Laurie Anderson to headline WITCiH Digital Festival, celebrating women and non-binary creatives in tech
Other guests include BBC 6 Music’s Nemone; Hannah Peel and more…
The WITCiH Digital Festival is scheduled for 9-11th June 2021, and will feature online performances, panels, and presentations by guests.
Also on the lineup is BBC 6 Music broadcaster and psychotherapist Nemone; pioneering queer DJ Ana Matronic; as well as Hannah Peel, Anil Sebastian, Samantha Togni, Portrait XO, Hannah Holland, and Kayla Painter.
The festival will also feature five new artist commissions by Halina Rice, lula.xyz, Hinako Omori, Gnarly and BISHI.
WITCiH (short for the Women in Technology Creative Industries Hub) is a platform to elevate women and non-binary creatives in tech, aiming to explore the intersection between music, technology, performance art and visual art.
After a series of intimate salons and live events in East London, an inaugural festival in 2018, and further events at the BFI, Tate Modern and Now Gallery in 2020, the organisation now follows up its first festival.
The second Digital Festival will take place in a virtual format, across three nights celebrating the stories of intergenerational and intercultural women & non-binary creative practitioners in technology. Each evening will present a digital premiere of a new commission, followed by an intimate conversation with the star guests.
Together, the guests will discuss a range of topics, including gender, emerging technologies, wellbeing in electronic music, and personal creative journeys.
Each night will also commence with the digital premiere of new work, from one of the five WITCiH commissioned artists: electronic musician Halina Rice; multidisciplinary artist and ambassador for Mi.Mu gloves lula.xyz; Japanese born composer Hinako Omori; British Sri Lankan producer and finger drummer Gnarly and BISHI in collaboration with mixed reality company, Volta.
WITCiH’s founder BISHI commented: ‘With lockdown restrictions now lifting, I think that people need a space to be able to communicate their ideas. It’s been a long 14 months. We need to reflect on how we’ve coped and where we’re going next. Laurie Anderson has commented that she’s connected with more people during lockdown than she would have on a world tour. Nemone is keen to not only reflect on the challenges over this time but explore some of the amazing creative pathways that people have discovered during the pandemic.”
She added, “If you’re a woman of colour over the age of 30, systemically you’re screwed! I am in the fortunate position to have many opportunities and coming from an inclusive, counter-cultural background, I want to use my early career experience in LGBTQ spaces to elevate other artists.”
“As well as recognising a significant need to develop and platform creators of colour, WITCiH believes there is also a noticeable deficit in support for artists making a career start later in life, as ageism is rife within the music industry. Alongside ground-breaking musical outputs, each music creator has forged success through unorthodox paths, for instance via partnerships with world-renowned tech companies and digital platforms.”