Initiated in 1999 by Parisian organization BÜRO, LE PLACARD is a unique concept for a nomadic, international festival: it is based around the presentation of live musical performances to a public outfitted with headphones, along with the simultaneous transmission of the concerts over the Internet.

PLACARD//MUTEK 2005 is the initiative of Eric Mattson, curator of this first collaboration between LE PLACARD and MUTEK. The event-laboratory welcomes over a period of three days over sixty performances of original and untamed electronic music. The selected artists come from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, as well as several other countries-all of whom will be taking advantage of this exclusive platform to diffuse an eclectic assortment of original, unedited, and untamed electronic music.

A festival within a Festival, PLACARD//MUTEK 2005 also serves as an outlet for meetings and exchanges-a forum for impromptu collaborations and unexpected demonstrations.

The Yokomono project from duo Staalplaat Soundsystem debuts the festival in its performance format, and then follows with its installation mode-assuring a playfully animated break during the interludes which dot the program.

The calendar of performances will be published on www.placard.org, www.mutek.ca, and www.bandeapart.fm. The BANDEAPART.FM/Radio-Canada website will also present a blog where internet-users can interact more directly to share their impressions on the performances. PLACARD//MUTEK 2005 inaugurates the 2005 season for LE PLACARD, which will unfurl over three months in different venues.

Büro
Paris, FR
www.placard.org
www.bandeapart.fm

Conceived by Geert-Jan Hobijn and Carsten Stabenow, this project is regarded by its authors as a Mono Erosive Surround Sound Installation. Resurrecting the mechanic, playful aesthetic characteristic of all the creations from Staalplaat Soundsystem, the Yokomono installation consists of ten vinyl killers-toy car spinning record players, each customised with its own fm transmitter. The emerging sounds are due to a collection of radios that receive the randomly transmitted signals from the toy cars, yet instability and unpredictability ensues since the cars run on batteries and will ultimately die out, hence the term “vinyl killers.”
The presence of Yokomono at PLACARD//MUTEK 2005 will offer the occasion for Staalplaat to inaugurate their wireless video extension and entertain certain sonic loops from the likes of Anton Nikkilä, Charlemagne Palestine, Fennesz, fm3, Ignaz Schick, Ilpo Väisänen, Justin Bennett, C.M. von Hausswolff, Phill Niblock, Radian and Tim Hecker.