festival, curation, friendship

the ya festival is a platform for contemporary music initiated by roberto beseler maxwell & me & realized by a wide group of collaborators.

lecture by dr. bridget fonkeu from silent university at ya2festival (2024)

by contemporary music we mean any living musical tradition currently being practiced. the guiding principle of the initiative is the questioning of a “denial of contemporaneity” (johannes fabian): non-european arts were denied the seal of the contemporary. they were understood as a museum practice of the past. only the european avant-garde was considered to be an adequate expression of the present. with the ya festival, we want to break with this notion. for us, doing justice to the responsibility of our colonialist heritage means questioning the hierarchy of this denial & taking the topicality of other music seriously.

concert by renkei hashimoto at ya2festival (2024)

exhibition of *i’m here 2024 -short stay- without me* by sachiko m at ya2festival (2024)

exhibition of *sandraum* by bernd bleffert at ya2festival (2024)