Upstream is a concert series that brings new, forward-looking and uncompromising music and performance from the international scene to Hamburg. In reference to the metaphor "Upstream" ("stromaufwärts"), which refers to proximity to the source, and to salmon swimming upstream to migrate, the series focuses on navigating the latest currents and addressing contemporary issues in art and music.
As a suffix, ‘core’ immediately invokes aesthetics. It amplifies and makes sensual the meaning of whatever comes before it, be it hardcore, nightcore, cottagecore, etc. A core centres feelings. A kernel at the centre of things, it holds something together, be it immaterial or physical. Cores also protect: at the centre of our own planet, a core of molten iron churns, generating the electromagnetic field which shields us from destructive cosmic forces.
This programme explores such notions of fragility, hardness, and intensity through metallic sensibilities and physicalities. Maxime Chabal’s metal sculptures are both sturdy and fragile, symbols of resilience and vulnerability. Here they are activated in MS Stubnitz’s resonant hull. Eve Stainton’s practice often explores movement and metalwork. The British artist and choreographer presents a solo performance to the speed garage loops of musical icon Mica Levi, constructing a moment of suspense that has the potential to punctuate lesbian and trans-masc identities. One to be watched, *Andras_2020 *is rising within Europe’s electronic music underground. Their new EP Blowhole on Berlin label Rest Now! arrives after recovering from a series of rectal surgeries, a trauma quite literally at the body’s core. Andras’ metallic sound-design evokes the operating room or a school of dolphins, musically thrilling in its journey between extremities: from queer euphoria to discomfort.
Das Konzert ist Teil von blurred edges–Festival für aktuelle Musik in Hamburg, 29.5.2026 bis 28.6.2026. blurred edges 2026 wird gefördert von der Behörde für Kultur und Medien der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg, dem Musikfonds e.V. mit Projektmitteln des Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien, der ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS, der Hamburgischen Kulturstiftung, der Claussen-Simon-Stiftung und der Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten (GVL). Außerdem gefördet vom Musikfonds e.V mit Projektmitteln der Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien.
🎟️ blurred edges festival ticket holders do not need a single ticket, all others: get your ticket at Stubnitz ticket shop.
Maxime Chabal (fr)
Maxime Chabal’s artistic practice focuses on the human body and the complexity surrounding its representation. Central to his practice is the use of materials, particularly metals, which he manipulates through various techniques to challenge their presumed solidity. Across installations, sculptures, and collages, recurring and haunting images emerge, situating his work within a collective and affected history. These evanescent, dissident figures enter into dialogue with his critical research on Western architecture and the history of health. He collaborated with Jakob Sprague, Marina Pekmezović, Cláudia Vilhena and Zoltán Cseresnyés from the Hans Knöll Institute, and additionally gained insight into the work of Yvonne Friedrich and Ilona Croy from the Department of Clinical Psychology at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena.
Eve Stainton (uk)
Eve Stainton is an artist and choreographer born in Manchester, living in London, UK. They create multi-disciplinary performance worlds that hold movement practices, welded steel, digital collage, and other invisible forces like waves, imagination and drama. Their research is rooted in community, interested in how differently marginalized people experience and come into relationship with power structures and societal conventions. Often working with codes, tropes and the absurd; staging clunky physical negotiations, or revealing 'behind the scenes' mechanisms of working together, as a way to question a moral idea of perfection, seamlessness and elegance. Notable presentations include: ICA (UK), Venice Biennale (IT), Dampfzentrale (CH) Le Guess Who? (NL), Bergen Kunsthall (NO), nottingham Contemporary (UK), Sadler’s Wells Lilian Baylis (UK), La Becque (CH), LCMF (UK) and Tangente (CA). Features include The Wire Magazine, PW Magazine, Metal, AQNB, FACT Mag, Dazed Beauty and Art in America. Work for other artists include Last Yearz Interesting Negro, Sonia Boyce, Malik Nashad Sharpe, Holly Blakey, Goldfrapp, Vivienne Westwood and walking for London/Shanghai/Paris Fashion Weeks.
Andras_2020 (br/de)
Andras_2020 (BR / DE) is a Brazilian music producer, vocalist and dancer based in Düsseldorf, Germany. Since the project’s beginning, their creative work has spiraled between performance and music in a broad sense, but it was only in 2018 that they stepped into the world of music production. Since then Andras has composed two soundtracks for dance pieces from the collective Not Fabulous and released their work in three editions of the Mutants Mixtape and on acting in concert's Fragile Solidarities compilation. Their second EP Blowhole is to be released on Berlin label Rest Now! in October 2024.
Curated by:
* Ermäßigter Eintritt an der Abendkasse für Menschen, die sich den vollen Preis nicht leisten können. Um das zu ermöglichen sind wir auf solidarische Spenden von Menschen angewiesen, die mehr geben können als den regulären Ticketpreis. Wir vertrauen darauf, dass ihr eure Situation richtig einschätzt. Dafür vielen Dank. Karten an der Abendkasse sind nur erhältlich, wenn sie nicht im Vorverkauf ausverkauft sind. Supportertickets ermöglichen 10 Euro Eintritt, EXIT ALLTAG. ENTER STUBNITZ. * Reduced admission at the box office for people who cannot afford the full price. To make this possible, we rely on donations from people who can give more than the regular ticket price. We trust that you will value your situation fairly. Thank you very much. Box office tickets are only available if not sold out in advance. Supporter tickets enable entry for €10, EXIT ROUTINE. ENTER STUBNITZ.
