Ephemera Returns to Warsaw June 5th - 9th With A Program And Rituals Celebrating The Summer Solstice. Passes and Tickets on Sale

No longer simply Unsound’s weird younger sister, but a full-bodied multi-arts festival, Ephemera returns in all its demented glory to the capital city of Warsaw for its fifth edition on June 5th - 9th. The program again celebrates the approaching summer solstice – as light overcomes the darkness, we’ll create new rituals. Exploring music, dance, performance, food, scent and actual magic, we’ll even play with fire – literally.

Ephemera is not about headliners and huge crowds, but also creating narratives connecting local Slavic scenes with their counterparts from elsewhere. In the first of two Ephemera announcements, today we’re unveiling the majority of our music program and releasing tickets, including a limited number of passes. A second announcement will come after Easter featuring visual art, dance, performance and the educational program. This announcement will also include an additional music event, taking place earlier on the night of Saturday June 8th.

The festival starts slightly earlier in 2024: on Wednesday June 5th, Zmierzch (Dusk) gently descends upon the magical Królikarnia Palace, with performances from Denmark’s Astrid Sonne, Slovakia’s Adela Mede and Slovenia’s Iztok Koren (part of the band Širom). The music will be followed by a celebratory (vegan) communal feast created by Ephemera fairies. We’ll also unveil our Ephemera totem, an effigy or a chochoł of sorts, created by Dominika Olszowy and referring to Slavic pagan traditions.

On Thursday June 6th, the former schoolyard at Komuna Warszawa is the stage for acclaimed New York rapper billy woods, as well as Warsaw duo GERDA – featuring visual artist and poet Wojciech Bąkowski and JANP / Jan Piasecki, on electronics and drums. Performance artist Julia Plawgo will open with ZMORA, “a compositional nightmare, aesthetical horror and musical terror”.

Ephemera is a festival that travels through Warsaw to discover new spaces, and for the first time, we’ll make use of previously inaccessible areas of the former printing house at Mińska 65. Taking place on Friday June 7th, the program features shows on the edge of music and performance art, including Amnesia Scanner, Chuquimamani-Condori (FKA Elysia Crampton), Japan’s Violent Magic Orchestra, Poland’s 2k88 – with a live A/V show ahead of the album SHAME, to be released on the Unsound label – as well as Zaumne and Paweł Kulczyński.

A separately ticketed after party in Klub Ephemera, a secret subterranean club at Mińska 65, will take place afterwards, featuring viral sensation Ramon Successo, from Brazil, Parisian Crystallmess, and Monster and jul.ci from Poland. (It’s also possible to purchase a combined ticket for both events).

Early concerts on Saturday night will be added to the program in a couple of weeks… Later that night, Ephemera again teams up with Kem collective to present a special incarnation of Dragana Bar at Mińska 65 featuring TAAHLIAH, ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U, Juba b2b Leandra and Monka. Alongside the sets and shows, Frederic Gies will present his celebration of the durational ritualistic dance performance Dance is Ancient, accompanied by a DJ set from Fiedel. The night will also include interventions by performance artists exploring transgressive areas of bodily, sexual and auditory synaesthesia, including Odete.

As the sun rises on Sunday, we’ll rejoin W Brzask (At Dawn) in the park at the Sculpture Museum in Królikarnia, where Edka Jarząb will start with a performance in the dark, followed by Ukrainian singer-songwriter Svitlana Nianio, then guitarist and composer Raphael Rogiński with Lithuania’s Indrė Jurgelevičiūtė – ahead of the release of Rogiński’s new album Žaltys on the Unsound label. Netherlands’ Torus will play an extended DJ set deep into the morning.

That night, Dominika Olszowy will lead us to a bank of the Wisła River to burn the Ephemera effigy in a performative ritual. Everyone is welcome. More information soon.

We also encourage you to check out Dominika’s new installation as a part of the Surrealism exhibition at the National Museum of Warsaw. Opening on May 10th, all Ephemera passes will include free entry to this exhibition during the festival dates. 

We would also like to thank Agata Słowak and Foksal Gallery Foundation for letting us use her painting to illustrate the sexy spirit of Ephemera.

Remember – we’ll add more to the program after the Easter break, including early Saturday evening concerts, which will be included in the festival pass, so stay tuned – follow us on Instagram and Facebook.