Moogfest has today unveiled a festival lineup led by female, non-binary, and transgender artists, including a keynote conversation with privacy rights and political transparency activist Chelsea Manning on The Future of Creativity. The announcement is celebrated by “Always On,” a 50-hour live stream presented in partnership with Tom Tom Magazine from today at 12:00 pm ET to 2:00 pm ET on December 8, 2017.

Moogfest is the synthesis of music, art, and technology. Since 2004, the event has brought together artists, futurist thinkers, inventors, entrepreneurs, designers, engineers, scientists, and musicians. By day, Moogfest is a platform for conversation and experimentation; by night, Moogfest presents cutting-edge music in venues throughout the city. This conference attracts creative and technology enthusiasts for four days of participatory programming in Durham, North Carolina. Performing artists include early pioneers in electronic music, alongside pop and avant-garde experimentalists of today.

Chelsea Manning’s keynote conversation will explore how technology enables radical disruption in the personal and political spheres, framing the technological future as a new creative landscape. Since its introduction in 2014, the Moogfest keynote has unearthed new perspectives on the future of creativity—tackling questions about how creativity will evolve and what tools will shape creative expression in the future. Manning follows in the footsteps of other groundbreaking thinkers: past Moogfest keynote speakers include transhumanist Dr. Martine Rothblatt, VR pioneer Jaron Lanier, Dr. Kate Shaw from the CERN Large Hadron Collider, Harvard’s Dr. Joe Davis, and philosopher Nick Bostrum.

Rounding out today’s announcement, Moogfest reveals some of the artists who will be participating in the festival’s nighttime program including LCD Soundsystem synth experimentalist Gavin Rayna Russom, gender-ambiguous theremin virtuoso Armen Ra, Kuwaiti conceptual artist Fatima Al Qadiri, Afrofuturist DJ Maliibu Mitch, hyperkinetic pop maven SOPHIE, and the US debut of revered Japanese multi-instrumentalist Midori Takada. Building on the experimental format of previous years, these artists will participate in Future Sound performances by night complemented by the same artists leading Future Thought workshops, and conversations by day.

Today’s announcement is celebrated by “Always On,” a 50-hour livestream with continuous performances from female, transgender, and non-binary artists. Thelive stream highlights the abundance of female, transgender, and non-binary artists actively creating and performing electronic music and beats around the world. The global livestream begins today at 12:00 pm ET and anyone can tune-in for free at http://AlwaysOn.Live. The “Always On” celebration will continue at the festival in May, with some of the artists participating in the livestream also participating at the festival including Sassy Black, Discwoman’s middle eastern dance experimentalist DJ Haram, percussive activist Madame Gandhi, avant pop sound sculptor Katie Gately, multi-instrumentalist provocateur Stud1nt, and former Au Revoir Simone hypnotic synth master Annie Hart. Many of these performances will be part of the free and open-to-the-public programming throughout the festival weekend.

Moogfest 2018 takes place in Durham, NC, from May 17 to 20, 2018, with more information available here. Meanwhile, you can view the current performance lineup below. More names will be added soon.

Lineup

Amber Mark
Annie Hart
Armen Ra
Aurora Halal
Bonaventure
Carla Dal Forno
CEP (Caroline Polachek)
Caterina Barbieri
DJ HARAM
Ellen Allien
Emily Sprague
Fatima Al Qadiri
Fawkes
Gavin Rayna Russom
Helen Money
Honey Dijon
Jamila Woods
Jenny Hval
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
Karyyn
Katie Gately
Kristin Kontrol
Kyoka
Lawrence Rothman
Madame Gandhi
Maliibu Mitch
Midori Takada
Nadia Sirota
Nicole Mitchell
Noncompliant
Pamelia Stickney
Sassy Black
Shanti Celeste
SOPHIE
Stud1nt
Umfang Upper
Glossa