated with AOC Architecture to produce Operation Soapbox. Residing at the Royal Festival Hall until the end of last month, the maze of wooden boxes opened up a platform for expression for the young (and not so young) to leave behind opinions, questions and concerns on just about any subject, as Lucy and Anne from the Learning and Participation team behind the project explain: ‘Operation Soapbox affirms Southbank Centre’s commitment to the landscape of the imagination and to the making of participatory art. The maze itself is a space that asks to be interpreted. It invites every reader to make an imaginative and personal response’. Read more