Mark Velvet is a synth-rock/retrowave artist based in Tbilisi, Georgia. Inspired by masters of electronic music like GUNSHIP, Carpenter Brut, and Muse, he will take you on a sonic journey through nostalgic retrowave landscapes mixed with the raw energy of synth rock.

Dmitry Baikov's AKA cøff works, inspired by his childhood dreams about space exploration, range from quiet piano pieces to guitar-driven electronic soundscapes, blending melodies and beats with field recordings and elements of musique concrète. As one of the core members of Moscow Laptop Orchestra “CybOrk” played on numerous academic electronic music festivals in Moscow conservatory, Alexandrinsky Theatre, Warsaw, Wroclaw. Currently based in Tbilisi, Georgia.

«What came first — the chicken or the egg? The mother or her child? And is it even worth seeking the answer if both the mother and the child are destined to die?» «MOTHER» is a story about inevitability and the uncomfortable thoughts we have become accustomed to pushing into the darkest corners of our consciousness.

Toysop Records is a label for those who prefer distortion to chord progression, who pick dissonance over harmony, who think out of tune and move out of step, who fail normalcy tests every day, who continue to search.
est. Tbilisi, 2022

We Are What’s Left of Us: A lecture and workshop exploring how to share your story by focusing on what loss has left behind, not on what you’ve gained. Let’s talk about different kinds of loss—ranging from the more "tangible," like the death of loved ones, to the less "concrete," such as the loss of respect or a sense of purpose. In the second part, we’ll try flipping the usual way we tell our stories about ourselves. Instead of focusing on what we’ve gained, we’ll explore who we are through what and how we’ve lost. Everyone will have the chance to share their experiences and hear the stories of others.

About the speaker: A counseling psychologist specializing in grief and loss. Will die too.

About the speaker: TOYSOP RECORDS co-founder

During the lecture, existential performance and body art will be compared to primitive rites of passage and especially initiation rituals. Particular attention will be paid to their liminal (lat. līmen - border) stage, associated with the experience of symbolic death and their personality-transforming potential. Documentation of performances related to overcoming the fear of death, experiencing loss, and also dedicated to wars will be shown. As examples, both well-known performances (Marina Abramovic, Chris Burden) and rather unique rare performances of the lecturer himself, as well as his colleagues and students will be given.

About the speaker:
Performance artist, researcher and teacher of theory and practice of performance art, author of texts and a dissertation on the psychology of performance art. Author of the practice of performance art therapy and publications about it. Currently lives in Tbilisi.

About the speaker:
I’m Gary Mallard—an artist, event organiser, videographer musician, and chaos enthusiast. Born in London to an Irish family, I’ve spent 40 years in the music and art world and the last 25 years travelling the globe, working on gigs, clubs, and large scale music events. Now based in Tbilisi, I focus on creating immersive art that blends sound, visuals, and performance. My work isn’t about making things pretty—it’s about shaking things up and making you feel.

My works consist of repeated symbols reflecting personal and socio-political stressors in a contradictory way, contradictory like political and mass media rhetorics that fuel North American culture, reverting to the safety of child-like imagery with adult-program subject matter. In this talk I will tell stories relating to these obsessive multi-meaning objects, briefly starting with my experience with hoarding, my North-American perspectives coming from an industrial city victim to gentrification and class divide, and how it has shaped my art. In turn the psychological spaces in my paintings are also a reflection of the psychological effects of hyper-capitalism. I will also talk on examples of urban intervention, reinventing spaces for artistic expression when access to built infrastructures around us are based on economic privilege.

About the speaker:
Canadian artist based in Berlin, working primarily with painting but also photography and urban intervention. Coming from an industrial working-class city with punk roots, as well as having an immigrant Polish mother and a school-teacher father, I cherish community and am absorbing how our infrastructures affect us and the stories of the people in them.

The dark night of the soul is a period of profound crisis, where layer by layer, the outer social masks of the self are stripped away. What remains is the true core, which can be reborn through this process of inner dying.

About the speaker:
A practicing psychologist with 8 years of experience. I’m also a musician and songwriter.

Adaen is a progressive rock three piece project which reunited here in Tbilisi in 2023. The band has more than 10 years of history, along with the unchanged anti military position. In the 2010s the band performed in many tours in Ukraine, China and Europe. We decided that we have to continue playing as we have to say something on the topic again. The reunited band debuted at Human fest twice, on the rock stage and the closing show.

Monochrome Rainbow is an electronic and audiovisual project inspired by analog technologies and lo-fi electronic music. As if being collected from sounds lost in time, the project creates its own warm, although disturbing world, filled with complex emotions from destructiveness.

