Concert Series for New Music and Performance
Upstream is a concert series that brings new, forward-looking and uncompromising music and performance from the international scene to Hamburg. In reference to the metaphor "Upstream" ("stromaufwärts"), which refers to proximity to the source, and to salmon swimming upstream to migrate, the series focuses on navigating the latest currents and addressing contemporary issues in art and music.
As a suffix, ‘core’ immediately invokes aesthetics. It amplifies and makes sensual the meaning of whatever comes before it, be it hardcore, nightcore, cottagecore, etc. A core centres feelings. A kernel at the centre of things, it holds something together, be it immaterial or physical. Cores also protect: at the centre of our own planet, a core of molten iron churns, generating the electromagnetic field which shields us from destructive cosmic forces.
This programme explores such notions of fragility, hardness, and intensity through metallic sensibilities and physicalities. Maxime Chabal’s metal sculptures are both sturdy and fragile, symbols of resilience and vulnerability. Here they are activated in MS Stubnitz’s resonant hull. Eve Stainton’s practice often explores movement and metalwork. The British artist and choreographer presents a solo performance to the speed garage loops of musical icon Mica Levi, constructing a moment of suspense that has the potential to punctuate lesbian and trans-masc identities. One to be watched, **Andras_2020 **is rising within Europe’s electronic music underground. Their new EP Blowhole on Berlin label Rest Now! arrives after recovering from a series of rectal surgeries, a trauma quite literally at the body’s core. Andras’ metallic sound-design evokes the operating room or a school of dolphins, musically thrilling in its journey between extremities: from queer euphoria to discomfort.
Das Konzert ist Teil von blurred edges–Festival für aktuelle Musik in Hamburg, 29.5.2026 bis 28.6.2026. blurred edges 2026 wird gefördert von der Behörde für Kultur und Medien der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg, dem Musikfonds e.V. mit Projektmitteln des Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien, der ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS, der Hamburgischen Kulturstiftung, der Claussen-Simon-Stiftung und der Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten (GVL). Außerdem gefördet vom Musikfonds e.V mit Projektmitteln der Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien.
