Dates, First Artist Announcement, New Image, New Spaces and Early Bird Passes

Today we announce the dates of the ninth edition of MIRA Festival ¤ SON Estrella Galicia—from 5 to 9 November in various spaces in Barcelona—, the first confirmed artists, present this year’s image and concept, and release a limited number of Early Bird Festival Passes at a special price of 55€, while supplies last.

The Festival Passes grant access to the whole programme in Fabra I Coats on 7, 8 and 9 November. We will soon be releasing the 2-Day Tickets and Day Tickets, as well as tickets for the concerts and activities at L’Auditori, the Teatre Lliure and IDEAL, the first digital arts centre in Spain, to be inaugurated in October and of which MIRA is part of the artistic direction.

Get your Early Bird Festival Pass HERE!

For this new edition we aim to explore the importance of art and technology as instruments of protest, as tools for converting thought into action, to reshape our future and demand transformation by encouraging change as individuals.

First Artist Announcement

ALESSANDRO CORTINI LIVE A/V + BEATRICE DILLON LIVE + BIOSPHERE LIVE A/V + B12 LIVE + CARLOS SÁEZ presents DUALMISMO INSTALLATION + CURL LIVE + DJ HARAM DJ SET + HUMA  LIVE A/V + JUDE MARCELLA VISUAL SET + KALI MALONE feat. RAINER KOHLBERGER LIVE A/V + LEEZA PRITYCHENKO VISUAL SET + BLACKEST EVER BLACK presents OSSIA feat. MAX KELAN LIVE A/V + SCHWEFELGELB LIVE + SKEE MASK DJ SET + SMERZ feat. WEIRDCORE LIVE A/V + VESSEL feat. PEDRO MAIA LIVE A/V

After more than 15 years since his last performance in Barcelona, we will have the honour of hosting the new A/V show—and Spanish premiere—by Biosphere, an indisputable legend of ambient music, who this year will release “The Senja Recordings”, an album of field recordings and studio improvisations recorded on the island of Senja (Arctic Norway).

Alessandro Cortini returns—in MIRA 2016 he presented his “Avanti” A/V show—to dazzle us with his always evocative and emotional narrative by means of synthesised sounds. On this occasion, Cortini will present a new A/V show based on new music that will be released in the coming months.

Composer, producer and sound alchemist Vessel will present his latest album “Queen of Golden Dogs” (Tri Angle, 2018), an album inspired by classical chamber music that speaks of spiritual, physical, artistic and personal freedom, and will do so alongside his faithful collaborator Pedro Maia, one of the best contemporary visual artists, known for his innovative use of analogue film techniques.

The London-based collective and label CURL, formed by Mica Levi (aka Micachu, known for her work with The Shapes and for her soundtracks for “Under the Skin” and “Jackie”), Coby Sey (has collaborated with Klein and Tirzah) and Brother May, along with special guests, will offer an interdisciplinary performative show as a form of sensory, expansive, multiform and genre-less experiment.

Producer and DJ Beatrice Dillon, known for her ambitious DJ sets and acclaimed releases, remixes and collaborations, will be presenting her new album, set to be released during 2019. The perfect occasion to experience her subtle, intricate and completely distinctive way of approaching live club music.

Legendary duo B12, pioneers of British techno and IDM along with Autechre, Aphex Twin and The Black Dog, and producers of some of the most mind-blowing and classic electronic records of the 90s (“Electro Soma” from 1993 and “Time Tourist” from 1996) will present their ground-breaking live show, reinterpreting their vast body of work and masterfully mixing the classic with the new.

Berlin duo Schwefelgelb, who mix EBM with techno and electro, will perform an energetic live with synchronised strobe lights. While Bristol producer Ossia, in his first ever Barcelona appearance, will present his debut album “Devil’s Dance” (Blackest Ever Black, 2018), a turbulent and dread-filled ambient/dub techno opus, accompanied by visual work by video artist Max Kelan.

Musician and producer Huma, a project that combines elements ranging from ambient and electronic music to metal and drone, will present his new album, set to be released in September on his own label, Hedonic Reversal.

In addition, we will have a dj set by the versatile DJ Haram, half of 700 Bliss alongside Moor Mother, and composer of the debut tour of Richard Siegal’s Ballet of Difference modern dance company. During the festival she will perform one of her raw, high energy sets in which every mix is possible.

Exclusive shows and commissioned installations

One of our objectives is to promote collaboration between musicians and visual artists who have never worked together, with the aim of presenting unique and exclusive shows in each edition.

Norwegian duo Smerz will present their acclaimed “Have fun” (2018, XL Recordings), an album that mixes electronic experimentation with R&B, pop and club music, accompanied by renowned video designer Weirdcore, who has collaborated with Aphex Twin, M.I.A. or Simian Mobile Disco.

Sound artist Kali Malone, generator of rich harmonic textures with wind and string instruments channeled through a modular synthesiser, will perform an exclusive A/V show in collaboration with Austrian visual artist Rainer Kohlberger, whose work is based on algorithmic composition and is influenced by the way in which layers of noise, drones and strobe light unfold a sense of the infinite.

Skee Mask, producer of one of the best electronic albums of 2018, “Compro”—an album that mixes breakbeats, IDM and ambient styles—will deploy his more club-ready sounds with a DJ set to close one of the days of the festival, accompanied by an exclusive visual set by artist Jude Marcella.

The festival will also feature the visuals of the graphic designer, 3D artist and VJ Leeza Pritychenko, who will create an exclusive set based on the quirky yet minimalist character of her work. We will soon announce which musician she will be accompanied by. This show will mark her debut in Spain.

And as regards installations, the first confirmed—and also commissioned—is Dualmismo: an immersive and large-format artistic project by Carlos Sáez that toys with the real and the virtual, challenging Platonic dualism and testing our patterns of perception through the synchronisation of different light, video and sound effects. The installation highlights the capabilities of human beings to adapt to new levels of virtuality and assume them as reality, two concepts that are becoming increasingly difficult to dissociate.

Destruction ¤ Genesis: the new graphic campaign

The graphic campaign for this edition—created by the Snoop agency—deals with the concept of “Destruction ¤ Genesis”, posing an existential debate and questioning the paradigms of an environment that appears to be sentenced to destruction. Are we ending our own existence, or on the contrary, are we moving towards a new genesis? A question of free interpretation that contextualises this edition, and which we will attempt to respond during the days of the festival, seeing as music and art do not cease to be a reflection of our present.