Launch of Sonica 2024
Full programme announced for Sonica Festival 2024, which will run at venues across Glasgow, from
the IMAX big screen to Govanhill Baths, 19th - 29th September
The eighth edition of the biennial festival for curious minds and adventurous spirits will showcase
contemporary artists and musicians from across Egypt as well as welcoming talent from Myanmar
to Ukraine, Australia to Luxembourg, Viêt Nam to Switzerland, Canada to the Netherlands to the city,
alongside top homegrown Scottish talent.
Sonica 2024 will open on 19th September with the Scottish premiere of Nati Infiniti by Nine Inch
Nails’ Alessandro Cortini
Other live highlights across the eleven days including the RSNO performing the Scottish premiere
of John Luther Adams’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Become Ocean with kaleidoscopic live visuals from
legendary coder Alba G. Corral; a pay-what-you-can live concert at the Burrell from Scottish
Ensemble inspired by the art and architecture of the collection; the first ever UK performances from
Myanmar’s cosmic electronic artist and genre film aficionado Heft and Dutch queer warped
classical-pop duo No Plexus; a triple bill of Quebec artists from Montreal’s renowned MUTEK
Festival; a cyborg pop concert of the future from Danish music ensemble NEKO3 and German
multimedia composer Alexander Schubert; Harry Gorski-Brown exploring the limits of the bagpipes;
Michael Begg reflecting on his time as musician in residence aboard the Royal Navy’s Antarctic ice
patrol ship; Alex Smoke summoning the sounds of colliding worlds in Govanhill Baths and the
return of Australian AV legend Robin Fox
Free installations across the city include the UK premiere of Celine Daemen’s Venice Film Festival
Award-winning VR opera starring one headset wearer, a pack of wild dogs and a horse in trouble;
Ukrainian artist Kseniia Shcherbakova exploring how interpersonal bonds are strengthened through
the trauma of war; Quebeçois artist Bill Vorn creating an ICU for sickly robots; emigre Glasgow-
based artist Andrey Chugunov attempting to erase the data of corruption and two new public
artworks for Glasgow City Chambers, Ahmed El Shaer’s virtual reality tour inspired by the city’s
cryptic crest and composer Amble Skuse’s new soundscape for the Lamp of Remembrance.
Sonica Festival 2024 is the culmination of a celebration of 30 years of Glasgow’s Cryptic as world-
renowned award-winning producers of unique experiences.
The programme has been announced for the eighth edition of Sonica, Glasgow’s large-scale festival for
curious minds and adventurous spirits. From 19th - 29th September, Sonica will bring some of the world’s
top music and audiovisual artists to the city, alongside showcasing some of Scotland’s top homegrown
talents. The festival offers a packed 11 days of city-wide live concerts, installations and events at vibrant
venues ranging in scale from the IMAX (Scotland’s biggest screen), Tramway One and the Burrell
Collection to the Glad Cafe and Govanhill’s Romalav and
the IMAX big screen to Govanhill Baths, 19th - 29th September
The eighth edition of the biennial festival for curious minds and adventurous spirits will showcase
contemporary artists and musicians from across Egypt as well as welcoming talent from Myanmar
to Ukraine, Australia to Luxembourg, Viêt Nam to Switzerland, Canada to the Netherlands to the city,
alongside top homegrown Scottish talent.
Sonica 2024 will open on 19th September with the Scottish premiere of Nati Infiniti by Nine Inch
Nails’ Alessandro Cortini
Other live highlights across the eleven days including the RSNO performing the Scottish premiere
of John Luther Adams’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Become Ocean with kaleidoscopic live visuals from
legendary coder Alba G. Corral; a pay-what-you-can live concert at the Burrell from Scottish
Ensemble inspired by the art and architecture of the collection; the first ever UK performances from
Myanmar’s cosmic electronic artist and genre film aficionado Heft and Dutch queer warped
classical-pop duo No Plexus; a triple bill of Quebec artists from Montreal’s renowned MUTEK
Festival; a cyborg pop concert of the future from Danish music ensemble NEKO3 and German
multimedia composer Alexander Schubert; Harry Gorski-Brown exploring the limits of the bagpipes;
Michael Begg reflecting on his time as musician in residence aboard the Royal Navy’s Antarctic ice
patrol ship; Alex Smoke summoning the sounds of colliding worlds in Govanhill Baths and the
return of Australian AV legend Robin Fox
Free installations across the city include the UK premiere of Celine Daemen’s Venice Film Festival
Award-winning VR opera starring one headset wearer, a pack of wild dogs and a horse in trouble;
Ukrainian artist Kseniia Shcherbakova exploring how interpersonal bonds are strengthened through
the trauma of war; Quebeçois artist Bill Vorn creating an ICU for sickly robots; emigre Glasgow-
based artist Andrey Chugunov attempting to erase the data of corruption and two new public
artworks for Glasgow City Chambers, Ahmed El Shaer’s virtual reality tour inspired by the city’s
cryptic crest and composer Amble Skuse’s new soundscape for the Lamp of Remembrance.
