Plektrum Festival 2010: Would you love a robot?

The Plektrum Festival, which runs in Tallinn from 25 August to 5 September, will feature robots and a chance to see the giant steps made by robotic technology in the form of lectures, films, exhibitions and music. Both this year’s Plektrum and next year’s festival are part of the Tallinn 2011 European Capital of Culture programme.

The theme of this year’s Plektrum – the eight in festival history – is “Would you love a robot?” The cultural festival will illuminate the crossroads between humankind, technology and contemporary culture.

The premier guest of the festival is world-renowned electronic music legend Karl Bartos, who was a core member of Kraftwerk in 1975-1991, responsible for popular tracks from acclaimed albums such as Radio-Activity, Trans Europe Express, The Man Machine, Computer World and Tour de France. Bartos, from 2004 to 2009 professor for Auditory Media Design at Berlin University of the Arts, will deliver a lecture on the development of music and technology at the KUMU Art Museum of Estonia auditorium and will play an audio-visual concert at Rock Cafe.

Plektrum will also feature robots. Thanks to technological development, these “man machines” are now almost indistinguishable from their creators. We might even ask: are we prepared to love a robot, and what will that take? Over the course of 10 days, Plektrum will offer a chance to get to know modern robotic technology, listen to robot-inspired music and watch films, construct simple robots on a whole-family-oriented robotics day, draw inspiration from leading thinkers at the lecture series “Think Machine” (Mõttemasin) and meet robots form Estonian pop culture on the streets of Tallinn.

Besides Bartos, the festival will feature artists from Estonia, the Nordic countries, Germany, Austria, France, Israel, Russia and elsewhere.

The festival venues are Von Krahl Theater and Bar (the festival centre), KUMU Art Museum of Estonia, Rock Cafe, the Disaini ja Arhitektuurigalerii (Design and Architecture gallery), the Uus-Maailm neighbourhood in Tallinn, No Teater, various places and installations city-wide (Harju park, Vabaduse väljak (Freedom Square), and the nearby greensward around St. John’s Church.

Plektrum Festival is one of the key events of Tallinn as European Capital of Culture both this year and next.

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