Berlin DJs Marie Montexier and Mor Elian each have a reputation as exacting selectors and tastemakers: Marie is a well-known vinyl junkie and record collector, while Mor produces the kind of dance music that makes brains explode. They’re artists who attract words like ‘refined’, ‘cutting-edge’, ‘technical’, ‘forward-thinking’, polished’, but what often gets forgotten is how much fun they have with what they’re doing. SonarMix 051 might just change that narrative. Recorded live at Sónar by Night 2024, it captures the pair in the mood for a party, trading chunky basslines, looping breakbeats and percussive breakdowns. Across the final hour of their back-to-back at SonarLab x Printworks, they effortlessly connect the sounds of rave’s past, present and future, whistles and piano stabs giving way to mutant rhythms, sinuous melodies and stuttering vocals. It’s the sound of two highly skilled DJs having a whole lot of fun, and taking the audience along for the ride with them. No tracklist on this one, just 60 minutes of hands-in-the-air dance music.
Arts Korea Lab brought a taste of Korea’s vibrant art and technology sector to Project Area 2024; they’ll be exhibiting four different projects at Expand North Star. Team Pearl’s ‘Separium: 12th Elevator’ uses AI and human participation to create dynamic virtual multidisciplinary exhibition spaces; Seungsoon Park demos a pair of projects focused on audio, AI-powered music tool MixAudio and XR soundscape project MindscapeXR; collective_nshp present ‘Neural Tides: Oceanic Neural Granular Synthesizer’ which uses neural networks to map how marine debris moves throughout the natural world; and 3ARTH’s ‘Echoes of Emotion’ uses AI to deliver music tailored to each user’s emotional state. DataMind Audio’s ‘Combobulator’ uses neural networks ethically trained on world-class sound designers (“Artist Brains”) to generate sound. Aimed at creating a sustainable musical ecosystem, it gives producers access to an endless bank of new sounds, while ensuring that artists receive a cut of the profits for their contributions.Krea.ai makes AI easy for creatives, with intuitive and delightful interfaces that make prompting and art generation simple. Renowned Barcelona-based digital artist Boldtronwill represent them at Expand North Star, answering questions and explaining how he uses the Krea suite to get the most out of his AI-generated art. Talks & Conferences - Bringing Lounge+D to Dubai
On October 14th, Expand North Star attendees will be able to hear first hand from Arts Korea Lab (Team Pearl, Seungsoon Park, collective_nshp, & 3ARTH), DataMind Audio and Krea.ai (Boldtron) as they take to Expand North Star’s The Future of Creativity stage to present their work and respond to questions. They’ll be joined by longtime Sónar+D collaborators BSC Data Viz Group, who’ll explain how they use supercomputers to analyse data and create highly complex visualisations; as well as model ‘digital twins’, virtual models and copies of real-life objects, processes and scenarios.Eric Prydz’s HOLO: A planet-sized show to close GITEX Global 2024
Additionally, in collaboration with local promoter M Premiere, we’re bringing Eric Prydz’s planet-sized show HOLO to Expo City Dubai for the GITEX GLOBAL closing concert on 18th October. After wowing audiences at Sónar 2023 in Barcelona, this unmatched audiovisual spectacle - and one of the defining shows of recent years - will be performed for the very first time in the MENA region, a fitting conclusion to GITEX Global 2024.You can secure your free pass for Expand North Starhere.Tickets for HOLO are now on sale here.Sónar at Expand North Star is made possible with support from our partner ME Dubai.
