8bit — Live at Symposium V

May, 2003 | 58:44

Imagine: a windowless hall that looks like a small nightclub. There is a powerful sound system. There are many happy people. The band called 8bit is currently performing. Two guys — Digital One and Sly Boots — are operating a number of devices, including old Soviet drum machines which are rather unpredictable in behavior and almost impossible to synchronize with each other. The girl known as Haikoo is jumping right in the middle of a dancing crowd with a microphone and shouting various phrases in Japanese. At the same time, Haikoo’s face is making snappy appearances on the screen behind the stage as a part of intense and colorful video art. The sound levels are really high. This is insane.

That’s exactly what was going on at Symposium V, the last event in the series of art festivals which are, in many ways, legendary. It took place at the venue called creative parlor, on the premises of the Kemerovo State University. Kemerovo is an industrial city in Western Siberia, specializing in coal mining, with the population of about half a million people. And the festival (with an international line-up, mind you) hosted different happenings from lectures and choreographic performances to poetry readings and concerts for three days in a row. That was a pure miracle of enthusiasm. And that was fun.

Performed and recorded on at Symposium V festival, Kemerovo.