Abandon Normal Devices and Unsound Festival came together for a new collaboration in 2025 to explore a transnational dialogue shaped by shared interest in sonic exploration, interesting responses to site, and artist development. With support from the British Council Poland under the UK/Poland Season 2025, the partnership opened a space for us to engage in collaboration exploring a creative collaboration between Poland and England.
As part of the collaboration, two presentations emerged in Poland:
W Brzask no. 36
15 June, Ephemera Festival
Andrzej Sławomir Kiełbowicz, Harry Górski-Brown, Wojciech Rusin, Bianca Scout and felicita b2b kacha
As part of Unsound’s multidisciplinary festival Ephemera, W Brzask, the National Museum in Warsaw, Unsound and Abandon Normal Devices presented W Brzask no. 36 in Królikarnia Sculpture Park, Warsaw with a unique line-up of Polish and British artists guiding us through the break of the day.
Artists played through this natural transition, with sounds and compositions that glide over the rich landscapes of the park, inspired by the liminal and spiritual experience of transitioning from night to dawn. Aligning with AND’s curatorial interest in site responsive work, W Brzask no. 36 took the emotional resonance of dawn to create an ethereal backdrop for an immersive audience experience.
W Brzask, founded in 2013, is a series of summer open-air concerts starting at sunrise. The project was initiated by Xawery Dunikowski Museum of Sculpture – the division of National Museum in Warsaw to harness the beauty of listening to music at dawn, when our bodies are more sensitive and relaxed.
W Brzask no. 36, co-commissioned by Abandon Normal Devices and Unsound, supported by the British Council under the UK/Poland Season 2025.
Image credit: jasinÿ
Intertwined
12 October, Unsound Festival
Harry Górski-Brown and Wojciech Rusin
Intertwined was a new collaboration between composer and instrument builder Harry Górski-Brown and artist Wojciech Rusin, developed from their first meeting at W Brzask No. 36: Sunrise Concerts during Ephemera Festival in June 2025. Evolving from that initial exchange, this iteration brought together the duo with string players from Sinfonietta Cracovia, expanding the project’s scope and sonic texture.
Co-commissioned by Abandon Normal Devices and Unsound, Drift will premiere as part of Unsound’s closing event, Entwined, which also features performances by Joan La Barbara, a pioneering voice of the classical avant-garde, and Canadian composer Kara-Lis Coverdale, whose recent piano works from A Series of Actions in a Sphere of Forever will be performed by Sinfonietta Cracovia.
Harry Górski-Brown & Wojciech Rusin, co-commissioned by Abandon Normal Devices and Unsound, supported by the British Council under the UK/Poland Season 2025.
Image credit: Zuzasos Nowska