Paradigm Festival 2023 is drawing ever closer and everything is coming together at a rapid pace. In light of this, we sat down with co-founder Paul and creative managers Hanna and Anna. They talk about their three-way work ethic, vision for the future, and the Paradigm Festival 2023 creative plans with a special focus on the performance art programming on Sunday at the Dome.

So there have been some recent changes within the team. What does the team look like now?

Paul: “Well, there are three of us now. It was just me at first, but the workload became increasingly difficult to tackle by myself. So, we decided to post a vacancy for a creative manager, and quite a few people applied for it. One of the people who responded was Hanna from Leeuwarden. There was a lot of chemistry right away, but Hanna didn’t have a lot of experience with the job yet.”

“A good acquaintance of mine named Anna-Lucia, knew about the position as well. She worked on multiple Paradigm projects and I thought she would be a strong candidate. On the other hand, I also wanted someone young to rejuvenate the team and give it a breath of fresh air – someone with a new outlook, bonding ability, and who shares an age range with the people on our dance floor.”

“A choice had to be made between Anna-Lucia and Hanna, but this proved exceptionally difficult. After talking it over, we concluded that it was best to split the position into an operational role and a strategic role. In this setup, Hanna, Anna-Lucia, and I would essentially team up. Anna-Lucia would handle the coaching and the long-term vision, while Hanna would focus on operations. This seemed to make the most sense at this early stage – pairing our seasoned Paradigm-goer of seven years with a very excited newcomer who offers a fresh perspective.”

Anna-Lucia: “Hanna executed her tasks beautifully and without any issues during  Backyard Festival, so I also had to search a bit for how to provide direction in coaching, as it almost seemed unnecessary. Then we concluded that my coaching component truly came into its own once we could complement Hanna’s executive duties with my development of a long-term vision. This way, my vision was taking shape more and more.”

Hanna: “It also gave me a lot of insight about the vision. Anna-Lucia helped me to understand how things work here, where everything is, who I need for certain tasks, and so on.”

Hanna, you saw that job posting and you thought: I’m going to respond to that?

Hanna: “That’s right. I graduated from pop culture-studies at the academy and I always knew I wanted to work in the creative sector. In the broadest sense of the word, I was always involved in music, painting, drawing, making animations, making videos, singing and stuff like that. A friend of mine eventually forwarded this job offer to me saying: this is really for you! So I went full steam ahead. I thoroughly enjoyed the interview and I was given an assignment afterwards to design the Dome stage and create programming for it.”

Paul: “This year at Paradigm Festival, the Dome is going to serve two purposes: as a dance floor on the Saturday and as a theater on Sunday. I had the candidates create a lighting plan and a deco-plan that you can use for both purposes, including budget, budget schedule and programming for Sunday which is full of performances and theater. Because it’s a completely new interpretation, I thought it would be fun to take this challenge out to the final applicants of the vacancy. This way you immediately get interesting input for different ideas and you can see who knows how to strike the right chord with this case.”

So Hanna hit the right chord, then?

Paul: “Definitely on a creative level. I was so impressed with Hanna’s plan that we are actually going to implement it in the future and we are now looking to implement certain elements in a permanent place at the Dome.” 

What can we expect for the Paradigm Festival program? What will it look like?

Paul: “We’re already known for our performances but we have also said internally that we would like to grow from small acts to larger, more in-depth performing arts performances as well. This has been in development for some time and this year we are going to program the Dome stage on Sunday exclusively with performing arts. That’s been quite a challenge, considering we normally put down all kinds of smaller acts. We’ve already partnered with Teddy’s Last Ride last year during Paradigm Festival to feature their performers in multiple venues. This year we want to take that to the next level with the plan for the Dome stage on Sunday.”

And what does that stage look like in terms of content? Can you say anything about that?

Paul: “What makes it fun is that it’s fundamentally different than programming a dance floor from the start because there’s room between performances on Sunday when it comes to the schedule. Anna-Lucia came up with the plan to do something with that time between performances with an installation by an artist that captivates the audience in the downtime.”

Anna-Lucia: “What I actually missed in the programming was a bit of rest with, for example, psychedelic images or works of art that you can just look at for a while, since the performances themselves are pretty bombastic and a lot happens. We talked about ambient and when we were philosophizing about the plans, these open time slots came up. We thought we could try to program the aforementioned psychedelic images into the LED screens that are hanging there for the performances anyway.  So in a way we are going to test this setup to see if we want to expand upon this in the future!.”

Paul: “We’ll also put bleachers there, so it’ll have a chill-out vibe between acts where you can just sit back and enjoy those images and soundscapes.”

Anna-Lucia: “I’m so curious to see how the audience reacts to that. So I started to shape the program that’s going to fit between those acts. I ended up with Julius Horsthuis, a well-known Dutch artist. He works a lot with mini-fractals that you get totally sucked into, accompanied by music. Those LED screens lend themselves nicely for testing this.”

Paul: “He has recently made an installation for the Nxt Museum in Amsterdam, a major art expo in New York, and performed at Boom Festival in Portugal. I was actually discussing the possibility of him joining us for something before COVID struck. So when Anna-Lucia mentioned this plan I immediately agreed.”

Paul: “Furthermore, we chose to build up the day. We start with a quiet, in-depth performance by Susanne Luurs, integrating various artistic disciplines through collaborations with Jolar Drim for live music and visual artist Wang Xu, as well as Alter á Go. The performance lasts two hours where Susanne goes through different layers of the associated elements; wind, water and clay. Through her work, she vividly illustrates our interconnectedness with the earth and all its living beings. Every creature is part of a larger whole. We intentionally selected a two-hour performance duration to accommodate her incorporation of physical sculptures.”

