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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I am delighted to announce the release of a new EP featuring Nevsky Perspective. The EP is called ‘A Walk’ and will be released on Bandcamp and all streaming platforms on the 29th of January 2021.

‘A Walk’ is the result of a jam session between Hervé and me. He visited me in the late Summer of 2020 and we set ourselves up in the spare room, also known as the creative space. He brought his laptop, synth and mic and I used my laptop and MIDI controller and had a couple of samples and effects prepared. For the next two hours we just experimented, sipped tea, ate biscuits and didn’t talk. I then sat down and edited the recording and crafted two tracks that I think are representative of the sonic journey we created that night. Here’s to more jamming in electronic music and more collaborations amongst different electronic music producers and sound artists!

A special thank you to Luca Shaw who created the beautiful artwork for this release.

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I am so excited to tell you that I’m starting a practice-led PhD Manchester Metropolitan University at the Manchester School of Art this Autumn. I am working on an interdisciplinary digital media project that will explore the relationship between Manchester and the self through soundmaps and psychogeography. I will share bits and bobs of this project on here, so stay tuned and let the journey begin…

Thank you to everyone who watched and listened to my live stream. Here is the video of my performance in case you missed it.

Thank you The Vale for providing a platform for me to perform and special thanks to Kate for organising and moderating the Facebook chat.

In my live stream, I used two images by two of my favourite visual artists. The incredible Volker Schütz provided the image in the bottom right corner entitled ‘Berührung’ (English: touch) which is also showcased at the Social Distancing Art Festival. The wonderful Violeta-inch Angelova stood model for this piece. In the top left corner you can see ‘Open Field’, a collaboration between the miraculous Bella Probyn and me, a collage between photography and poetry.

Markus

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