ARKA KINARI PERFORMANCE
A strange ship has appeared on the waterfront, painted in evocative patterns, streaked with rust, and battered by storms. It came from a distant island somewhere in the Indo-Pacific, a place where rising seas have already made life on land impossible. As the sun dips below the horizon a lone figure sings out to gather a crew and begin a voyage. A voyage through a world of distress and possibility, expressed through an otherworldly musical mix of traditional Javanese melodies, hypnotic polyrhythms and contemporary electronic beats by the musicians Filastine & Nova, accompanied by cinematic projections across the vessel’s sails, and staged across the ship and the surrounding waters. Peaceful while urgent, meditative while menacing, Arka Kinari is a warning of the coming storm and an invitation to sail into an alternative future.
“A remarkable and unusual meditation on the climate emergency, performed at the docks on the very boat the artists used to sail to the festival from Indonesia" - Sydney Morning Herald
“The deck transforms into multiple stages. Nova kicks things off, incarnating the goddess of the Southern Ocean, her ethereal song of Javanese poetry carrying into the night. Grey joins on percussion, his face draped in sequin cloth. They’re silhouetted against the sail, now doubling as a projection screen” - National Geographic
THE CREATORS
A Creation Of: Grey Filastine & Nova Ruth Setyaningtyas Director: Ricard Soler Mallol Produced By: Lintas Batas, Filastine & Nova Technical Directors: Adria Pinar, Victor Peralta Lighting Design: Adria Pinar, Victor Peralta, Ricard Soler Mallol, Sarah Payne Wardrobe Design: Ican Harem, Manda Selena, Victor Peralta, Mat Jacob
Filastine & Nova are a multimedia duo working to undermine borders. Their music collides psychedelic trap beats with Javanese post-folk, musique concréte, analogue synths and acoustic strings. National Public Radio calls them “powerfully political and distinctly global,” and Pitchfork says “they sound less like `world’ music and more like music from another world.” Another world is exactly what they aim to create, using sound, video, design, and dance to express a radically different vision of the possible. Authors of a dozen critically-acclaimed albums and touring performances, Filastine & Nova have appeared at music and theater festivals across the world, such as Sónar (Spain), Downtown Cairo Arts (Egypt), Decibel (US), Mutek (Japan), Les Vieilles Charrues (France), Foreign Affairs (Germany) and Mona Foma (Australia).
“The soundtrack to a rising heat humidity index” - Spin Magazine
“Awesome and delicate...hybrids so fluent they defy classification” - Pitchfork
“Visceral, disorienting exotica” - The Stranger
“Jittery electronica with international percussion, well-coordinated video imagery” - NY Times
“Deftly collaged cuts melding throbbing bass synths and ricocheting 808s with concréte sounds and live instruments” - The Wire