Anna-Lucia: “Next up will be Pixel Pocket (Charlotte Beerda and DJ Irie). Charlotte, has performed with us before along with Word Bites (spoken word poetry) where they addressed many social issues. DJ Irie, who is a DMC Visual DJ World Champion. He plays a mix of hip-hop, electronic music and futuristic sounds. Basically a hybrid DJ set with visuals linked to his music. Regarding the build-up to the day, this performance already gives more energy, then it goes back to Julius Horsthuis.”

Paul: “Pixel Pocket will be followed up by Teddy’s Last Ride. Last year we asked Teddy’s to use the festival grounds to showcase their performance at multiple spots. That was a great success, so now we wanted to take the next step this year. They have started developing a new performance since March, titled Goodbye_porn. Goodbye_porn, created by Agnese Fiocchi and Iacopo Loliva and directed by Iacopo Loliva, is an exploratory club experience about queer intimacy, club spaces and sexuality that aims to portray different ways we can be intimate with each other by deconstructing pornography and by removing the shame and taboos that often follow sexuality. The idea is to broadcast images to the screens during the performance that are related to porn without actually being porn. This is an ongoing artist in residence performance project where, as part of the overarching project, they perform at three of our events throughout this year. This was at APOE, Planet Paradigm and now also at Paradigm Festival. The performance will last 45 minutes, accompanied by music from Italy-born, Groningen-based ELA // 404.”

Hanna: “In order to keep all of these performances captivating enough for our audience, we wanted all the performances to be guided by music. Our audience is not the same as theater audiences after all. Our artists were commissioned to make sure that their performances also match the music of our festival. As such, we provide a musical performing arts journey that people can take on Sunday.”

Anna-Lucia: “The final performance of the day is Lady Joker. It’s going to be an interdisciplinary show where electronic music comes together with theater, dance, live singing, poetry, video art, and outrageous costumes into one theatrical club performance. Their performance is a true thought-provoking piece that explores the various phases of the Joker archetype and why we need more of this playful character in the world of today. They question power structures, artificial intelligence and traditional ways of thought, whilst reflecting on the tragedy of revolution and laughing at the absurdity of it all. A super fun challenge for our organization, also because performance makes use of lighting a lot and is therefore programmed last.”

Hanna: “They told me about the different Joker archetypes that will be shown. You can watch it casually as a visitor or you can be immersed in the deeper layer of the audio-visual spectacle.”

Paul: “Besides the performances on the Dome stage, we will also open the Romney stage an hour earlier this year for a performance of Richard Bolhuis. We created the stage design in the Romney Stage this year with him. He creates images, music and drawings. He is currently working on a very large installation between the Dome and the Romney Loods: a big white wall drawing of mycelium-like structures. For the Romney Loods’ stage design, I asked him and VJ Wendy Eggen to use his video footage as an art installation. Richard’s images are about stillness and transcendental experiences. Where a VJ often mixes many images at high speed, he mixes a contrasting quiet images, which are more like a long trip. I thought it would be beautiful to combine the Romney’s deep techno with these images. The soundscapes he developed for those images can be seen at the Romney an hour before the DJ programming begins from 14:00 till 15:00.”

Hanna: “Last but certainly not least, our in-house performer Tim will also be joining us. He has developed a performance that we’d like to save as a surprise for everyone!”

Thank you so much for this preview of what we can expect in terms of performances! It there anything else you want to say?

Paul: “Our pleasure. We can recommend everyone who loves performing arts and electronic music to come and visit us on Sunday. We have also been nominated for the Cultuurprijs Groningen. A few years ago the vision was changed to offer more space for different art disciplines and try to reach a higher level in this. The implementation of this started last year and we are very curious to see what is to come.”

Earlier, we announced the Paradigm Festival 2023 line-up. A diverse program, packed with new faces and old friends alike. We speak with our bookers Chris and Tom about Chris’ role, the creation of the program and developments. They also give you 10 tips with artists you should not miss.

Tom, we know you as you been our booker for years, but Chris recently joined us as a booker. Would you like to introduce yourself, Chris?
Tom: “After the COVID-19 pandemic, we acquired a little breathing room to see how we wanted to re-arrange some aspects of our organization. My wish was to bring in a programming-partner, which we could now make a reality. Of course, I had known Chris a lot longer and after we spent a weekend together at Draaimolen Festival, we talked about this opportunity. Chris had another job at the time, but I asked him if he would be up for a new job as a booker.”

Chris: “I was very excited but had to think about it. This was going to be a pretty big change for me, coming from a steady 9 to 5 job. But I actually pretty quickly came to the conclusion that this seemed like a really fun challenge and I said yes. I’ve been coming to Paradigm since the beginning, first as a visitor, later as stage manager and DJ.”

Tom: “What I find interesting about Chris from a programmer’s perspective is a broad knowledge of music and sound design. That goes far beyond his own sound that he has as a DJ. He also thinks a bit about conceptualization, lights, deco and artwork. We feel very comfortable going back and forth on these topics. You can put us together for days where we’ll talk for hours on end.”

What is your vision when it comes to genres and sound? What is the emphasis on?
“The festival is still the place for us where we try to program in the broadest way possible within Paradigm signature. And we do that by respecting established names and familiar faces of Paradigm, offering a place for emerging names and new faces. This is the foundation on which we are building. Due to COVID, this is the first festival since 2020 where we have a fresh program lined up, allowing us to create space for certain sounds and artists again. For example, we can now offer Kalahari Oyster Cult a place as stage host, we can put down new names like Flo Massé and electro will play a prominent role once more; We are trying out new sounds at the Forest stage on Sunday as well.”

