Expect the unexpected from Artisans, a Vilnius-based post-music ensemble of composers, sound artists and improvisers whose work gleefully dismantles assumptions about contemporary music and performance. Shifting its identity depending on the moment, Artisans is a folk band, a new music ensemble, a countryside orchestra, an infographic, a PowerPoint slide. Each form is temporary, chosen for how it refracts the collective’s ideas at that time.
Their programme Synthetic Piss (taking its name from their 2025 album) marks the culmination of two years of Artisans’ creative evolution and the turning point that came with their discovery of Thomas Farmer – an obscure American composer whose works had never been performed live.
Farmer’s unapologetic use of outdated notation software as the sole performer of his works, the amateur yet deeply convincing character of his compositions, and even the possibility that he may not be a real person at all, freed Artisans from their remaining assumptions about the contemporary ensemble as a cultural form. Inspired by Farmer’s approach, they shaped their programme through an expanded vocabulary: the misuse of MIDI sound libraries; seriousness in the face of existential anxiety; obsolete technologies; anonymity; early-2000s pop-cultural aesthetics; PowerPoint slideshows; and the recycling of Lithuanian folk-music fetishization in a joyful embrace of sonic trash.
The result is a deeply self-aware collection of works by members of Artisans, Thomas Farmer and pioneering composer Anthony Braxton that celebrates the joy of – although music does not exist – music making.
Produced by hcmf// supported by Lithuanian Culture Institute and Music Information Centre Lithuania
Artisans:
Lukas Butkus piano / sampler / melodica
Kristupas Gikas flutes / ūžynė / didgeridoo / recorder / harmonica
Dominykas Snarskis percussion
Gediminas Stepanavičius double bass / trumpet / live electronics
Liepa Vozgirdaitė violin / kanklės / PowerPoint
PROGRAM
Thomas Spann Farmer III (USA)
Concerto for Timpani & Chorus – V 2’ UK Premiere
Liepa Vozgirdaitė (Lithuania, 2001) COuNtDoWnS 6’ UK Premiere
Kristupas Gikas (Lithuania, 1992) Iš lūpų į lūpas 4’ UK Premiere
Lukas Butkus (Lithuania, 2000) Synthetic Piss 8’ UK Premiere
Gediminas K. (Lithuania) & Liepa Vozgirdaitė (Lithuania, 2001) diagnostikos centre 5’ UK Premiere
Arranged by Lukas Butkus (Lithuania, 2000) & Liepa Vozgirdaitė (Lithuania, 2001) Rumšos polka 5’ UK Premiere
Liepa Vozgirdaitė (Lithuania, 2001) cunty 5’ UK Premiere
Anthony Braxton (USA, 1945) 22-M (Opus 58) 8’
Kristupas Gikas (Lithuania, 1992) & Liepa Vozgirdaitė (Lithuania, 2001) su gimtadieniu 1’ UK Premiere
More information here.