Unsound Lab Summer School Returns for Its Third Edition This August
This August, Unsound Lab Summer School returns to Sokołowsko for its third edition. What began as an educational offshoot of Unsound has quickly become a regular part of the festival’s calendar: an intimate retreat where we gather, think together, and share knowledge across the many roles that shape music culture today.
Unsound Lab offers a backstage pass to experimental music culture - a chance to meet organisers, artists and cultural workers, look behind the curtain of how scenes are built, and share stories, gossip and know-how amid the secluded beauty of Sokołowsko. But Unsound Lab is also more than that: a temporary space for critical reflection on music culture and its intersections with labour, technology and politics. At a moment when both our cultural commons and our sense of a shared world seem to be shrinking, the need for spaces like this feels especially urgent.
Our summer school starts from the idea of moving across the divisions that usually structure labour in the arts, bringing creative, organisational, technical and discursive work into the same space. The programme is aimed at people working across experimental sound, club culture, audiovisual art and radical thought - including artists, organisers, curators, managers, labels, publishers and promoters. We especially welcome those who move between these roles, or refuse to fit neatly into one of them. We’re less interested in polished resumes than in real experience: if you’ve been actively involved in music, art or culture and are keen to exchange ideas, compare experiences and learn with others, you’re likely to be a great fit.
This year’s mentors include Robin Fox (multimedia artist and composer, as well as the founding director of MESS – Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio), Harry Glass and Laurens von Oswald (co-directors of Berlin Atonal), Lyra Pramuk (singer, composer and producer), Lee Gamble (artist, composer and producer), Gunseli Yalcinkaya (writer and researcher), Sebastian Cichocki (curator and art critic), Edka Jarząb (sound artist), and, of course, Mat Schulz (founder and Artistic Director of Unsound). The full programme and complete list of mentors will be announced in June.
Unsound Lab Summer School will take place from August 2-5, 2026, in Sokołowsko, Poland. This year, we’ve also upgraded the accommodation and working facilities for participants, making the Lab more comfortable. The participation fee is 1500 PLN, with a limited number of concession places available. This fee covers all classes, accommodation, and three meals a day. A large number of places will be reserved for participants based in Poland, but this will be an international gathering, so you can apply from anywhere. All sessions will be conducted in English.
This year’s summer school will also be accompanied by a dedicated Unsound Lab section during Unsound 2026 in October, across Warsaw and Kraków, extending the conversations and connections initiated in Sokołowsko into the wider festival context.
Registration is now open and closes on June 25th. The number of admissions is limited, so don’t hesitate - apply here. For more information, including FAQs and details about the programme, please visit our website.
Co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage under the Creative Industries Institute’s Development of Creative Sectors programme.