Which stages are arranged differently from previous years?
“We’re definitely doing things differently, like we do at the Main stage this year with Bashkka and Dr. Rubinstein b2b Ellen Allien. But also in the Romney Loods with Ignez, Blasha & Allatt, Setaoc Mass. And the day after with Tammo Hesselink, DJ Leoni, Quelza and Tafkamp. Or the opening act for Suvernuver Super Venus, which is on the more experimental side of things. There is a wide range in terms of sound in which we book and in which DJ’s want to move around.”

Is that a general trend?
“What you hear, in terms of sound, is that more artists are playing on a broader spectrum. We create more room for this in the programming. The broader sounds ensure that more artists, who you might not normally put together, can be put on one stage and that a nice line is created throughout the day. Then the first DJ might be able to spin very differently in the basic sound than another DJ who is playing later on. We also choose artists that we know feel this way.”

There are many established names as well as new talents, both national and international, featuring in the line-up. How does Paradigm ensure the perfect blend between the two?
“We always search for the right balance between different genders as well as international and national, and established names and upcoming talents. We strive to continue to book Dutch acts, which we believe that is very important. Eversines is a good example thereof. We both saw him play a live set at Draaimolen and we were very excited by what we saw and heard, so we put them down at NYE last year. Marie K and Human Space Machine were with him and as we got to chat we felt a connection. We went to check out Human Space Machine at LOFI and dove into exploring Marie K’s work, which both were so impressive that we consciously made an effort to create space for them to play. Nelly, Vandt, Bas Dobbelaer, Small Solar System Body and Shoal are names we support as well. These artists are rock solid, yet they get limited opportunities to play in the current climate. Usually we check out these artist at ADE. DJ Leoni is another such name and we saw her recently at De School, where she performed a sick techno opening set. We appreciate it when artists are serious and driven about their art. We don’t put them in our line-up because they live relatively close by, but because we appreciate what they do. We want to continue to support the national scene as we feel a responsibility to contribute to that.”

“In order to have space for regional talent, we have created the new Valhalla stage. We try to keep a close eye on the local scene. A good example is Former, who has always made music under the wings of Noisia. He once came by because Ghost in the Machine was playing at one of our events and Former knew Ghost in the Machine would play one of his records. Dither had once remixed one of Former’s records, so all this together made us want to put Former and Dither on the Convoi Exceptionnel stage. This way we unite worlds you would not expect to collide. We don’t just want to make obvious choices internationally either; look at Antony Rother and the widely acclaimed Om Unit. We remain a boutique festival, which is why we feel we should and can program differently. We may not be able to get the mega headliners, but the composition of the program should be special.”

Do you have 10 tips for our visitors of acts not to miss?
Sure! Here they come in no particular order:

1.) Super Venus
We were looking for the perfect opening act for Saturday’s festival in our forest. Suvernuver hosts the stage and Gerrit, co-founder and colleague, came up with this tip. We truly were pleasantly surprised by her set, especially the build-up. From stripped-down trip hop, to breaks, to edgy minimalistic house. That fits right in with what Suvernuver stands for and with the other artists on the stage that day; Inner Lakes, Christian AB and Gerrit himself.

2.) Human Space Machine
He’s both making a name for himself and living up to his name: organic, spacey yet also machine-like. In our eyes, he perfectly fits into the picture for Sunday on the Forest Stage where we will be working towards Dasha Rush, Sandrien and Marco Shuttle. His releases on the De Lichting label and on Nowehere, a sub-label of SoHaSo, are very much to our liking.

3.) Speedy J & Steve *live
Both Speedy J and Steve Rachmad are frequent and beloved guests of Paradigm. Speedy’s all-nighters at our old club are iconic. Steve was one of the Main stage performers at Paradigm Festival  last year. We had already seen them work together live through the Stoor channels, but when it was announced that they were going to do this live set together, we knew one thing for sure: if we would get the chance to book them in this capacity, we should go for it 100%. We are going to position them centrally in the Basement on Sunday night, where their sounds fits best. Two icons facing each other in the middle of the Basement, with a hardware only live set. Do we need to say more?!

4.) Ellen Allien b2b Dr. Rubinstein
Recently we had Dr. Rubinstein play in the Forest, which was a-ma-zing. During the Vinylism x Clone Pop Up Store at ADE in the Radio Radio we saw them play together for the first time. A very special and interesting combo. Both highly respected names and with a lot of experience, but from different generations. That makes it very fascinating. They will close the Main stage together, and it will be a very exciting journey through all genres!

5.) Flo Massé
We are hugely impressed with Flo Massé’s selection, skills and energy behind the turntables. Her Boiler Room set is one of our most listened to DJ sets of the year; you can hardly stand still. Infectious energy and high performance value. She is having a real international break-through and we are super happy to have this Brazilian woman playing with us this edition.

6.) Rey Colino b2b Moopie
We are extremely happy to have Kalahari Oyster Cult hosting the Sun Stage during the Sunday of the Festival. Head honcho Rey Colino has been working hard for years to promote his label, one of the most progressive labels of recent years. We collaborated with them on the program, which consists of friends of the label and artists who have released on it. Rey specifically requested closing the stage with the Australian super-selector Moopie.

7.) Elias Mazian b2b ISAbella
This b2b wasn’t specific on the line-up, but this is one of the surprises for Sunday. After Elias and Isabella spin individually they will do b2b as well. Elias needs no introduction since he is one of the key figures of the Dutch scene. Barcelona-based ISAbella is co-founder of the celebrated LGBTQ+ party, platform, label, AND collective MARICAS. Two super talents, so a 100% guarantee on the closing of the stage being a real party.

