The International Festival of Contemporary Music and Visual Arts “Mózg Festival” is a gathering of artists working across all areas of contemporary music, performance art, and audio/video installations in which music plays a vital role.
Artists from all over the world are invited to participate, since one of the festival’s core principles is multiculturalism, along with presentations that foster an understanding of the multifaceted nature of cultures. The festival showcases the latest performance techniques and interdisciplinary connections, always within a context that respects tradition. Both outstanding personalities of the art world and young artists whose work already bears the marks of uniqueness are invited to take part.
All artistic activities are treated as a means of gaining deeper insight into the reality that surrounds us, into the transformations taking place in the world, and into personal growth — for both the creators and the audiences of the festival.
To make the ideological framework clearer, each edition of the festival is given a theme. The themes of successive festivals emerge from one another and complement each other, defining the core ideas of the festival’s creators.
The editions of the festival from 2016 to 2021 addressed issues directly related to contemporary social problems, accompanied by the themes: COME DOWN TO EARTH, SPIRITUALITY IS UNIVERSAL, MAKE ART NOT WAR, and ART AS A WAY TO UNDERSTANDING.
We believe that art — especially contemporary art — is a tool for activating the brain’s hidden capacities for perception and comprehension of the world around us. In other words, we assume that art is not an end in itself but a means of reaching other, deeper goals. Throughout history, different forms of artistic activity have fulfilled various social functions, and the same is true for our present times. Art possesses a powerful social role.
From 2022 to 2025, the festival takes place under the motto “DO NOT FORGET TO KEEP YOUR MIND CLEAR.”
We believe that in today’s world — when we are bombarded with an excess of often contradictory or false information, when many values collapse, when the meaning of good and evil becomes blurred, when millions of people live in uncertainty due to ongoing or looming wars and the threat of ecological catastrophe — it is extraordinarily important to make the effort to maintain clarity of mind. Only people who think clearly and independently are capable, as a society, of meeting the challenges of the contemporary world on personal, local, and global levels.
Presenting carefully selected artistic projects and placing them in the right context can significantly enhance the perception of audiences attending performances, lectures, and discussions that are part of the festival. Expanded perception means a clearer mind, capable of making independent and wise decisions.
An individual who engages daily with contemporary art, while also being aware of the cultural diversity of the community around them, gains the chance to live consciously within that community — without fear, with understanding of others’ needs, with the ability to take responsibility for themselves and their fellow citizens, as a member of a developing multicultural civil society.
This year’s festival activities will take place across several venues: Teatr Polski, BWA City Gallery, Rother’s Mills, and the Mózg Club.
In 2025 we are introducing an additional part of the festival — PRELUDE, held a week before the three main festival days. This will be a three-day program of lectures, workshops, and concerts under the title: “Improvisation as Composition in Real Time in the Presence of the Audience.”
The more attentive observers of the festival surely notice our sympathies with the philosophy of Buddhism, in which the practice of clearing the mind of unnecessary thoughts is fundamental. In Buddhism there also exists the practice of repeating certain sentences of varying length — a practice called MANTRA. One possible effect of repeatedly reciting a mantra is a deeper understanding of its content. Hence the idea of repeatedly using the current motto.
This year, however, it has undergone a slight change, taking the form: DO NOT FORGET TO KEEP YOUR MIND CLEAR. Here another Buddhist term comes into play — KOAN, a kind of riddle or paradoxical question used in Zen Buddhism to stimulate intuitive insight and to cultivate wisdom beyond the limits of logical thinking.
Let the festival motto in its present form thus become such a KOAN for those willing to solve it on their own. Upon solving it, one may — but does not have to — share the answer with others.
Admission to all festival events is free of charge, but requires an invitation, which can be obtained by sending an email. In carrying out the festival, we declare our intention to implement accessibility principles for people with special needs. Most of the festival’s events will take place in venues adapted to the needs of people with physical disabilities. At the Mózg Club, where we do not yet have facilities for people with reduced mobility, participants will have the possibility to submit a request to attend. Upon receiving such information, staff will be present to assist wheelchair users in entering the building and participating in the event. Printed materials will include a QR code redirecting to a website with accessible versions of the content. Participation of people with hearing impairments should be announced at least 7 days before the event at: fundacja@mozg.art.pl
