Imagine electronic music written 40 years ago by pioneers such as Elżbieta Sikora, Krzysztof Knittel, and Ryszard Szeremeta reverberating in new compositions by Mouse on Mars, Skalpel, and Natalia Zamilska. As it turns out, explorations made by Polish electronic music pioneers are the perfect match for dance floors and quirky digital experiments. Join artists remixing the Polish Radio Experimental Studio archive samples and win EUR 2,000.
The Polish Radio Experimental Studio (PRES) operated between 1957 and 2003. The Studio miraculously escaped censorship during the Communist years and inspired composers from across the globe to visit and experiment with the latest in electroacoustic music and sonic art. The Studio producing several hundred hours of autonomous experimental music, as well as cinematic, theatrical, and radio illustrations, and is regarded as a contemporary of its European cousins: The BBC Radiophonic Workshop in London; the WDR Studio for Electronic Music in Cologne, the Studio d’Essai in Paris and the RAI Studio of Phonology in Milan. PRES composers included Krzysztof Penderecki, Bogusław Schaeffer and Eugeniusz Rudnik, as well as Arne Nordheim (Norway), Lejaren Hiller (USA), Vladan Radovanović (Serbia), and Wataru Uenami (Japan). The Studio also worked with eminent representatives of broadly understood visual and performative arts such as Krzysztof Wodiczko, Zbigniew Rybczyński and Andrzej Wajda. Well-known international cinematic co-productions, such as Kurt Maetzig’s The Silent Star (1958), Marek Piestrak’s Inquest of Pilot Pirxa (1967) or Krzysztof Gradowski’s Academy of Mr. Kleks (1987) touched the imagination of millions across the Eastern Bloc countries, remaining a frequently overlooked component of the entire region’s cultural identity.
In 2018, the Adam Mickiewicz Institute joined forces with Ableton to develop a free-of-charge sample library, based on PRES recordings. Over 20,000 composers from around the globe, including Natalia Zamilska, the Skalpel ensemble, and the legendary German duo Mouse on Mars, incorporated samples compositions by Elżbieta Sikora, Krzyszt of Knittel and Ryszard Szeremeta. The pieces by those artists, and by another six composers from Poland, the UK and the US were commissioned by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the commemorations to mark the 100th anniversary of Poland regaining its independence. All compositions will soon be available on our website.
Join our open contest for compositions based on samples from the Polish Radio Experimental Studio archive, and the winning piece will be featured along with these compositions. Full details are available at:
https://www.ableton.com/en/blog/sounds-polish-radio-experimental-studio/
Submissions may be 3 to 6 minutes long. They will be assessed by a jury of five. The jury will focus on originality of the approach and overall composition ambience; references to the aesthetics and history of the Polish Radio Experimental Studio will also be scored, as will the general production quality of the piece. A prize of EUR 2,000 will be awarded to the contest winner(s).
Please read the Regulations.
