TIMETABLE
The FREE FORMS OF ARTS have a long tradition. We would like to give a brief outline here, naming as many names as possible. Because all these creative people were directly and indirectly involved in these creative and constructive processes (through their music, dance, painting, literature and years of reflection and self-reflection).
2001
In 2001 we started E-JAM. It was a departure from the improvisation traditions of classical music, jazz and free jazz. we invited instrumental musicians, djs and electronic musicians to make music together freely. we wrote about it: “… eJam is the fusion of “young” and “old” sounds. Turntables & electronics meet top musicians from the fields of jazz & ethno & rock music. A permanently ongoing process – one could speak of “danceable avant-garde”.
We offered everyone a meeting point at our place in southern Burgenland/gh. Schabhüttel and there were fixed venues that we travelled to every month; Maribor, Ljubljana, Innsbruck/Treibhaus, Vienna/Porgy, Oberwart/Oho, Steyr/röd@, Graz/Stockwerk, Budapest, Salzburg/Jazzit.
With: Abdeljalil Kodssi, Iren Lovasz, Pat Thomas, Steve Nobel, Eargazm, Gendo Chamzyrin, Mark Whitecage, Karl Ritter, Armin Pokorn, dj rob, Virgin Helena, Zoltan Lantos, Karl Krbavac, Herbert Pirkner, Charles Austin, Oberlinninger, Fourier, Walter Pogantsch and many more.
2002
In 2002 we – 25 musicians – were at the Jazzpub Wiesen for 4 days and we were preparing to organize a whole night of free and groovy music as part of the Jazzfestival Wiesen : “turntables in jazz”. See also here.
The above-mentioned musicians from the monthly concerts were joined by musicians from Soft Machine, Hugh Hopper and Elton Dean, Depeche Mode/ Ch. Eigner, Otto Trapp, dj tom, dj aioaska, dj soumez, Bernd Fleischmann, the australian accordionist George Butrumlis or on the alphorn and the english horn, Arcady Shilkloper: 25 artists on the instruments, behind the camera and on the electronics or the turntables and pitchable cd-player.
2005/6
In 2005/06, the idea for the later “FREE FORMS” was born, because we were thinking a lot about how those fantastic independent musicians (often unique in their musicality and ability), who are not “commercially exploitable”, could become more mobile through a network of concert meetings. Guitarist Achim Kirchmair was one of the people involved in developing this idea. we called this project MUSICIANS MUSICIANS and wrote: “The point of this idea: an informal meeting of musicians in the countryside without pressure, simply to make music or talk and benefit from the respective experiences. these meetings also offer international musicians on tour the opportunity to take part in an “offdates” in order to get in touch with the musicians living here.”
2007
At the same time we started the “FREIE BÜHNE” (2005 – 2007) for young musicians in the region. Music style: free rock improvisation; venues/cooperation partners: limmitationes, oho oberwart, kukuk bildein, haarberghof, the castle in sarvar.
From 2007, a “free programming” began for our september festival. It also changed its name from modern jazz festival to chilli jazz and later – as a statement for a weekend that is primarily dedicated to the artists – to chilli jazz congress.
This festival was supported by musicians such as paul dunmall, dieter glawischnig or Paul Rogers. The latter was in person what we felt was the change towards an art form in which, free of genres and styles – leaving patterns and forming new ones / to leave them again – is “communicated” openly, holistically and at a high level.
In the early days of chilli jazz, Paul Rogers put together a free orchestra of fantastic english musicians, we successfully “constructed” a trio of Zoltan Lantos, Xu Fengxia and Joe Fonda; it became even freer with those young musicians who started the monthly “swivel music” nights at porgy and bess with LIMMITATIONES – Corsi/turntables, E. Gross/drums, I.gross/vibraphone, I. Grencso/duduk,sax and Paul Rogers/7-string. double bass.
And we completed the festival with a day3; we dedicated sunday to a free improvisation session with all the musicians of the weekend; the festival ended with a joint lunch.
2008
The collective swivel music 2008 spent several months at the jazzclub porgy. the Porgy & Bess programme once said: “Where do we come from, where are we going … what’s the point …? One thing is clear: we are pulsating! From the macro-universe to the micro-universe – and in swivel music, rhythm rules: the groove is omnipresent, just as the relationships between things can be represented in intervals and melodies and are within us! The centre of rotation (= swivel) and the laboratory of the so-called “Swivel-Lab” are located in the Viennese jazz club Porgy&Bess, where “Swivel-Music” will make us aware of why we have to exhale again after inhaling. Of course, you can also consume music as an mp3 and compete to see who has more GB on their hard drive! But music that is created for you personally during the “liveupload” is not only convincing because of the enormous spectrum of frequencies! A team of young artists from various disciplines (jazz, classical music, rock, DJ, film, literature, free …..) embark on a joint search and research into the whole that makes us alive! (Udo Preis)”.
Video artists such as Christiane Dorner, musicians such as Fei Duan, Jakob Petsovits, Emil Gross, Igor Gross, Lukas Kranzelbinder, Thomas Liesinger, Peter Schwab, Anna Kaiser Koissi, Eargazm and many more were involved.
2010
On 29 april 2010, the FREE FORMS project was launched under the name 4statesessions, involving artists from Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Austria. our first meeting was at the university’s uni club in Szombathely.
The year ended for the 4statesessions with a first workshop in neumarkt an der raab, in which 14 creative artists took part to improvise over several days in the thatched houses of the artists’ village. we repeated this workshop in neumarkt in 2011 and 2012.
In 2012 there were already 8 countries, 12 organisations and 60 musicians involved in this project. this was followed by the festival of the 4statesessions and we were involved in the programming and were part of the programmes:; the activities extended to
– Dunajska Streda at the festival “Are You Free” in Slovakia over the years 2012-2014;
– The successors of the festival in Maribor/pekarna 2012 followed in Zabok, 2013
– 4 meetings in Kumrovec 2014-2017. This improcon festival was continued by musicians in slovenia and you can find their activities here.
– And there was a festival with 10 painters in Katowice, which will be repeated 10 years after, in 2024.
In 2012 we started the 4statesession in Vienna at the Celeste; from there we moved to the city of Vienna within 11 years. The details of this journey through the venues can be found HERE.
In 2017 we call our autumn festival CHILLI JAZZ CONGRESS, and we formulate our ideas of FREE FORMS OF ARTS (see our page “philosophy”), triggered by the discussions that took place around the CHILLI JAZZ festivals, in which Paul Rogers, Emil Gross, Tomek Les, Bostjan Perovsek, Chiao-Hua, Barry Altschul, Dieter Glawischnig, Ewald Oberleitner, Cristiana Fusillo, Igor Gross and Udo Preis were involved.
- Single events in Vienna, Prague, Brno, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Trieste, Rimini and Berlin;
- Festivals in Heiligenkreuz and, after 10 years, again in Katowice; possibly also in Ljubljana and Trieste, and
- Laboratories in Heiligenkreuz.