SHAPE+ announces roster of artists for 2024/2025

The European Union-funded SHAPE+ platform for innovative music and audiovisual art is announcing its 2024/2025 list of artists. The artist selection places a number of sound artists alongside musical acts that range from club music and forward-thinking media art to experiments with traditional music and free improvisation. The third year of SHAPE+ will continue its focus on collaborative residencies and one-off performances simultaneously, with such updates as three new member festivals and a syndicated network of partner radio stations that spans 13 countries.

The platform is now run by a union of 18 European festivals – SHAPE+, up until now consisting of these organizations, has been joined by Polja festival (Serbia) hot on the heels of a joint showcase in June, Rewire Festival (The Netherlands), and Full of Lava (Switzerland). The latter is a special case for SHAPE+ as, not being eligible for EU grants, their participation in the platform is specifically supported by Pro Helvetia (Swiss Arts Council). This marks the first time funding outside the EU grant programme has been ensured to broaden the platform’s scope (and geographical reach) with another partner organization. All the above-mentioned newcomer festivals have participated in the creation of the new SHAPE+ artist list.

The platform is currently finalizing an addition to its PR mechanism – a network of 13 adventurous radio stations in 13 different countries that, in addition to existing radio partnerships with NTS Live, Rinse FM, Ola Radio and Resonance FM, will boost the reach of broadcasts and mixes by SHAPE+ artists. The list of stations will be revealed soon.

The 2024/2025 artist list of SHAPE+ will begin its year of activities on July 15, and the activity period will last until July 14, 2025. Bringing together 54 artists, it is the largest SHAPE+ artist list yet, and it is the result of the platform’s annual open call in combination with curatorial propositions from each member festival.

OUT.RA selected 3 artists to join the 2024/2025 roster: Donna Candy, Eve Aboulkheir and Maquis Son Sistèm.

To view the complete roster of artists and other info, visit the SHAPE+ website.