2020 has been a year of reflection for many people. I am grateful to say that it helped me to focus on developing myself as an artist. First, I collaborated with Bella Probyn on Open Field, a collage of my poem and her photograph that set out my good intentions for the year. In February, I visited my family in Germany as my travel plans for China couldn’t go ahead. I spontaneously organised two concerts, one in the contemporary art gallery Automat and one in the Kaverne Hookah Lounge, and one 5 hour DJ set on a Friday night in my favourite bar Stadtschenke a Choperia. It was with the help of the local School of Art and friends who provided me with equipment and audience members who donated generously that this mini tour could go ahead and that I earned money from it. Just before the first lockdown and back in Manchester, I played two Limbo Radio shows, two one on my own and one with the wonderful Antoin from Kiss Me Again. When the pandemic hit, I wrote a blog post for my work place Contact reflecting on the electronic music scene and the need for community in the face of the pandemic. I then focused on my music and finally released my first two singles Air and Reform on Bandcamp and on all streaming platforms. To celebrate each single release I streamed a concert and a DJ set from home. I then also performed an online concert for the The Vale and deejayed for the first ever Silver Pride, both recorded from my living room including my housemates as background dancers for the DJ set. When visiting Germany again in the Summer, I stood model for Volker Schütz and Johannes-Maria Schlorke’s Geisterspiel exhibition. I worked with Bella Probyn on an audio-visual commission for whatsticks theatre where we documented the view from the window of different participants as part of the Project Isolate; I also participated on Susanna Amato’s lockdown project Once This Is Over. I recorded my final show for Limbo Radio from home where I also recorded mixes for my Reform Radio takeover and the School of Electronic Music, the latter being selected as Mix of the Month in October. In Autumn I started my practice-based PhD at the Manchester School of Art where I am working on an interdisciplinary digital media project that will explore the relationship between Manchester and the self through soundmaps and psychogeography. To end the year, I released a philosophical manifesto on my website explaining my Industries brand and announced my first collaborative EP with Nevsky Perspective that will be released in January 2021.
Here’s to healthy and creative new year!
Love,
Markus
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