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Michael Stipe premiering first-ever solo music at Moogfest

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Michael Stipe will be part of Moogfest 2017 premiering a new installation that will also feature the former R.E.M. frontman and Letterman-look-alike‘s first-ever solo composition. The multimedia piece will feature video footage Stipe shot over the years in NYC that “explores desire and movement.” The music will be, naturally, scored with Moog gear. More details will be announced soon.

Stipe joins Flying Lotus, Animal Collective, Gotye, Suzanne Ciani, Derrick May, 808 State, Jessy Lanza, Simian Mobile Disco, Syrinx, Visible Cloaks, Princess Nokia, Pye Corner Audio and more at this year’s Moogfest which happens May 18 – 21 in Durham, NC.

Moogfest has also announced a few Keynote Speakers for their 2017 edition including Transhumanist activist and pharma tycoon Dr. Martine Rothblatt, computer scientist and VR pioneer Jaron Lanier, futurist George Dvorsky, The Millennium Project’s Jerome C. Glenn, and futurist and philosopher Nick Bostrom. More details on those speakers and other special, just-announced Moogfest programming are below.

Tickets and passes for Moogfest 2017 are on sale now.

MOOGFEST 2017 – PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

MICHAEL STIPE INSTALLATION
Marking a significant moment for the multimedia artist and forefather of alternative rock, Michael Stipe will release a never-before-seen installation at this year’s festival. The installation will be a compilation of video footage he has shot over the years in New York City that explores desire and movement. Using Moog gear, Stipe will score the piece, marking his first solo composition ever. The installation will run continuously throughout the festival.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Dr. Kate Shaw’s keynote will share findings from the work she has done promoting particle physics in developing countries through her Physics without Frontiers program. Through masterclasses and hands-on workshops, the program engages young physicists in countries including Algeria, Palestine, Lebanon, Vietnam, and Nepal. Since 2006, Dr. Shaw has worked on the ATLAS Experiment at CERN, and her work includes research into the Top Quark, which is the heaviest known fundamental particle, and research on the Higgs Boson, the recently discovered particle that allows fundamental particles to acquire their different masses. She also works on luminosity calibration and determination, and she worked on the commissioning of the Semi-Conductor Tracker (SCT), part of the inner detector of ATLAS.

Joe Davis’ keynote will highlight his breadth of work over the years as a Research Affiliate at MIT and Artist-Scientist at Harvard Medical School. Hailed as a ‘genius’ by many, his work includes the sculpture Earth Sphere, a landmark fog fountain near the MIT campus; RuBisCo Stars, a transmission of a message to nearby stars from the Arecibo Observatory radiotelescope; New Age Ruby Falls, a proposal to create an artificial aurora using a 100,000 watt electron beam fired into the magnetosphere from a NASA space shuttle; Microvenus, a piece of symbolic art involving engineering the genetic code of a microbe; early attempts at steganographic encoding of culturally important messages and images for future generations or extraterrestrial cultures; and other projects associated with the DIYbio movement.

PRESENTATIONS

In its continued mission to act as a platform for experimentation and conversation, Moogfest will feature presentations from prolific thought leaders and artists diving into the depths of creativity through technology.

Former U.S. Presidential candidate and leading Transhumanist Zoltan Istvan (Immortality Bus) will explore the path to immortality through science, while Marc Fleury and his Church of Space (The CoS) return to Moogfest for a second year to present an expanded and varied program with daily explorations in modern physics and the occult, illuminati performances, theatrical rituals to ERIS, and a Sunday Mass in their own dedicated “Church” venue.

Additionally there will be presentations from Andy Cavatorta of MIT Media Lab, known as the inventor of Bjork’s Gravity Harp, on topics including the four-century history of music and performance at the forefront of technology, and Michael Bierylo, a highly regarded Berklee College of Music Professor who will present his ‘Modular Synthesizer Ensemble’ alongside Csound workshops from fellow Berklee Professor, Dr. Richard Boulanger. Meanwhile Chris Ianuzzi, synthesist of Ciani-Musica and past collaborator with pioneers such as Vangelis and Peter Baumann, will present a daytime performance and sound exploration workshops with the B11braininterface and NeuroSky headset. Google Brain’s Magenta project will also brings its work to life at Moogfest, through a presentation exploring the creation of art and music through artificial intelligence.

In addition to Dr. Kate Shaw’s keynote, ATLAS @ CERN will present a weekend-long program curated by Professor Mark Kruse, physicist at Duke University and ATLAS experiment of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Moogfest attendees can participate in a “Virtual Visit” to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) via a live video session with ATLAS physicist Steve Goldfarb, or attend a ½ day workshop analyzing and understanding LHC data. Other programs include a ‘Science Fiction versus Science Fact’ live debate led by Mark Kruse and Professor Katherine Hayles from Duke University’s Literature department, with attendees invited to read and debate Greg Egan’s detective fiction novel Quarantine, which explores the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics set in a utopian/dystopian future.

A daily science pub talk series co-presented by Duke University sees Ryan Shaw, Michael Clamann and Mark Kruse, approach topics that include future medicine, humans and anatomy, and quantum physics, in an intimate and very informal setting, while Professors Charlie Gersbach and Miguel Nicolelis present on genome editing and mind-controlled prosthetics.