Dmitry Baikov's AKA cøff works, inspired by his childhood dreams about space exploration, range from quiet piano pieces to guitar-driven electronic soundscapes, blending melodies and beats with field recordings and elements of musique concrète. As one of the core members of Moscow Laptop Orchestra “CybOrk” played on numerous academic electronic music festivals in Moscow conservatory, Alexandrinsky Theatre, Warsaw, Wroclaw. Currently based in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Giorgi Katsitadze, the mastermind behind SEÑOR , hails from Georgia and is on a unique musical journey. He began his music exploration at the Khidi Academy in 2021, and since then, he's been charting his own course in the world of Italo disco, Dark disco, and EBM. Also He plays progressive melodies and trance music Giorgi is not just a DJ; he's a multi-instrumentalist who once dreamt of joining a band but soon realised his passion for playing multiple instruments simultaneously.

His sets are characterised by driving rhythms, emotional melodies, and a captivating blend of Italo body, disco, and EBM rhythms, also progressive house, trance music making each performance an irresistible experience. SEÑ0R's music is a bridge to connect with others, and Giorgi Katsitadze invites you on a melodic journey that transcends boundaries and resonates with the essence of sound.

My music is a captivating fusion of groove and hypnotic energy, driven by powerful rhythms and layered with deep, textured soundscapes. It’s designed to draw listeners into a dynamic, immersive journey that keeps them moving and engaged.

About the speaker:
Giorgi is not just a DJ; he's a multi-instrumentalist who once dreamt of joining a band but soon realised his passion for playing multiple instruments simultaneously. His sets are characterised by driving rhythms, emotional melodies, and a captivating blend of Progresive trance and progresive house rhythms, trance music

We will explore theater as an active act, an event that directly influences reality, and apply techniques and methods essential for creating our own relevant performative work. In conclusion, participants will come together to create an artistic action.

The program includes:

- Protest Theater
- Reflective Theater
- Actionism
- Physical Theater
- And much more

About the speaker:
Victoria Naraxsa — director, artist and activist.

Victoria is renowned for her internationally provocative theatrical productions and projects. She works with a variety of performative matter, defining her genre as ritual 4D art. Her work centres on anti-war, queer and feminist themes, as well as the defence of human rights. Founder of Queer Studio Team.

The meaning of the mode of death, deformation and pain in my work. Historical and personal background. Methods of implementation in the form of musical improvisation and experimental bodily practices.

About the speaker:
"Darja Kazimira" is a project of the experimental improviser, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and artist Darja-Kazimira Zimina, of Latvian origin based at the moment in Tbilisi (Georgia). The ideological core of the project is based on the idea of a regular search for a dynamic object-center of the ritual, through the construction and study of the principles of sacred space erection. The search is carried out through self-initiated rites of burial, funeral, sacred violence, fertility (cults of the ground), as the embodiment of the idea of transformation and its irreversibility. For this, the author also uses bodily practices, many of which are of an authentic masochistic nature.

About the speaker:
French and Nigerian arist based in Paris (France) and Ibadan (Nigeria), works on themes of sacrality, bothany and decolonial theories. Works with instalation and paintings.

flowers in your eyes is a dream-pop/shoegaze musical band, we perform grungegaze/stonergaze music, exploring topics of loneliness, fear of death and feeling lost in life.

Victoria Naraxsa — director, artist and activist.

Victoria is renowned for her internationally provocative theatrical productions and projects. She works with a variety of performative matter, defining her genre as ritual 4D art. Her work centres on anti-war, queer and feminist themes, as well as the defence of human rights. Founder of Queer Studio Team.

Minimal Documentary Music

About the speaker:
Death doula, grief counselor, therapist, clown, musician

Death Cafe is an open discussion about death and everything related to it. Topics will emerge naturally during the conversation.

About the speaker:
Death doula, grief counselor, therapist, clown, musician

About the speaker:
Co-founder of Object Community, digital designer

How can we find strength in fear? Lena Bedareva shares her personal journey of transforming emotions into art. In her mixed-media project, silicone forms and digital animation bring fears to life, turning them into something beautiful and inspiring.

About the speaker:
Lena Bedareva is a new media artist who explores fear as a source for transformation. She combines traditional techniques with generative animation to create spaces where the frightening becomes a source of strength and inspiration.

This is an attempt to explore how the theme of death is portrayed in Russian-language comedy. It's not a research study, but rather a snapshot that highlights the main key features.

About the speaker:
For the past year, I've been doing stand-up comedy. I've performed over 50 times in different cities, recorded a solo special, and recently started teaching comedy workshops for the queer community.

About the speaker:
Author of the anti-war channel «Сердитая Чувашия»