Ten years ago, donaufestival was established with a mission statement of creating "a radically new festival model, which, on the one hand, would correspond to the ideas and needs of emergent art forms and, on the other, of a paradigm shift in society." Since its relaunch in 2005, the Austrian festival has continued to position itself both nationally and internationally as a singular platform to promote new and established artists and musicians. Across a host of venues in the town of Krems, the festival seeks to champion new theatre forms, innovative performance art, as well as a range of (predominantly) electronic musical acts which span across a plethora of sub genres. This year is the 10th edition of donau, and will, as usual, be divided into two parts, running consecutively from April 25-26 and April 30 – May 3 in the Austrian town of Krems.
The lineups for both weekends look incredibly exciting, with the first weekend seeing the likes of Jeff Mills, Vatican Shadow, Roly Porter, Oneohtrix Point Never, Dean Blunt and Vessel play alongside a whole host of art performances, including Santiago Sierra’s ‘Lucia & The Prisoners’, Liz Rosenfeld’s take on blind desire and radical intimacy, and an Austrian premiere of Carlos Maria Romero and Guillaume Marie’s situational performance, which is billed as "humans representing sculptural representations of humans; sculptures that enact sculpture; mirrors reflecting reflection."
The second, slightly longer installment sees a musical lineup that includes Samuel Kerridge, techno hardware maestros Karenn, Actress, Objekt, DJ Sprinkles, Kelela, Forest Swords, Factory Floor and Tim Hecker. Morphine Records will be having a label afternoon, with Metasplice and Charles Cohen booked in for additional festival performances. Elsewhere, Boddika plays b2b with Joy Orbison, Teho Teardo & Blixa Bargeld perform with a string quartet, and Xiu Xiu will be performing a collaborative piece of work alongside choreographer and performer Jeremy Wade and artist Monika Grzymala. There’s also a strong Austrian turnout for Peter Rehberg’s Vienna-based label Editions Mego and its spin off Spectrum Spools, with Stephen O Malley, Christian Fennesz, Bill Orcutt, Chris Madak & Donato Dozzy and Kassel Jaeger all featuring on the bill.
Alongside these scheduled events there are additionally many art exhibitions taking place across the entire festival, encapsulating a wide range of art from both Austrian locals and internationally established artists. South African William Kentridge’s ‘Ten Drawings For Projection’ features a selection of photographed pastel and charcoal drawings, while Austrian artist Constantin Luser’s "tangled and condensed skeins of images and ideas that conquer existing architectures" are drawn directly onto exhibition walls. In ‘East West South North’, Hans Schabus confronts the idea of absence and emptiness through three synchronised video projections showing long shots of empty streets and abandoned buildings from "ghost towns" in New Mexico. If you’re looking for something a little more interactive, the second weekend sees Polish performance artist Patrycja German, known to line up men according to their weight and tell them to lie on top of her or to challenge them to a bout of leg wrestling, inviting a select group of lucky festival goers into her limousine outside Kunsthalle Krems.
Tickets cost between € 60 and € 162 depending on how many days you wish to attend and <a href "http://www.donaufestival.at/ticket-en/fees" target="out">can be bought here. Online bookings receive a discount.
