Upstream: MEMBRANE

Concert Series for New Music and Performance

Upstream is a concert series that brings new, forward-looking and uncompromising music and performance from the international scene to Hamburg. In reference to the metaphor "Upstream" ("stromaufwärts"), which refers to proximity to the source, and to salmon swimming upstream to migrate, the series focuses on navigating the latest currents and addressing contemporary issues in art and music.

Not just the vibrational surface of a drum, a membrane allows things to cross over or to meet halfway. Whether percussive, societal, technological or otherwise, all membranes protect one space from another. A site of resonance and resistance, whether we can or should traverse it is a question of form, policy or respect.

For hexorcismos, the self-built neural network ‘Okachihuali’ is explored via a membranous digital interface to generate 3Ball on the fly. Traversing resonant and resistant points - where this Mexican electronic music genre is synthesised in its true, waltzing form, or is scattered across anomalous data points as plumes of digital noise - the computer musician draws attention to the divide between pre-Hispanic knowledge and Western networked systems. As a percussionist, Etienne Nillesen has a close relation to the membrane of his snare drum. By circling its surface with wooden rods he can make the skin sing, rethinking the instrument’s essence. Through extended playing techniques and precise control of resonance, the instrument opens up into a fragile, continuously shifting sonic field in which pitch, texture, and rhythm emerge from the interaction of sound itself. The evening ends with CAOUTCHOUC (Ensemble Contrechamps’ Serge Vuille and composer-performer Jessie Marino), whose absurd songs bounce, rattle and scrape unpredictably across multiple sonic surfaces and thematic ideas.

Gefördert durch die Hamburgische Kulturstiftung. Außerdem gefördert vom Musikfonds e.V. mit Projektmitteln der Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien.

Curated by:

• Upstream
• Louis d'Heudières
• Nina Kuttler
• MICHAELBRAILEY

hexorcismos

Moisés Horta Valenzuela, known as Hexorcismos, is an artist, technologist, and musician from Tijuana, Mexico. Currently based in Berlin, he creates artworks at the intersection of computer music, AI, and digital technology through a decolonial lens. His project SEMILLA.AI embodies both traditional and state-of-the-art sound technologies, allowing users to explore neural audio synthesis. His work has been featured in prominent venues and festivals such as Ars Electronica, MUTEK, and the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm. Hexorcismos aims to democratize AI music tools, making them accessible for broader artistic exploration and cultural reflection.

• Instagram
• Bandcamp

Etienne Nillesen

Etienne Nillesen is a composer and sound artist based in Cologne. In his solo work, he redefines the snare drum by bringing its harmonic and resonant qualities into focus, shifting attention away from its conventional rhythmic role. Sound in this work is not treated as a sequence of events, but as a spatial and sculptural phenomenon—something that fills a room, changes character as it moves through
space and can be perceived differently depending on where and how one listens. Nillesen’s work has been presented in international contexts ranging from contemporary and experimental music festivals to spaces dedicated to exploratory listening and sound-based practices.

• Instagram

CAOUTCHOUC

CAOUTCHOUC is the duo of Jessie Marino (fiddle, keyboards, electronics) and Serge Vuille (percussion, objects, electronics). The duo creates songs and sonic landscapes which celebrate the mundane and the ridiculous. CAOUTCHOUC is a rubber band.

• Bandcamp