Scandinavia’s biggest music festival presents its best display of art ever

Participating artists include: CHARLIE TODD, STEVE POWERS, EINAT AMIR and RAUMLABOR.

Roskilde Festival is not just Scandinavia’s biggest music festival. It is much more than that. This year’s festival features a number of art events that involve the audience in new thought-provoking ways. An Israeli artist that affects your consciousness, urban activists from Berlin and American performance artists are just some of the ingredients in the ambitious ‘More Than Music’ programme.

Setting higher and higher standards for staging audience experiences and other cultural offerings at the festival, Roskilde Festival not only wants its guests to have an extraordinary experience, but also wishes to create social awareness, tell something new, and create a sense of community through play – something art makes an excellent instrument for. The inspiration is gathered worldwide at biennales, through travels to innovative festivals such as Coachella and Burning Man, and through visits to niche art projects in small hidden corners of the world.

"We present a programme where we – through design, architecture, installations and performances – focus on social and involving aspects. We want to move our audience and inspire them to consider the surrounding world. With a high international standard, we present everything from growth layer and rising stars to established cutting edge artists," says Signe Brink Pedersen, head curator at Roskilde Festival.

For the last year and a half, Roskilde Festival has carefully worked up a display of art out of the ordinary that celebrates the guests’ collective and open minds. For Roskilde Festival, it is not art itself that is the focus of attention. It is the guests.

Roskilde Festival proudly presents a couple of international goodies from this year’s program:

The Danish premiere: CHARLIE TODD – American performance artist who creates mega events involving up to 20,000 people. He manages to engage people in a humorous and provocative way – as in the project ‘Look Up More’ where he got all the busy people in New York City to stand still for a moment as the windows of an entire building were filled with dancing people. At Roskilde Festival, you can look forward to a huge party including a string quartet and tuxedo and prom dresses at the swimming lake.

"I am delighted to bring ‘Improv Everywhere’ to Roskilde this year. We have toured all over the world, but this is the first time we are in Denmark. We have created a tailor-made experience for the Roskilde Festival, and it’s going to be a crazy game of fun. I cannot wait to see how the Roskilde audience will interact with all the projects we come up with. Roskilde has a reputation for being a world-class festival, and I am so excited to be part of it this year," says Charlie Todd, who also performs the grand opening event at the camp site this year.

The sign-maker: STEVE POWERS – a major international art name who decorates the street scene. 50s-kitschy signs and letters are his characteristics as he transforms dead, sad neighbourhoods into poetic street corners with his ‘Love Letters for You’. At this year’s exceptional workshops, the audience gets the opportunity to decorate their camp with a homemade Powers-sign. In addition, Steve Powers has the coveted job of painting the grandstand wall this year.

The intimate provocateur: EINAT AMIR – in conjunction with Lilith Performance Studio in Malmö, the acclaimed Israeli artist shares her magnificent performance ‘Enough about me’ at Roskilde Festival. Imagine going into a soundproof box where you meet someone you don’t know. Speakers tell you what to do and in four minutes you’ll get to know another person. In an age where we constantly expose ourselves, it’s Einat Amirs wish that we ask: How well do we really know the person next to us?

The city art craftsmen: RAUMLABOR – the Berlin-based urban activists have created an interesting and urban political installation at Roskilde Road Trip, which commented on the urban space it was situated in. With its relevant location in Roskilde Festival’s Urban Zone, visitors can interact with and debate its messages – e.g. the criticism of big capitalist corporations. Does Roskilde’s audience dare to take a stand?

Keep up! Every Tuesday, there is More Than Music. Roskilde Festival breaks brand new art names and gives you even more info about the names already sparkling on the poster.

Contact:
Signe Brink Pedersen, Head Curator, Roskilde Festival, Phone: +45 27 28 81 23, E-mail: signe.pedersen@roskilde-festival.dk

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