8.) Anthony Rother
What more can we say?! Electro legend. Has been making music for over 20 years. He eats, lives and breathes electro. We wanted give electro a more prominent place again, and to do so it was a big wish to book on this legend. This man is an inspiration and still is as relevant as 20 years ago. Check out other clips on his YouTube channel for ultimate inspiration.

9.) Marc Acardipane aka Pilldriver
Convoi Exceptionnel hosts the Club on Saturday.  We asked living legend Marc Acardipane aka Pilldriver to do a set. He has played at Paradigm under various aliases, which are just a few of his total of more than 50, yet it hits every time. He never disappoints. Check out his outstanding Pitch-Hiker track to get in the mood:

10.) Tammo Hesselink
A typical name to fit our vision: he knows how to make crossovers between genres like no other. Due to this talent, our fellow Northerner has rightfully gained a lot of national and international allure. Though he plays on techno stage, make no mistake: techno is far too small a box to cram his artistry in.

The 10th anniversary of Paradigm Festival is almost upon us! Especially for this occasion, our creative director Paul Grimmius shares 10 of his favourite stage designs from over the years.

1.) Forest Stage

“We have to start off this list with the magical Forest Stage. We landed at the Suikerunie terrain as its first occupants, where our eye was immediately drawn to the unkept, untamed forest. Together we figured out that we wanted to build a raised and round stage in the middle of it, as we believed it would be incredible area if we would do it right. Together with a group of enthusiastic volunteers and some experienced carpenters, we started to set this plan into motion. The process itself was amazing and it gave us a lot of energy. We started building day and night, empowered by the idea that this stage would be enjoyed by a lot of people for years to come. It was a very emotional moment when the last few nails were hammered in.”

“Whilst all that was happening, Joke Schaper spearheaded another team of volunteers to decorate the rest of the forest with pathways and little nooks and crannies to hang out in. One of the best things about this place is that it really feels like you’re in a forest, even though it’s situated on a former industrial terrain and it’s flanked by one of the busiest roads in the city. Legendary performances by artists such as Raresh and Ion Ludwig – not to mention hostings by VBX and Giegling – are some of my ultimate festival experiences.”

2.) Mainstage (2016)

“The last year at the Helsinkistraat the Mainstage was similar, in terms of festival stage designs, to what we’ve created at the Suikerunie terrain. The stage was designed by Dick Lissenburg. An organic design of rounded wood, so that no truss was needed to hang light and sound equipment. Constructing the stage was a free and creative process, done by people with a passion for building something beautiful. I spent part of the dreamy progressive closing set of Guy J (the last mainstage artist on Helsinkistraat) with Piter (Paradigm co-founder) on the roof of the stage, looking over a crowd of thousands of enamored visitors. The Buddha statue, which stood on top of the stage, was sent to us just before the event by a friend from India who could not be there that year. The statue watched over our visitors and I feel it blessed the legendary memories we made together at the Helsinkistraat.” 

3.) La Maison de Paradigme 

“La Maison de Paradigme was a concept conceived together with the Paradigm creatives (deco-team) and the Paraformers (performance team) during a brainstorm sessions back in 2014. The mainstage was like a giant mansion with different rooms, each filled non-stop by various performances from DJ’s and other creatives. My colleague Marcel and I joined the Paraformers during Rik Woldring’s set by dressing up as police and “halting” the performances for a brief moment, which was a lot of fun. It was also my first and last performance in that particular fashion (haha). Nina Kraviz was behind the decks to close off the festival. I don’t believe she is accustomed to playing music in bathrooms on a DJ booth made of washing machines, but here at Paradigm we do such things regularly.”

4.) Da Vinci Dome

“In 2017, our paths crossed with a collective from Enschede, which resulted in them designing a new stage for us. Its shape, based on a design by Renaissance genius Leonardo Da Vinci, is basically a star that’s resting on its own ends which gives it its signature dome shape. The process creating this stage was a unique and cool experience. Ever since then, the Da Vinci Dome has always been a very special place at our terrain. During the construction weeks running up to the festival, it always services us as our own little chill out with a small campfire to boot. When its showtime, the stage has been purposed in a bunch of different ways, such as an official chill out or a reggae stage. One of the most memorable moments for me were the hostings by record shop De Jongens van Hemmes. You could’ve seen them during Parfest 2018 and 2019, both times on the Saturday, when they played a wide variety of records whilst avoiding run-of-the-mill house tracks. Two consecutive years with a packed crowd is proof of why they’re the best record shop in town!”

5.) Dome (Renaissance theme)

“Huib van Antwerpen constructed a massive clockwork to be put in the top of the Dome stage in 2017, to fit with our Renaissance theme. The Renaissance theme was fitting as Paradigm had a re-birth (which is the literal meaning of the word Renaissance) on our new location. During this historic period, much art revolved around the symbolic expression of ‘Memento Mori’ and ‘Carpe Diem’. The clock related to this by illustrating how time is expressed in hours and days. The DJ-booth was created by the team of Dick Lissenburg (creators of the 2015 mainstage) in the image of a skull, placing the DJ in its eye-sockets. tINI made this image complete on a Sunday afternoon with her delicious minimal house, illuminated by a resplendent downing sun.”

6.) The little white tea arbor

“I think many readers won’t remember this one, even if you visited Paradigm Festival 2015, as this stage was hidden from view. If you did manage to find it between the bushes, you could’ve been surprised by Job Jobse playing his records in a little white tea arbor. Lennard van Vliet created this stage for us. When we made the move to the Suikerunie terrain, we tried to move it with us but sadly it didn’t survive these efforts.”

