Upcoming: M.A.D Festival

As part of Beijing Design Week which starts up next week M.A.D (Music And Design) – initiated by FakeMusicMedia and Kaiguan Culture is looking to bring in some fresh talent from aborad and here creating a week long of events, forums, and concerts focusing on the interplay of design, sound, stage design, and music. Sounds pretty funktastic – while the forums during the day of October 1st, will be held in Beijing’s creative hub of Caochangdi, the musical events will be scattered about town from September 27th to October 5th. I love where they’re going with this, and while a big focus will be on electronica music, I’m beyond curious to feel this scene out. Here’s the schedule taken from Beijing Design Week’s website.

M.A.D BY Day PROGRAM

Participants: Chinese & international labels, brands, artists, designers, musicians, music & design professionals etc.

Location: CCD PAVILION @ White Space Yard

Dates: October1st
PANEL 1

Session 1:1:00-1:45

\”self-made-artists\” // \”artists and image\”

This panel will approach a new generation of artists whose work cross different genres and mediums allow them to pursue a totality of vision through print design, sound design, and multi-media platforms. We will see how these artists are the master’s of their own image and the creators of their own marketing models. While some of them chose the freedom of DIY as a response to the canned and repetitive world of pop packaging, others both for themselves and corporations, develop, inspire, or create completely new approaches to branding.

Session 2: 1:00-1:45 “Festival Packaging”

As the number of festivals grow throughout the world, festivals now have to compete for audience attention and build brand identity. Content, environment, organization, stage design, and building a lasting visual identity has slowly become as important as the artist billing. As performance fees grow and audiences become ever more demanding, organizers have to play with economics and aesthetics, partner with corporate sponsors for viability while remaining authentic and true to their artistic statements. How do festivals survive and thrive in this new environment beyond music?

PANEL 2

Session 1: 3:15-4:00

“The look of Music” Music, design, style and tribes

Musicians and Fashion have long had a symbiotic relationship. The connections between music and fashion industry are numerous, adventurous, glamorous and have the power to influence the future trends of popular consumption. M.A.D will invite a selection of musicians and designers but also alternative fashion figures to discuss how fashion contributes to building personal identity and social trends as well as to how music and fashion together help define a new generation of “tribes\” within China’s emerging youth culture.

Session 2: 4.15-5.00

From Made In China to Created in China, the eternal question applied to music and design

In this panel, we explore China’s drive to evolve from imitation to innovation, to make the vast leap from simply being “Made in China” to “Created in China”. We will explore how young creators in the music and design field are developing in this new direction. Does the new gov’t policies spur innovation and really benefit contemporary innovators? Are young artists now creating music and design that is compelling enough for the rest of the world to take notice?

M.A.D BY NIGHT PROGRAM

09/27/2012 M.A.D. presents ANTIDOTE 7 YEARS ANNIVERSARY w CRASH & COMPUTE

(Emil de Waal + Spejderrobot – dk) + CALIPH 8 (ph) @ Yugong Yishan/50RMB

09/29/2012 M.A.D. goes In-Design: TIM & PUMA (ch) + REYKJAVICTIM (ca) @ 2Kolegas/50 RMB/9:30 pm

09/30/2012 M.A.D. goes DANCE DANGERERUX XIV w WOLFRAM (at) + METRO TOKYO (ger) + BOFLEX (us) @ Migas/ 40RMB/10 pm

10/01/2012 M.A.D. + NEON present: KLUBLABOR w MICKEY (be) @ Haze

10/02/2012 M.A.D. + FakeLoveMusic present: NOVA HEART(cn) + the KDMS (pl) + PEI (cn) @

Yugong Yishan

10/05/2012 M.A.D. + Antidote present LADY CITIZEN @ Dada Bar