Interview with Atte Elias Kantonen

We interviewed Atte Elias Kantonen, curator of the bugbath: questing-questing sound evening. The evening will take place at Mad House on 3 May 2025, and is a continuation of the previous event bugbath: questing.

Mad House: How are you going with the bugbath sound performance series? A year ago, you curated  the first set for Mad, bugbath: questing. What has happened in the meantime, and what direction is the project taking?

Atte Elias Kantonen: In terms of the content of the series, the forthcoming bath should continue the pilot set in similar directions. The event hasn't had too many frills since the last one - great performers and a warm atmosphere all in all again. In the meantime, however, we have been able to be present and rejoice in the fact that the event has a chance to continue as a series - so we can patiently follow the lessons learned and the conceptualisation of the event. Perhaps the next step - and already underway - is to understand and gather the necessary framework  and basis for the "nomadisation" of bugbath. This is with a view to the possibility of experimenting with bathing, if desired and/or needed, spatially elsewhere.

MH: It seems that there are several of super-hot artists suddenly emerging from the field of sound performance and experimental music in the field contemporary performance scene? What is the origin of this wave? Or have sound-driven performances not been curated enough in the past?

AEK: I think that perhaps part of this break lies in the unnecessarily strict boundaries and categorisations in the profiles of authors and artists have dissolved in a positive way.  Many people float effortlessly between different profiles - as music makers, sound artists, performance artists, DJs, performance designers and so on. This multi-dimensionality is also reflected in the presence of curious people from different creative backgrounds are working or experimenting with sound. The boundaries of 'musical', 'sound art' and 'sound performance' expression are also blurred and practices can be drawn from and borrowed cross-connected. Of course, these guidelines can sometimes be useful as a guideline, but especially in the context of performances and performing, they can get mixed up in the bubbling foams of conventions and styles :-)

Read more about bugbath: questing-questing audio evening.