Artefacts of Human Civilisation
in Robotic Folklore

Robotic Folk – Jonas Jurkūnas (Lithuania)

Composer and electronic music performer Jonas Jurkūnas, working under his solo project pseudonym Robotik Folk, invites you to explore a dystopian future and experience contemporary sound culture through the lens of hypothetical robot folklore motifs, seemingly derived from the cultural artifacts of a long-lost humanity.

Years after the end of our era, robots rediscover and repurpose fragments of human musical heritage and operational memories found among the ruins. From this debris, a new robot folklore spontaneously emerges, performed by local synthetic programs, echoing the history of our musical ancestors.

The musical performance, taking place in the popular Transformation Hall at the Energy and Technology Museum, will also feature the centerpiece of the space – the two largest Tesla coils in the Baltics, housed within a Faraday cage.

Performer

ROBOTIC FOLK

Jonas Jurkūnas

Jonas Jurkūnas is a composer with a wide-ranging approach, exploring various directions beyond traditional score writing. He engages in electronic experimentation, works within pop culture genres, creates music for theatre and film, and even dabbles in background music. Occasionally, but intensely, he participates in interdisciplinary collaborations where these diverse experiences merge. Jurkūnas’ creative strategy is closely aligned with postminimalism; he often works with simple sonic materials and pulsating, driving rhythms, constantly seeking new or forgotten timbres. He frequently blends these techniques and the aesthetics of new tonality with experimental or club electronic music, ambient styles, and elements of popular music, jazz, and Romanticism.
— Asta Pakarklytė, mic.lt

The “Robotic Folk” project naturally evolved from the ideology of the DIISSC Orchestra and the “Electronic Music Trio” (EMT). “During pauses between composing acoustic or applied music, I often sit down to experiment with electronic sounds. What feels too personal or unsuitable for collective music-making ends up in a separate folder. Over time, a significant body of experimental electronic music accumulated, varying between digital reinterpretations of guitar sounds and hints of club music,” says Jonas Jurkūnas.