7.) Wooden Ganesha

“One of the first major creations we unveiled at Paradigm Festival 2013 was a giant wooden representation of the god of knowledge and wisdom: Ganesha! This wooden construction watched over our visitors who were relaxing at the chill out stage next to the mainstage that year. Thijs Koster built it, based on the legendary poster design by Emiel Almoes!”

8.) Paradigm Festival Main Stage (2019)

“Paradigm Festival 2019 was special in more ways than one. Due to poor weather conditions on Friday and wind force 7 on Saturday, the Forest stage could only open on Saturday evening after 9 PM. Saturday is traditionally the busiest day of the weekend and this day was no different, with around 9000 visitors at its peak. In part because the Forest Stage had to close for a little while, visitors were forced to move elsewhere. The result of that was a completely packed main stage during Neo Young’s 4-hour opening set. The view from the DJ booth that day on that steaming tech house floor was absolutely incredible. Roughly 5000 people were dancing around the grotesque Queen Bee construction made entirely from waste material. Joke Schaper, Anna Rijff and Trudy Oosterhuis built and designed it, supported by a team of enthusiastic volunteers. A masterful design with a message: we have to take good care of our planet. We don’t always keep this in mind, which is why bees are threatened with extinction. If that happens then our ecosystem will be disrupted so badly, scientists believe that humans will not survive such an event. With this in mind, we are subservient to the bee and the ladies wanted to convey this feeling by having a large queen perched up in the middle of the Mainstage’s dance floor.”

9.) Romney Loods (2019)

“One of the most beautiful and interesting processes I was a part of was the collaboration of a number of artists in 2019, which resulted in the Romney Loods as it is presented today. It started as David Sciarone’s graduation project for the Kunstacademie needed a home, which we were happy to provide. In exchange, David gave us permission to use it for our events. After the piece had gone through a number of phases (decking it out with lights for a NYE chill-out for example), we came up with the idea to videomap the whole thing. We approached both Liza Verboon and John Oosting, who were responsible for the videomap process and the design of the room, respectively. Throughout these brainstorm sessions, the idea took shape to videomap the front of the DJ-booth as well. John got to work once more and constructed something to make this all possible. It truly was such an inspiring collaboration between two artists, a VJ and Parardigm. During the festival, I spent some quality time on the dance floor at Stranger’s closing set on Friday and Speedy-J’s signature 5 hour set, enjoying the result of this collective effort by these artists. The particular vibe I experienced both times were made possible in part because of this amazing joint venture.”

10.) Mainstage (moving to the new terrain in 2016)

“Last but not least, the enormous project that was Paradigm Festival 2016. As we were hosting Paradigm Festival at the Suikerunie terrain for the first time, we started constructing multiple stages at the same time: the towers and gate of the Mainstage, the Forest stage, the Container Club, and the Dome. The Dome was designed at the time by architect Cesare Peeren and Studio Elmo Vermijs, after we received a course in harvesting and salvaging from them. Harvesting, in short, means looking for waste material that could be repurposed to suit our needs. Soon after we found a building which was on the demolition list of the municipality, from which we could harvest the wooden trusses. These trusses were the foundation for the design of the Dome stage. We had a few trusses left over, which we then planned to use for the DJ booth on the Mainstage! Inspired by the flyer (flying boat), we thought that it would be cool to make a big boat out of the remaining trusses, supported once again by a team of passionate carpenters and volunteers! This resulted in a boat that would carry the DJ’s through the gates of Paradigm where the new adventure was going to begin.”



Two regulars who can often be found at the Paradigm terrain, where they create one beautiful construction after another: Harmen and Joke. They’ve been a part of our community since the 2nd edition of Paradigm Festival. They started out as volunteers, doing the odd jobs here and there for a free ticket. Their involvement evolved over the years, as they were both given the space to express and develop their artistic creativity. They’re now a full deco-team these days, designing awesome ideas and putting them into practice throughout the year, with Paradigm Festival being the pièce de résistance. They’ve got some extra help this year: their daughter Kyra often comes along to play on the terrain and helps out whilst wearing her little work shoes she dubbed “Paradigm-shoes”. We’ve had a nice chat with them and talked about their plans for Paradigm Festival 2021.

Hey Harmen, Joke and Kyra. What are we looking at?
Harmen: We’re creating a wooden octopus in the forest, an idea conjured up by Joke. The head is a large object, sprouting arms from eight different spots out of the ground, crossing paths and walkways. We’re constructing suckers out of little wooden discs. We’ve also cleaned and upgraded all the little walkway bridges in the forest and added some more decorations. The Forest will have more walkways than ever before for everyone to discover everything the forest has to offer during the Festival.

Kyra: I’ve got a mosquito bite.

Which additional materials will you be using?
Harmen: Mostly materials that’ve been used in past projects and deco pieces. For our current project we’re salvaging scalings, wooden beams with a bark edge and old tree trunks. Wooden trusses will make up the foundation of the construction. And empty jars. We’re going to turn those into treasure chests.

Joke: We’ve also salvaged a couple of fishing nets to serve our purposes!

Harmen: The only ‘new’ material we’re using are screws, really. That’s it. Using residual materials always adds an extra layer of challenge to a project: the materials usually don’t complement our needs perfectly so we have to modify them as we go. This is extra satisfactory to accomplish as a result, seeing as beautiful projects can still come to fruition using these materials.

Kyra: Look! This rubber band is pink.

How would you describe the style of your creations?
Joke: It’s okay if it’s a bit rough around the edges with a natural feel to things. We tend to create suggestive things, not necessarily scale models.

