Third Unsound Kraków 2025 Announcement: Return of Hotel Forum, Full Daytime Discourse Program Release and Music Program Additions
Unsound starts in Kraków in less than two weeks, on October 7. The full schedule including the sprawling daytime discourse program is now on our website, as well as the new Unsound app iOS and Android, devised to make it easier to navigate events during the festival. Weekly and Long Weekend passes are now sold out, but you can still purchase 3-night Unsound Club passes and tickets to some individual events. (Check the end of this news – and the schedule – for details regarding specific events.)
The biggest / most unexpected news of the Unsound year is the return of Hotel Forum – now the venue for late night events from Thursday October 9 to Saturday October 11 – a last-minute shift thanks to the reopening and resetting of the Hotel Forum spaces, with a new team running them. After years in the wilderness, we could not be happier – a big shout out to the new people running the spaces and our production team for making this possible.
The shift means that for the first time since 2019, the late-night program will now include a third room, the beloved 89 aka The Secret Lodge, a Lynchian space with original 1980s fittings showcasing experimental music. We will announce the program early next week, along with the program of the Unsound closing party.
In the main room on Friday October 10 at Hotel Forum we’ve added Barcelona’s John Talabot going b2b with U.S. DJ Kiernan Laveaux, whose versatility and virtuosity are matched only by the energy she brings to the floor, while Príncipe label’s DJ Lycox will close the night. The night will also include a brief bagpipe intervention from Brìghde Chaimbeul (who is also playing an Afternoon Glory show earlier in the day). Additionally, we’ve added a DJ set from Warsaw’s Jacek Sienkiewicz on Thursday October 9. We’d also like to remind everyone of the Unsound-commissioned live show bringing together Poland’s 2K88, and UK artists Bianca Scout, Lauren Duffus and Rainy Miller, taking place at Forum on October 10. This new work was developed in Gdansk, during the Unsound x Selector After Dark Residency & Showcase supported by The British Council.
When it comes to venues, there’s more good news! The Unsound Opening Party on Wednesday October 8 and Unsound Closing Party on Sunday October 12 will both take place on the top floor of Jubilat, a communist-era supermarket overlooking the Vistula and Wawel Castle; the space features a concrete interior paired with a wide terrace. The Opening Party includes Rozaly, from Curaçao, weaving Caribbean rhythms with futuristic textures; Cry, the brand-new live duo of Kilbourne and Relaxer with a hardware storm of punk-driven techno; Clementaum, from Brazil, closes with hybrid club constructions, while opening is Wrocław’s Vicky Nasty. Tickets on sale here – remember this event requires a separate ticket on top of the festival pass.
As for the closing party on October 12, we’re closing with a bang and will reveal next week who will join us on the rooftop of Jubilat. For this Unsound X Superstar event we are partnering with PRM & Adidas.
There will also be two free Ambient Brunches at Unsound partner Hotel PURO, where you can fuel up and zone out to the sounds of Justyna Banaszczyk aka FOQL (on Friday) and Whatever The Weather, the ambient-centered alter ego of Loraine James (on Saturday). In the afternoon, on the Unsound Sunday, we’re also teaming up with Cricoteka and MINT Magazine to present an afternoon set by Japanese DJ 1729 (fka Iryoku), who blew our minds at the recent Unsound Osaka.
As for the discourse program, new additions include researcher Jaya Klara Brekke, who will break down the metaphor of “the network,” tracing how it has been technically, politically and socially exploited. During The Heaven Banned, Emile Frankel will explore a form of online censorship where users are condemned to a chorus of chatbot adoration, exploring what loneliness, masculinity and intimacy means in the age of AI companions. The terrain of intimacy and AI will also be addressed in a panel with Kate Devlin, Ania Malinowska and Aga Kozak, tracing how chatbots and robots are reshaping relationships and the future of sex. In conversation with Martina Raponi around Psofotopias, Florian Cramer will be replaced by art critic and cultural studies scholar Arkadiusz Półtorak.
The discourse program will also be a space to meet artists beyond the stage: A Guy Called Gerald will mark the 30th anniversary of Black Secret Technology with a performance and discussion, and Jim O’Rourke will sit down with Philip Sherburne to trace his singular path across noise, pop, improv, and experimental music. Sherburne will also moderate a discussion on collective creativity with three musicians known for their extensive collaborations: Abdullah Miniawy, Daniel Martin-McCormick (aka Relaxer and a member of Black Eyes) and Aleksandra Słyż. Another artist discussion – this time on genre agnosticism prevalent in current-day soundscape – will see gyrofield, Kara-Lis Coverdale, Puce Mary and Simo Cell meet in conversation with RA’s Gabriel Szatan.
Staying within the music industry, RA’s Gabriel Szatan and Chloe Lula, together with Kieran Press-Reynolds, will lead a music journalism workshop addressing the demand for short-form videos. Press-Reynolds, together with fellow music writers and creators Liam Inscoe-Jones, Margeaux, and Julia Czub – moderated by The Cut’s Cat Zhang – will also discuss internet music culture from MP3s to TikTok, asking what has been gained and lost as memes, algorithms and reels reshape music journalism, creativity and ways of discovering music.
RA’s Chloe Lula moderates a conversation with Philip Sherburne, Gosia Płysa, Pavel Niakhayeu, and Rabih Beaini on the unraveling of Western soft power and the possibilities for cultural and musical networks to build alternative frameworks of connection and resistance. The conversation with Antony Loewenstein and Ala Qandil around The Palestine Laboratory will feature another guest – Nina Michnik, who served as an editorial consultant for the Polish edition of the book. And Marta Rawłuszko will moderate the discussion on joy and burnout between Akwugo Emejulu and Hannah Proctor. Moderated by Krytyka Polityczna’s Kaja Puto, a discussion with human rights worker Tomasz Thun-Janowski, Ocalenie Foundation’s Tahmina Rajabova and Ukrainian journalist Vira Baldyniuk will move beyond political myths and fearmongering around migration in Poland. In a workshop led by Ada Omylak, participants will gather around embroidery as a practice of care and dissent, stitching words of solidarity and hope into a shared fabric.
The program concludes on Sunday with a screening of 2000 Meters to Andriivka, directed by Oscar-winner Mstyslav Chernov. Documenting the lives and impossible choices of Ukrainian soldiers on the frontline, it features a score by Unsound regular Sam Slater. This screening requires an extra ticket on top of the festival pass.
Finally, once again, on the Unsound Saturday, you can visit an independent record label fair at Klub Betel, with a focus on the Polish scene.
Remember, the full discourse program schedule is now on the website and app – please be sure to register for workshops you want to attend. And, once again, we will make a last announcement next week in terms of the lineups at 89 on the Friday and Saturday as part of the late night events at Hotel Forum.
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This year, Unsound discourse program is organised around two main modules: Unsound Soft Power and Unsound Lab, each marked with a distinct logo. Head to the website for more information.
Unsound Soft Power conference module is co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage under the Programme of the National Centre for Culture Kultura – Interwencje. Edycja 2025.
Additional support to the further development of the Soft Power programme has been made possible by the Polish National Foundation.
Unsound Lab Summer School 2025 and its complementary program are co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage as part of the Polish Creative Industries Development Center’s programme Rozwój Sektorów Kreatywnych.