Solstices 4: (Winter) Songs for a Time of Chaos

Rafał Ryterski is a co-creator of the gen~.rate composer collective and a specialist in the impossible in electronic music. He performs both in clubs and at festivals but is also active in the fields of installations and opera.
Ryterski’s music is an example of post-digital aesthetics, where the medium significantly influences both the content (internet alienation and hate-speech in Anonymous) and the form (glitch distortions in Saudade). The composer is equally inspired by academic, club and electronic music, including such artists as Squarepusher and Aphex Twin. Recently, he has been increasingly incorporating elements of regular rhythm or beat (taking control), as well as using quotations from popular music (such as Cheryll Lynn’s Got To Be Real, Disco Bloodbath). An important role in the latter work is played by the play between virtual and real, instrumental and electronic elements – a theme that has been present since the beginning of Ryterski’s activity (P.E.R.C.S.). For years Rafał Ryterski has been persistently broadening the ways of penetrating and transforming sounds (through VST plug-ins) and their juxtaposition with the visual layer, which he defines as composition sound design Nici Mojr (ed. transl. Moirai’ Threads). His works deal with both mythological-philosophical Względności Chronosa (Relativities of Chronos) and strictly personal topics, including chronic illness (P.E.R.C.S.) or queer and gender (Genderfuck). A special place in his work is occupied by cooperation with visual artists (Anna Kaleta-Kunert, Łukasz Radziszewski), during which he has a chance to take a fresh look at stereotypical sounds.
Ryterski’s constant formal and expressive search results in music which is more and more original, although, at the same time, it reveals a number of similarities to the work of his peers, such as an interest in defects, beats, and performance. At times this coincides with the postulates of relational music from the point of view of the philosopher Harry Lehman, at others we can feel the influence of the informal patron of this whole generation – composer Simon Steen-Andersen. As an impulsive extrovert, Ryterski reacts vividly to his environment, for example by dealing directly with LGBTQ and non-normative attitudes. In 2018 in Darmstadt he broke his long-existing stage fright and now realises himself most fully in various kinds of live acts – sometimes as a DJ, sometimes as a drag queen. At the same time, he does not give up composing for instrumental ensembles but rather transfers certain elements (gestures, clothing) in order to enliven the convention of new music.
[source: Jan Topolski, culture.pl]

Radio Kapitał is a Polish, independent, community-based online radio station from Warsaw, inspired by European community radio traditions (like NTS, Cashmere Radio) that offers a platform for local initiatives, art, music, and activism, operating as a non-profit and featuring bilingual shows in Polish and English to break language barriers. They organize live events and have studios in other Polish cities like Łódź and Wrocław, focusing on bottom-up, non-hierarchical broadcasting.

Chór w Ruchu (Choir in Motion) is a community-based, experimental, new choir (with a history). For nine years, it developed at one of Warsaw’s museums, creating musical performances, accompanying exhibitions, artistic interventions, and soundtracks for films and performances. During this time, it collaborated with outstanding artists, including Sean Palmer, Zorka Wollny, Bogna Burska, Wojtek Blecharz, Dominik Strycharski, Jaśmina Wójcik, Mikołaj Trzaska, and Aleksandra Gryka. These projects have created an inclusive community, bringing together people seeking non-standard means of expression who want to continue to (co-)act and (co-)create at the intersection of music, performance, visual arts and spatial work. Chór w Ruchu was established in early 2024 as a grassroots, travelling initiative, open to new activities and possibilities. Since then, it has carried out projects with Komuna Warszawa (Pieśń przyszłości. Koncert na budynek i chór [Song of the Future. Concert for a Building and Choir], dir. Grzegorz Laszuk), Zachęta – National Gallery of Art ( ‘The Rebellion of the Deaf. Renewal’, dir. Bogna Burska), the Royal Łazienki Museum (‘All Women’s Victories’, comp. Maria Ka), the Old Town Cultural Centre (‘Poems by Vasyl Stus for choir and music’, comp. Emilia Gołos, cond. Natalia Kordiak), Radio Kapitał (3 cycles of ‘Przesileń’ – composed by Edek Jarząb, Halszka Sokołowska, Olga Mysłowska, choreographed by Weronika Pelczyńska, Monika Jarosińska).