Southeast/Northwest
1st – 3rd May 2025
University of Birmingham
BEAST FEaST 2025 will bring friends old and new – from both far flung parts of the world and close to home – together in Birmingham. Electroacoustic music in the twenty-first century is both a local and a global art form. It is at once capable of expressing the local knowledge and culture of the many geographical regions in which it has taken root, notably with the many important electronic music studios that were founded in Japan, Africa, India, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe; and of bringing together different cultures, genres, forms, and sounds, whether through practices of deliberate hybridisation and fusion, or via juxtaposition and contrast. For the 10th Anniversary of BEAST FEaST, our goal is to make a festival which gathers that diversity together in celebration!
For the first time in the U.K., Indonesian electronic music pioneer Otto Sidharta will present his work, including a new composition created for the BEAST system. Bangkok-based multimedia artist Jean-David Caillouët returns to Birmingham for the premiere of his documentary on Sidharta’s music, along with a new audiovisual composition developed as a BEAST artist-in-residence.
Sumatran artists Rani Jambak and M. Hario Efenur join BEAST’s Scott Wilson to transform Minangkabau martial arts into embodied sound and music. French-Canadian multimedia artist Myriam Boucher showcases her innovative practice blending composition vidéomusicale with live performance, while Trevor Wishart, a longtime friend of BEAST, presents The Garden of Earthly Delights—a ‘comic opera’ inspired by Hieronymus Bosch.
Audiovisual artist Mwen brings A Home for Tender Hearts to the BEASTdome, exploring themes of belonging, oppression, and colonial legacies from their perspective as a queer, non-binary, first-generation diasporic African. Meanwhile, Jim Osman, known for his science fiction and fantasy-infused performances, will present his signature dark ambient and experimental soundscapes.
Also featuring compositions and installations from:
Annie Aries / Penelope Bekiari / Gianni Bencich / Manuella Blackburn / Richard Boxley / Hector Bravo Benard / Jesse Budel / Sara Caneva / Enrico Dorigatti / George Edmondson / Marty Fisk / Pepe Gavilondo / Gerard Gormley / Holly Gowland / Jonty Harrison / Patrick Hartono / Christopher Haworth / Heu / Teddy Hunter / Ryo Ikeshiro / Blake Johnston / Esther W Kiburi / Andrew Lewis / Mahakit Mahaniranon / Annie Mahtani / Milad Mardakheh / Angela McArthur / Erik Nyström / Sara Ramírez Márquez / Leah Reid / Pradit Saengkrai / Seongah Shin / Bekah Simms / SKYKYS / Cecilia Suhr / Hery Kristian Buana Tanjuung / Annette Vande Gorne / Tansy Xiao