Review: Day Four - Elevate the 21st Century

Monday,24 Oct 11 23:09

After two days of issue-specific events, Sunday’s program was focused on a more general view of the 21^st century.

Workshops dealing with topics like capitalism and peer production presented alternatives to social as well as productive systems, while a Workshop especially designed for the youngest visitors took place in the Forum Stadtpark. In a playful way, “Elevate 4 Kids” tried to encourage children to pay attention to their sense of hearing, and to raise their awareness of the noises that are constantly surrounding us.

Afterwards, the documentary “The Crisis of Civilization” by Dean Puckett had its world premiere in the Dom im Berg. Based on the recently published book by political scientist Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, this film offers a spectacular and artistically stimulating introduction to the causes and effects of the current socio-ecological crisis. (Interview with Dean Puckett)

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In a discussion hosted by Todd L. Burns from Resident Advisor, artists talked about recent developments and the future of electronic music. Author Simon Reynolds was connected via live stream to join the debate as well.

The day’s special highlight was the panel discussion between experts in areas of various crises of the 21^st century. Mona Bricke opened the conversation by presenting her view on the climate crisis, and by telling her story of trying to find a solution for it in Germany. James Vasile is developing a Freedom-Box, which is to work as a possibility to escape permanent electronic surveillance. Political scientist Corinna Milburn explained the development of crises that have their origins in the structures of society. For Mark Stevenson, the causes for these crises can already be found in the educational system, while Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed focused on understanding how various crises interact with each other as well as on the possible impacts of these interactions.
Everyone agreed that there definitely is a connection between all mentioned crises. Solving them and bringing about a necessary change of the prevailing system, requires active people who promote their ideas and eventually put them into practice. After more than two and a half hour, many exciting points and new approaches had been discussed.  The audience was not only presented different perspectives on our development, but also encouraged to participate in changing these processes for the better.

„Good evening – I am the Laokoongroup!“ was how Karl Schamberger introduced his listening performance “no, we don’t reflect”. Surrounded by violet light, he presented music not only far away from mainstream, but even aimed against it. He entertained the audience with critical texts about society, visual support and instruments you could equip a whole band with.

Photophob alias Herwig Holzmann has been feeding the netlabel scene with IDM, Breakbeats and Dubstep for almost 10 years now – on Sunday he brought the music program of the Elevate Festival in the Dom im Berg to a successful close.