Sonica Festival 2024 is the culmination of a celebration of 30 years of Glasgow’s Cryptic as world-
renowned award-winning producers of unique experiences.
The programme has been announced for the eighth edition of Sonica, Glasgow’s large-scale festival for
curious minds and adventurous spirits. From 19th - 29th September, Sonica will bring some of the world’s
top music and audiovisual artists to the city, alongside showcasing some of Scotland’s top homegrown
talents. The festival offers a packed 11 days of city-wide live concerts, installations and events at vibrant
venues ranging in scale from the IMAX (Scotland’s biggest screen), Tramway One and the Burrell
Collection to the Glad Cafe and Govanhill’s Romalav and
Category
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NewsTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:23 My name's Cathy Boyd, I'm Director of Seneca, and the dates are the 19th to the 29th of September.
00:29 We are a playground of adventurous music for curious minds.
00:34 We're across 14 venues in the city, 50% of the festival is free,
00:39 ranging from CCA, Tramway, Govan Hill Baths,
00:44 two little houses behind the Goethe-Institut that have never been revealed before,
00:48 and we're also going to be presenting some very large-scale work in the IMAX.
00:52 We are opening with Alexander Curtini of Nine Inch Nails with his amazing immersive live performance Natty Infiniti.
01:00 We have Martin Messier coming in from Montreal with his water performance One Drop One Thousand Years.
01:06 When have you ever watched water droplets be musical?
01:09 We have the laser legend Robin Fox coming in from Melbourne.
01:14 We also have artists coming in from Vietnam, from Myanmar, and our country focus is Egypt.
01:20 What's really important with Seneca is that 50% of the programme is Scottish artists.
01:25 We're supporting everybody from artists in their 20s right up until their 60s, and that's very important.
01:31 Some of the works are commissions, and they range from venues including the City Chambers,
01:36 the Glad Cafe, the Rum Shack, again Tramway,
01:40 so it's a whole range of different places where we'll be supporting those artists.
01:43 We have Loman Campbell, we have Alex Smoke, we have She,
01:47 this is a good memory test, thank you very much,
01:50 we have Sonia Killman, we have Nafi, we have Superman on the Beat, and many more.
01:58 50% of the festival is free, accessibility is really important for Seneca.
02:04 We have installations in the City Chambers as well as in the CCA where we are now,
02:10 with a lot of us, and in Tramway, and in the Goethe Institute.
02:14 And what's nice is we also have some performances which are pay what you can.
02:19 So we're going to be leading you through the Burrell Collection, which should be amazing,
02:23 with the Scottish Ensemble, as well as Harry Gorski-Brown giving us bagpipes and electronics performance.
02:30 My name is Sonia Killman, I'm a sound artist and saxophone player,
02:34 and this year I'm going to be working with Laura Minelli on a collaboration installation at Seneca
02:42 called "Umwelttrauma", and it is based on Jacob van Uxkell's concept of "Umwelt",
02:50 which is the concept that everyone has their own environment,
02:54 and that there's no one true environment or reality,
02:57 but that everyone's perceptions of our surroundings are different,
03:00 and that these little bubbles all coexist.
03:03 And Laura is an installation artist, and she will be making a lot of the visuals
03:10 and a lot of the landscape that we are creating.
03:13 The landscape is inspired by Cove Park, where our first residency was,
03:17 which was a very, very magical experience, and the nature around there.
03:20 I mean, it's impossible not to get inspired by it.
03:23 And then I kind of will be making the soundscape in it,
03:27 and the installation will be presented at the CCA Cinema,
03:31 and we will be utilising the CCA 5.1 surround sound system for the installation,
03:36 so it should be a very good experience.
03:39 I've gotten so, so many opportunities from Cryptic that have pushed me
03:43 way beyond what I could think, thought I could achieve,
03:47 but also just pushed me outside of the boundaries of Scotland.
03:51 I've been able to travel kind of all over the world,
03:55 to Sweden, to Russia, to Ukraine, to Belgium, you know, like everywhere with Cryptic.
04:04 And yeah, I'm just very grateful for all these opportunities.
04:08 [applause]
04:14 [music playing]
04:19 [MUSIC]