Synthesizer enthusiasts, music lovers, and technophiles have descended on downtown Durham for the second Moogfest in the North Carolina city. The four-day festival from May 18 to 21 seeks to promote artists who lean on innovative technologies to produce visual and multimedia art and music.
Spaces across downtown Durham are being transformed into venues where festival-goers can explore their DJ skills, take in music inspired by protest, and imagine alternative futures.
Passes for the festival are available here. Free activities for non-festival pass holders are listed here.
WATCH A LIVESTREAM OF MOOGFEST 2017 HERE
Festival Highlights
Festival headliner Flying Lotus channels his experimental groove on stage at the outdoor Motorco Park venue at 10:45 p.m. on Saturday. The Kendrick Lamar collaborator will also discuss how his experience with death and mourning shaped his latest album.
Brooklyn-based MC Talib Kweli hosts a discussion about his mission to create socially-conscious rap. He also performs live at Motorco Park on Thursday at 9:30 p.m. Kweli spoke with The State of Things about the state of hip-hop under Trump.
Former Syrian wedding singer Omar Souleyman rose to international prominence after collaborations with artists including Four Tet and Gilles Peterson. Souleyman brings his brand of Dabke dance music to the Motorco Park stage on Thursday at 8:15 p.m.
Physicists Steven Goldfarb, Mark Kruse, and Kate Shaw take viewers on a live virtual tour of the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Listen to Shaw’s conversation with The State of Things about particle physics and the future of the universe.
The Local Players
North Carolina based artists including DJ and music scholar Jess Dilday, poet and musician Shirlette Ammons, and singer-songwriter Laila Nur, host a conversation about grassroots musical activism on Friday at 12:45 p.m. at the American Underground Bullpen.
Multimedia artist, musician, and educator Lonnie Holley will discuss art and the future of creativity Friday at 11:00 a.m at the American Underground Bullpen.
Local DJs including Bosslady, Andrius, and Sound Resurgence will go back-to-back for an eight hour long performance stretching from 6:00 p.m. Friday until 2:30 a.m. on Saturday at Arcana Bar and Lounge in downtown Durham. The event is free to attend.
