Celebrating art of film, dance and music

 

Mariam Nihal

Saudi Gazette

 

October belongs to Amsterdam. Amsterdam Dance Festival features 300 events and 2000 DJs during 15th to 19th October. Over 300,000 people attend the conferences and events held across 80 venues, making Amsterdam one of the most buzzing and inspiring cities in the world.

During the conferences experts discussed the relationship between music and technology, along with ecologically responsible practices for the global dance music industry. ADE Playground is spread across the city and includes film screenings, music hardware presentations, fashion offers, talk shows, pop-up musical performances at 25 creative hotspots around the city at art galleries, shops, cinemas and even roof-top terraces. The program is a favorite among artists, filmmakers, international students, actors, promoters, music producers, media representatives and many more from all across the globe.

ADE conferences are divided into seven themed programs, including programming for business professionals, start-ups, aspiring producers and musicians, international students, VJs, visual artists and stage designers. The programs also focus on in-depth expertise into the harder music genres.



Main Attractions



Foam, Photography Museum Amsterdam, exhibited Shadows, Patterns, Pears by the American artist Daniel Gordon during ADE. Gordon also won the Foam Paul Huf Award 2014.

The exhibition featured a selection of colorful portraits and photographs.



They also showcased ‘Under Construction - New Positions in American Photography’, a group exhibition featuring the work of nine young American and Canadian artists including Owen Kydd, Matt Lipps, Sara VanDerBeek, Matthew Porter, Joshua Citarella, Jessica Eaton, Daniel Gordon, Lucas Blalock and Kate Steciw.



I Dream Of Wires an independent documentary about the history, the modular synthesizer was also screened during the event. It featured interviews with over 100 modular musicians, inventors and enthusiasts. The documentary was released last year and became a hit with the underground electronic musicians and fans.



Celebrating their 10th year anniversary, international dance music record label, Cr2 Records is releasing Amsterdam Underground featuring 20 tracks and10 exclusives tomorrow.



Games and music engineering were celebrated throughout ADE. Premier of Kypski’s Wreck Fader came with a 3D music game, which is based on ‘turntablism’, in which the turntables are used as a musical instrument.  Other games including Spotter interactive dance machine, where you control sound and visuals by physical movement and Pillo Game play with a partner by ‘cuddling’ the pillow-controller were also seen throughout the festival.



Spinnin’ Records CEO and co-founder Eelko van Kooten spoke about their music label Spinnin’ Records, social media, growing markets like Asia and South America, radio and tips for producers wanting to do it right. Its 40 subsidiary labels have released tracks by Avicii, Afrojack, Chocolate Puma, Kaskade, Nicky Romero and more. Spinnin’ Records have also managed artists including Martin Garrix and Sander van Doorn.



Free Water for Everyone – the Business Plan Behind the Idea was debated  upon with festival organizers in a discussion panel. The discussion panel included Carlijn Lindemulder (ID&T, NL) Head of Sustainability at ID&T, Dede Flemming (Lightning in a Bottle, US) Founder Lightning in a Bottle and Maarten van Huijstee (Delight Agency, NL) Creative Director at Delight Agency.



The Mini Galerie hosted ‘Uncovered: The art of the album cover.’ The exhibition revealed original artworks by artists Boris Tellegen, Maya Hayuk, Jeroen Erosie, Graphic Surgery, Ekta, Merijn Hos and Rop van Mierlo that were previously used for cover designs of various dance records.



The Makings of You - Music and Movement Edition workshop with Kidspiration Club and Art Dance Expression.



Panel discussions with Nicky Romero, Martin Garrix and even Eelke Kleijn spoke about ‘How to Remix John Legend’ with his current hits and success.



ADE is the biggest international club festival covering the whole spectrum of electronic sub-genres.