Harmen: Exactly! We want to leave something to people’s imagination and stimulate their senses! We absolutely love it if people interpret our works in unexpected ways that don’t align with our initial ideas. That they’re surprised time and time again.

Joke: For them to feel like a kid again, to discover hidden pathways both intended and off the beaten path. For example, if you follow a certain path, you’ll end up in the head of the octopus! That’s the stuff we live for.

Harmen: The forest itself is beautiful on its own already. It’s even better to be able to work with it, enhance it in our own ways. We take that into account and tend to work with the way the forest is set up. Larger constructions are made to last for years, too!

Kyra: Would you like a nut?

What can you tell us about the theme?
Harmen: We’ve pieced together our own story about pirates!

Joke: Pirates are awesome. Freebooters if you will, just like we are. A little anarchy together with, in this case, a high cuddling rate. Incredibly fashionable nomads, which immediately sets the tone and vibe.

Harmen: We’ve got free rein regarding our theme and we hungrily grasped that opportunity. In our story, the pirates had to shift their activities towards land, seeing as the sea has been polluted so heavily that they had no choice but to head to shore.

Joke: Kyra has a book called The Pirate Cruncher by Jonnie Duddle. The book is riddled with illustrations of little pirates and sea monsters. This has been a low-key source of inspiration!

Kyra, whilst pointing towards a water skin: This contains water! Nice huh?!

What else are you planning to create?
Joke: Everything is related to the development regarding festivals. We’re hoping for clarity soon so we can really unpack and work out details to strengthen the story we want to present!

It’s already looking gorgeous! Can you tell us something about your personal motivations to create, at Paradigm in particular?
Joke: The togetherness. The energy and dynamics that usually comes with a construction week. The collective mind but also your own development. In our case, Harmen is the one with the technical know-how and he helped me out with lots of my ideas. But at some point he wasn’t around for a little while, which forced me to rely on my own skills. Slowly but surely I learned to do the things Harmen does by myself, which really boosted my confidence levels. It’s also great to be able to show someone else how it’s done and you’ll learn from them in turn too! The freedom and opportunities we’re offered are great for self-improvement. If you’ve got the drive, you can learn a lot here.

Harmen: What I love about this is that I’m able to do things that I normally won’t spend as much time doing in my every-day life! You’re developing and improving upon an ever-expanding skill set! Also, just take a look around! It’s such a brilliant place to work and become inspired.

Joke: The fact that SAC was cancelled was a heavy blow for all of us. That same uncertainty is still palpable, which is hard to deal with. But we want to stay optimistic!

Kyra: There’s a spider on your shoulder.

What do you think is the purpose for your creations?
Harmen: We want people to feel stimulated into feeling like a kid again!
Joke: To make people let go of the grind of everyday life. Kyra, just like the kids from Paul and Piter, are discovering everything the forest has to offer at the moment and we want visitors to experience a similar feeling when coming over during the festival!

… suddenly:

Kyra: Mommy, I have to poo.

End of the chat. 🙂

(English below)

Het Paradigm-gevoel. Iets waar we niet zonder kunnen. Afgelopen periode was een beproeving. En dat is het nog steeds. Voor iedereen. Maar er is licht aan het einde van de tunnel.

Hoop dat Paradigm Festival 2021 zou doorgaan, hebben we altijd gehouden. Maar we zijn afhankelijk van de routekaart van de overheid, de overige maatregelen en alle andere beschikbare informatie. Dit biedt niet de zekerheid die zouden willen, maar op basis daarvan hebben wel de keuze gemaakt om Paradigm Festival in een aangepaste vorm door te laten gaan. Want we kunnen namelijk niet wachten om het Paradigm-gevoel weer met jullie te delen.

Paradigm Festival wordt dit jaar afgeschaald van drie naar twee dagen: zaterdag 14 en zondag 15 augustus. De nachten komen te vervallen en zo ook de camping. Ook kunnen we naar alle waarschijnlijkheid minder bezoekers toelaten en zullen er dus minder kaarten worden verkocht dan vorige edities. Het zijn aanpassingen die we liever niet hadden willen maken, maar we kunnen niet anders vanwege de Corona-maatregelen. Wij voelen dat dit de juiste keuze is: we willen niet nóg een jaar niets doen. We willen patronen doorbreken en de misère omzetten naar positiviteit. Samen met jullie het leven vieren.

De aanpassingen in vorm en organisatie hebben consequenties voor de ticketing. We geven de tickethouders de gelegenheid om hun ticket een-op-een door te zetten naar Paradigm Festival 2022 of het ticket als voucher in te zetten voor de aanschaf van een ticket voor de aangepaste editie van dit jaar. Tickethouders krijgen hier vandaag een mail over. De reguliere ticketverkoop, voor degenen die op dit moment niet in het bezit zijn van een ticket, start op 10 juni om 13:00 uur.

We willen jullie enorm bedanken voor jullie loyaliteit en support. Ook willen we de bookers en artiesten bedanken voor hun flexibiliteit, support en welwillendheid. Ondanks de aanpassingen hebben samen met hen een prachtig programma gemaakt.

Eerste namen voor zaterdag:
Stranger, Ivan Iacobucci, Perc, Steve O’Sullivan, Afra, Quest, Kosmische Kracht *live, Comrade Winston, Joannes b2b Nuno Dos Santos, Alex Jansen en Gerrit de Boer

Eerste namen voor zondag:
DVS1, Steve Rachmad aka Sterac, Spokenn (Ferro & Reiss), ROD, Tripeo, Alinka, Joren Edwards, Milena Doudou en Neo Young

Laten we er een zomer van maken die we nooit meer gaan vergeten.

