Progress Bar

20:30 Doors open for drinks
21:00–22:30 Talks (lectures, artist talks & screenings)
22:30–03:00 Club (DJs & live performances)

Founded in 2015, Progress Bar is a club night dedicated to communal desire and collective joy. After one season in Brighton, and episodes in Vilnius, Kharkiv and Pristina, this is its fourth season in Amsterdam, this time taking place at OT301.

More than 100 artists, academics and activists from all over the planet have featured at Progress Bar, such as Elysia Crampton, Le1f, Bbymutha, Nkisi, Eaves, Klein, Gaika, DJ Nigga Fox, Sam Rolfes, Akwugo Emejulu, Ash Sarkar, Flavia Dzodan, Metahaven, Cakes da Killa, DJ Lycox, Linn da Quebrada, Flohio, James Massiah, Toxe, Evian Christ and many more.

Progress Bar is for people interested in the intersection of music you wanna Shazam, looks you wanna gram, and politics that bang. Every episode starts with a 90-minute talkshow with guests talking about their work in art, music and social action, and the material conditions that shape it. After the talks we move into the club, and, having spent time listening to the artists talk, dancing to their music will be even more magical.

Films: 

I Hope I’m Loud When I’m Dead (2018, dir. Beatrice Gibson)
Named after a poem by CAConrad, I Hope I’m Loud When I’m Dead (2018) explores poetry and disobedience. Gibson made the first recordings on the eve of the 45th presidential inauguration in January 2017, as a portrait of two of the United States’ most important living poets, CAConrad and Eileen Myles. For the rest of that year, she continued filming in America and Western Europe, focusing on the mass refugee migration across the Mediterranean Sea, the Grenfell Tower fire in London, and the repercussions of political unrest and war. The words of CAConrad and Myles are interwoven with those of Audre Lorde, Alice Notely and Adrienne Rich, and with sensitive portraits of her own life and family. The film’s score, by world-renowned experimental musician and composer Pauline Oliveros, lends the film a remarkable sense of intimacy.  

Roots for a Crown (2019, dir. Julianknxx)
Written and directed by Sierra Leonean via London poet Julianknxx, Roots for a Crown (2019) explores the negative perceptions and prejudice surrounding locked hair. In this imaginative docufiction, various storytellers delve into the symbolism and traditions behind their locs, and discuss how their hair has become an aesthetic marker of ancestral identity. Co-directed with British filmmaker Chris West, this short moves fluidly between poetry, music and visual art. Cowrie shells, traditional African dress and wax print fabrics amplify the cultural roots of locked hair, while Julianknxx’s rousing soundtrack speaks of community, shared lineage and pride. Originally commissioned by the Roundhouse, a performing arts space in London, Roots for a Crown is the latest project from the poet that draws heavily on his own biography—which commonly considers themes of masculinity, blackness and mental health.

Lineup:

Authentically Plastic
As a DJ, producer and artist based in Kampala, Uganda, Authentically Plastic’s sound is necessarily political. Dubbed “Demon of the Nile” by conservative Ugandan media & politicians, Authentically Plastic has never shied away from disrupting norms and expectations. They run a roving, riotous, club night in Kampala called ANTI-MASS; which opens us space for femme, queer & experimental artists in an increasingly repressive social climate. Their sets, at once dark and playful, use gqom, vogue and techno as a base for exploring other unknown sounds.

Elly Vineyard
Elly Vineyard, born in 1991 and raised on the Caribbean island of Sint Maarten, discovered ballroom culture in 2008, which changed his life forever. In 2010, Elly moved to the Netherlands and is now proudly Father of the pioneering House of Vineyard alongside Mother Amber Vineyard. One of the first voguers of the Dutch ballroom scene, Elly has been performing and representing ball culture for over 11 years, effortlessly embracing his masculine and feminine expressions through the art of Voguing.

jujulove
jujulove aka Juliette Lizotte is a video maker, designer and DJ based in Amsterdam. Her current research focuses on witches as ecofeminist key figures. Learning from the subversive character of the witch: marginal, powerful and disruptive, with an unsettling relation to nature, Juliette invokes the powers of witches, their spell casting and their engagement with unconventional knowledges to empower bodies and minds. Inspired by feminist science fiction, manga, pop culture and fantasy jujulove opens a parallel world of her own at 170bpm.
https://soundcloud.com/juju10v...

Julianknxx
Julianknxx is a poet in search of vulnerability and vibes. Hailing from Sierra Leone via South London, the poet, filmmaker and visual artist has a profile on the rise – thanks to recent commissions by Southbank Centre, Roundhouse, and the ICA. He is inspired by Sierra Leonean traditions of oral storytelling and moves fluidly between the written word, music and visual art. Experienced across the literature and arts scenes, Julianknxx’s work has been featured at venues and on platforms including the Roundhouse, Jazz Café, 180 The Strand, Prada Mode and the BBC.

Nahshi
Born in Venice and now located in Milan, Nahshi is an Italian DJ and producer who’s been incorporating diverse influences in his peculiar, hybrid take on club music, ranging from industrial beats to the shattering sounds of contemporary software-based, pop-infused electronic music. Known at first for his dancefloor-oriented blends, Nahshi recently set out to investigate the crushing force of Lento Violento, an Italian club music genre originating in the early 00’s – as brilliantly shown on his releases for Ashida Park and Country Music.
https://soundcloud.com/nahshi

Thoom
Born in Tarik Jdideh, raised in Chicago, IL, and based in Berlin, the Thoom project – just like the woman behind it all – is expansive, eclectic and nomadic. Tracing her journey as listeners, we wont be surprised to find shattered traces of digital Arabic percussion and rhythm mixed with aggressive arrangements that call forth the metallic repetition of midwest American industry. With the landing of her debut EP Blood and Sand in 2017 on Bay Area-based label Club Chai, Thoom established a sonic ground-zero.
https://soundcloud.com/thoo-m

Coming for the talks? Buy a €3 Early Entrance ticket (arrive before 21:00) and get free access to the club on top!