RIP Dis-Patch Festival

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  • Serbia's annual electronic music and arts event has called it quits.
  • RIP Dis-Patch Festival image
  • In a statement sent out earlier today, Dis-Patch announced the "demise of its annual Belgrade festival," which would have turned ten later this year. In the same vein as Poland's Unsound or Montréal's Mutek Festival, Dis-Patch is an annual event that highlights avant-garde art and electronic music. Past editions have hosted artists like Uwe Schmidt, Ben Frost and Tim Hecker, as well as local acts like DJ Moodswinger (it also happens to be where the upcoming Vladislav Delay Quartet album was recorded). Organizers say a lack of financial support is mostly to blame for the festival's end. "Despite the high artistic and productional results, since year one the event was going through a constant fight for survival," they say. "Each new edition was basically starting from scratch." Today's statement takes aim in particular at Serbia's government-sponsored cultural programs, which it says remained uninterested and unhelpful as the festival grew bigger each year. But while this may be the end of Dis-Patch's core festival, it's by no means the end of Dis-Patch altogether. The outfit will keep putting on events around the world, not least within Belgrade. They will continue their collaboration with the Communikey festival in Boulder, which includes another round of the ViceVerse tour. Finally, they are preparing 9 Lives of a Festival, a project that explores Dis-Patch and festivals in general through a "bi-lingual publication and accompanying exhibition." Details on that one are still forthcoming. The Belgrade scene officially bid farewell to Dis-Patch last weekend with a "Burial Party" at Secer. DJs on hand for the night included Moodswinger, Lukatoyboy, Felony Flats and Piece of Sh.... A recording of the entire night can be downloaded right here.
RA