Heel veel liefde,

De mensen van Paradigm

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The Paradigm feeling. Something we just can’t do without. It has been a trying time since the beginning of the current crisis. It still is, for everyone. But there’s a light peeking at the end of the tunnel.

Believing that Paradigm Festival 2021 would happen is something we kept doing throughout all this. But we have to follow up on decisions made by our government, relevant restrictions and make decisions based on the available information. This doesn’t offer any assurances but we’ve made the decision to work towards Paradigm Festival 2021 in an adjusted form, as we feel the need to share the Paradigm feeling with you once again in a safe manner!

This year’s Paradigm Festival will be scaled down from three to two days: Saturday the 14th and Sunday the 15th of August. The nights will be rescinded completely, as well as the campsite. We are also allowing fewer visitors than previously projected and we’ll have fewer tickets to sell as a result. These are adjustments we’d rather not have implemented, but we don’t have any other options because of the Corona restrictions. We still feel that this is the right choice as we’re not willing to abstain for another year. We intend to break the cycle and turn these rough times into something worthwhile and positive.
These changes have additional consequences regarding our ticketing. We’ll give ticket holders the choice between keeping their ticket for Paradigm Festival 2022 or converting their ticket to a voucher to be used for tickets this year. We’re going to send all ticket holders an email about this later today. Regular ticket sale will start on June 10.

We all want to thank you so very much for your loyalty and undying support. We’d also like to extend our thanks and immense appreciation to the bookers and artists for their flexibility and support in this matter. The following artists have been confirmed:

Saturday: Stranger, Ivan Iacobucci, Perc, Steve O’Sullivan, Afra, Quest, Kosmische Kracht *live, Comrade Winston, Joannes b2b Nuno Dos Santos, Alex Jansen and Gerrit de Boer

Sunday: DVS1, Steve Rachmad aka Sterac, Spokenn (Ferro & Reiss), ROD, Tripeo, Alinka, Joren Edwards, Milena Doudou and Neo Young

Let’s make this a summer to never, ever forget!

All the love in the world,

The people over at Paradigm.

EMS will host a stage with a wide range or artists again, just like last year! Enough incentive to sit down with project manager Mark Fischer! He’ll give us some insight into some of the shared values between Paradigm and EMS, as well as some tips on what to watch out for during the festival!

Mark, you became a familiar face at Paradigm in the last years, but can you give us a short introduction of yourself and EMS?

Yes, I’m project manager of Electronic Music Society 050 (EMS). We cooperate with Paradigm on three core values: arts & culture, sustainability and inclusivity. That resulted in EMS hosting a stage at the festival (EMS Arena) with art performances and music. And lots of other great results, which I hope you’ll see back at the festival.

Why is it important for you to work on these values?

I think we’re facing some huge challenges at the moment: our climate is changing rapidly. Not only the planet’s climate, but also our societies’ climate. I believe the only way to face these challenges is with optimism. In that sense Paradigm has always been an inspiring place for me. The atmosphere is one of a kind and I recognize a lot of optimistic qualities in the team, volunteers and visitors: generosity, curiosity, being open minded towards other people and cultures. To quote Frie Leysen, a wise woman and source of inspiration: “If you don’t open the windows of your house, it gets smelly inside. So, you have to let a breeze in now and then.” Paradigm and EMS have opened the windows, and I hope the breeze you’re feeling here can be the start of a hurricane towards a more sustainable, diverse and fair future.

One of the core values is sustainability, how will we see this back at the festival?

First of all, Paradigm itself has done a great effort to reduce its footprint in the last years. Take, for example, the organization’s ban of disposable plastics (cups and coins). Those are first steps of a bigger plan. Together, we’ve set the goal to be completely circular in 2030. The only way to achieve this is in small steps, each year a little more sustainable. This year, for example, we’ve cooperated with NP3, a Groningen based artistic platform, to make the design of the festival more sustainable, challenging the designers to think differently about their concept. Not only in terms of sustainability, but also in terms of: what story does your design tell, how can you intertwine your design with the experience of the festival? Also, you can see sustainability back as a theme in the program of our stage. ‘The Fountain’ of Brazilian choreographer Fernando Belfiore speaks about our relation as humans to the earth and its recourses. And next to that, as EMS, we’re compensating the emissions of all the travels of our artists (if you’re interested in that yourself, click here). Next years, we’ll be building further upon these steps.

What does inclusivity and diversity mean to you?

There’s a lot of polarization at the moment in our society. As EMS and Paradigm we don’t want to emphasize the difference, but we want to embrace it. That means that everyone is welcome, but also that we have to be aware of our own privileges. I have to be honest that I’m pretty privileged myself as a white Dutch male. Take the program I made for the EMS Arena. I did some counting and it consists mainly of men. Why? There are more than enough amazing female artists. I wasn’t aware of it until I counted. There are still very big patriarchal structures and mechanisms of power that are influencing who we are, the chances we get and the choices we make. That applies not only to women, also towards people of color, refugees, underprivileged people, etc.. If we want to move towards a fairer world, we constantly have to be aware of that and fight it. In the end these patriarchal power structures lead to a society, where certain (groups of) people are being blamed for problems more than others and I think it’s ridiculous how we treat them (if someone is drowning, you safe that person, right?). Here at Paradigm we want to create a safe space where people feel welcome and respected.

How does this translate to the EMS program?

