ONE of the world’s largest celebrations of audio-visual art is set to return to Glasgow after a three-year hiatus.
Sonica will welcome 85 artists from 10 countries for more than 200 events to Scotland’s biggest city.
The festival is usually held in November but was moved thanks to COP26.
The biannual event, which was last held in 2019, will showcase what director Cathie Boyd calls “music to be looked at” or “visual art which is sonic” and will run for 11 days.
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Ranging from electronica all the way to hip hop and everything in between, the 2022 programme will be its sixth edition in its 10 year running and its organisers hope to make it a splash.
Sonica curator Boyd told The National: “The big difference with Sonica and other music festivals is that we never present a straight music gig so there will always be an incredible visual element to what we do.
“A lot of those festivals are stages filled with musicians and what Sonica does is it actually immerses you with the visuals.
British-Rwandan sound artist Auclair is set to perform at the event
“This festival we have 85 plus artists, 200 events and we are presenting artist from 10 countries travelling to Glasgow.
“I am excited because I think the world is opening up with Covid and we might strike lucky now people are desperate to go to live events again.”
Those concerned about attending gigs due to coronavirus may also be in luck as Boyd mentions that many of the gigs are smaller-scale events throughout the city.
She continued: “We have a fabulous artist coming in from France, Argentina and Quebec for the audio-visual shows.
Recurrence is set to perform at Sonica
“There is always a big Quebec element in Sonica. Obviously, Quebec and Scotland have a huge history of collaborating with each other.
“And one of the things I am excited for this year is that we are bringing the RSNO to Tramway and Gavin Bryars will be conducting.
“He’s an incredible 79-year-old composer who wrote Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet.
“What’s fantastic is this is going to be his Scottish debut for conducting which is amazing.”
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After Covid lockdowns struck an end to much of the live performance in the culturally vibrant city of Glasgow, Boyd is confident that it will have much more to give in the future.
“I think Glasgow is a remarkable city for culture and music and we are a Unesco City of Music for a reason,” she said.
“I travel the world promoting Glasgow and I am thrilled because we have several artist, mainly under 25 performing in the Sonica programme.
“Those are the artist of the future. So hurrah for Glasgow and it’s a fantastic city to live in and promote culture.”
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