FUTURE FEST Announced At Boston's City Hall Plaza In August

For one evening only, Boston's City Hall Plaza will transform into an interactive playground of the future with FUTURE FEST, the latest collaboration between MF Dynamics and the Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture.

Conceived and curated by percussionist, composer, and new media artist Maria Finkelmeier, FUTURE FEST promises an immersive journey into the future. Attendees will experience mesmerizing live performances, interactive light art, a vibrant DJ dance party, and an atmosphere filled with positive energy. This transformative event, featuring a diverse group of regional artists, will activate the plaza on August 3 from 8-11pm.

Maria shares, “Visioning FUTURE FEST has been an incredible opportunity to not only transform City Hall Plaza, but also highlight the incredible multimedia work that is being made in our city and beyond! The plaza as a platform to perform and share art is the best sandbox we could ask for, there are so many hidden nooks and stages, we can't wait for you all to be a part of it.”

Billy Dean Thomas, City Hall Plaza Engagement Director adds, “Our goal for City Hall Plaza activations this year is to take up space literally and metaphorically. I wanted to experiment with placemaking, and work with creative powerhouses like MF Dynamics who specialize in world building using sound and light.”

Entry to FUTURE FEST is free and open to the public. Learn more and RSVP for reminders here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/future-fest-tickets-942526210267

FUTURE FEST LINEUP

Former Self is Maria Finkelmeier's dynamic and curious multi-sensory performance on marimba, electronics, voice, and percussion anchors the evening of light art and dance performances. Finkelmeier's sound is rooted in avant garde exploratory principles, yet inspired by relentless dance hooks. She will illuminate City Hall with generative visuals created by tracking her physical movement, as well as vibrant digital media by Allison Tanenhaus.

Allotropic Aurora: Watch the change of shape and color as you move around in front of the cube, creating beautiful patterns from your motion. By Dan Pogue.

Former/Future: An interactive installation by MF Dynamics team Maria Finkelmeier, Andrew Ringler, and John Escobar, Former/Future invites you to stop, listen, and look. Propelled by an aging AI filter and grounded by a yearning sound score, it offers the opportunity for you to see yourself through time, and ask “what would you say to your former and future selves?”

Proxima Flow: By Andrew Hylnsky, see how your presence changes the visual energy of the plaza. Using LiDAR Technology, as you dance, so will City Hall!

A Thousand Times Forever: A video art installation by Holly Danger that reveals the beauty and balance of movement and stillness. As you enter this magical realm, you will be surrounded by thousands of suspended strings, illuminated by projections. Notice how the strings move with the air, abstracting the projections, and casting shadows and light. The strings serve as a metaphor for the endless whirlwind of thoughts that constantly ebb and flow within us. They convey the complexity of our minds and the challenge of maintaining focus in a world full of distractions. As the strings settle into stillness, you are invited to slow down and shift into the tranquility of the present moment. This work was inspired by the artist's personal journey to find balance, stillness, and clarity through the practice of daily meditation.

Chelita, a Boston based Afro-Indigenous 2S DJ and Producer, encompasses the many different genres and subgenres they grew up listening to including Bass, House, Techno, and more.

What's on the Line… by Human Movement project is a participatory public art piece that calls attention to the shame women carry. Populated by words typically used towards and about women, the work presents the idea that our vernacular and social norms provide permission to make outward snap judgements, which undermine security and make an entire gender of people feel “less than.” When inhabited by performers and light, the work also circles around themes of domestic labor, identity existing in layers, and transparency.

A new, site-specific work premiered by Hyde Park's newest dance and theatre collective, Human Movement Project featuring seven dancers and light design by Anne Dresbach.

Music by Dephrase, spanning throughout lo-fi, hip-hop, and electronic elements.

Produced by MF Dynamics, this program is funded by the Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture with the support of WBUR and WERS.

ARTISTS

Maria Finkelmeier

Human Movement Project

Chelita

Allison Tanenhaus

Holly Danger

Andrew Hlynsky

Anne Dresbach

Andrew Ringler

John Escobar

Dan Pogue

Dephrase

About MF Dynamics:

MF Dynamics creates large-scale art works and performances in public spaces, immersive multi-sensory moments at art and concert venues, digital art and original music. Our mission is to generate moments of connection through visceral, ephemeral, and unforgettable experiences. We fuse musical performance with new technologies, inviting narrative and reflection into multi-sensory experiences. Founded by Boston-based composer, percussionist, and public artist, Maria Finkelmeier, and composed of dozens of collaborators, we are driven by curiosity and compassion and aim to deliver memorable offerings to timestamp our collective and individual stories.

About Maria Finkelmeier:

Named a “one-woman dynamo” by the Boston Globe, Maria Finkelmeier is a percussionist, composer, new media artist, and Associate Professor of Creative Entrepreneurship at Berklee College of Music. Obsessed with making noise, she transformed Fenway Park into a percussive playground and turned the Roebling Bridge into a sound and light instrument. She's used AI to investigate gender bias through music, flipped a bus into a mobile electronic bucket drumming program, and performed at iconic global venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Smithsonian, and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. Her cutting-edge work has been featured in the Boston Globe, National Parks Magazine, Boston Magazine, Vulture, SunSentinel, I Care if you Listen and on WGBH, WBUR, and CBS. She is the Founder of the experimental music, art, and technology studio, MF Dynamics, and holds a BM from The Ohio State University and MM from the Eastman School of Music. She is a Yamaha Performing Artist.

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