Now that’s out of my system, I can say that I’m very happy with our inclusion program, curated by Ahmad H Abdulwahab, giving a stage to talented newcomers. Ahmad performed at the festival last year, and his energy at the whole festival was amazing. I think I haven’t seen him without his hands in the air. This year he curated a program at the EMS Arena that consists of professional artists, mixed with talents from ‘Bab ad Daar’, a platform he set up in cooperation with Noord Nederlands Toneel, providing a rehearsal space for talented newcomers in Groningen. Ahmad invited me to a rehearsal there of Noumer Alali with 2 guys from Bab ad Daar: Omar Suleyman-like tunes, mixed with a lot of drums, while there’s a ‘Dabka’ (traditional Arabian dance) being performed. Don’t miss this at the festival, I assure you it’s going to be a party! Also looking forward a lot to the set of Jazar Crew on Sunday. They are throwing great dance parties in Israel and Palestine for the Palestine community, for which DJ’s and visitors sometimes literally have to climb walls to get there. Talking about fighting power structures…

You also curated part of the EMS Arena. Why put art performances on a techno festival like Paradigm?

The openness and curiosity I talked about creates a great context for art performances to take place in. Although it might seem a little weird to put performances between a lot of techno noise, I think there are enough people at the festival that, in between the electronic music, want to have a break and be amazed, astonished, teased and questioned. For me personally, techno festivals always have been a welcome escape from life and reality, but why not reflect a little bit on both whilst you’re escaping? Also, I chose performances that connect really well with the experience of the festival, so the transition from techno to art will be very smooth and sometimes not even noticeable.

What’s there to see, do you have some insider tips?

Yes, first of all, our local buddies from Teddy’s Last Ride. Some of you could remember them from the big sand pile last year or might have seen their preview of ‘The Others’ at NYE. Now they will perform their full 1h piece, about an alien descending to earth. It blew people away at WTTV 2 weeks ago. Also looking really forward to Arno Schuitemaker’s piece. He’s a Dutch choreographer, getting internationally renowned and just got selected by the Dutch dance jury for best dance piece of 2019. First time I saw a piece of him, it really pulled me into a trance (without any drugs). I’m really curious to see how this will work at Paradigm Festival. And last, but not least, Glasgow based artist Robbie Thomson will come to the festival with 2 projects: XFRMR, a performance by a Tesla coil on Friday evening (check out a teaser here). And, together with Jack Wrigley, a new project called ‘Stack’: a laser projection on the chimney of Zeefgebouw during the night. Visitors will be invited to put on silent disco headphones and watch the projection on the chimney to get the full experience. Can’t wait to see the result of this amazing project!

Click here to check out the full EMS line-up at Paradigm Festival 2019.

We’ve recently unveiled the full line-up for Paradigm Festival 2019. We talked it over with our booker Tom van Ulsen, he came up with 10 personal tips you shouldn’t miss out on!

Tom: “I’m really happy wit our program. I think we’ve struck a good balance between established DJ’s, new faces and our Paradigm residents. This also applies to the collaborations with our diverse group of hosting partners. This diversity ensures a unique experience when wandering across our terrain during these three days and nights.”

British Murder Boys
1. “It’s a great honour to be the only festival in the Netherlands to welcome the British Murder Boys (Surgeon & Regis) this year. You can expect this to be a unique live act, performed by two of the founders of the UK techno scene.”

Red Axes
2. “Red Axes will be the closing act at the Forest stage after the live act by Rodriguez Jr.. This will definitely be a magical fairy tale spectacle.”

Speedy J
3. “I believe Speedy J is capable of creating a magical spectacle by himself. The Dutch legend will be playing a 5 hour set in the Romney Loods on Sunday, which is guaranteed to be a brilliant musical journey.”

The Ghost
4. “Josh Tweek and James Creed make up the Berlin-based DJ duo The Ghost, who are also the creators of the first mobile record shop in existence. Digging through crates for years on end has resulted in a couple of ultra refined record bags, so I can’t wait to find out which pearls they will bring along. Look for them together with Franceso, Alex and Gerrit in our forest at the Suvernuver stage!


Alienata
5. “Alienata’s style enables her to strike a skillful combination of electro, acid, IDM and techno at the SoHaSo stage. Check her out alongside Dexter *live and Ultrastation if you would like to witness them connecting a number of musical styles.”

Jazar Crew
6. “The Jazar Crew popped up on my radar because they’re pioneers in the Arabic Underground scene. The EMS stage will be hosting this act. They have also invited Robbie Thompson, who will transform the Zeefgebouw chimney into a visual spectacle with his art project.”

The Horrorist
7. “The Horrorist *live. This is one of those acts that, if you haven’t seen it before, you won’t know what will hit you: insane music, even crazier vocals and a extravagant appearance that will definitely make you feel a little bourgeois. In short, a must see at The Beginning stage in our Container Club!”

DJ Rolando
8. “DJ Rolando is the perfect closing act for our mainstage! This living legend will be a perfect fit to bring the Saturday to a worthy close. The stage will feature the original Paradigm sound, brought to you by its co-founder Neo Young and Nick Curly!”

Dither
9. “Our partner in crime Dither, with whom we’re organizing the 12th edition of Convoi Exceptionnel at Paradigm Festival this year, has released his third album ‘Tools of Demolition’ back in June. Here at Paradigm, we’re proud of him and our joint venture and we’re happy he’ll be playing at the containers during the festival alongside The DJ Producer and many others. Industrial and energetic is how we like it and the reason why Convoi is such a constant here at Paradigm.”

Deadbeat
10. “Last but not least: Deadbeat! This man has been exploring the deep corners of the spectrum with his dub-techno since 2000. You’ll be able to check out his sound in the basement on Saturday night. On Sunday he will be playing a Dub-reggae set at the Da Vinci stage, which is a perfect fit for day three.”