Underground Art and Design Celebrates Second Anniversary with “Jukebox of Dissonance”

Avant-garde event unites subversive artists and visionary creators for two days of critical discourse, performances, and social engagement.

Underground Art and Design (UAAD) is thrilled to announce the celebration of its second anniversary with Jukebox of Dissonance, a landmark event set for October 19-20, 2024. This two-day hybrid gathering will unite avant-garde practitioners, visionary artists, and subversive creators in a celebration of art that challenges dominant socio-political and ecological structures. Through immersive performances, critical panel discussions, and innovative workshops, this event aims to spark critical discourse on art’s role in reshaping cultural, social, and ecological futures.

Founded in 2022, UAAD is an artist-led organization that seeks to promote social change by fostering interdisciplinary dialogue across visual arts, design, and activism. The collective has gained recognition for its commitment to dismantling geographical and disciplinary boundaries, empowering artists and designers to drive conversations that challenge capitalism, colonialism, and environmental degradation. Through digital exhibitions, collaborative projects, and interactive workshops, UAAD creates space for experimental artistic practices that envision radical futures.

Day 1: October 19 – Virtual Exhibition, Panel Discussions, and Evening Performances

The celebration will begin on October 19 with the opening of UAAD’s new Virtual Exhibition, featuring a diverse array of work from boundary-pushing artists around the globe. This curated exhibition will be accompanied by a guided virtual tour, offering audiences a deep dive into the themes explored by the artists, which range from technological alienation to speculative ecological futures.

The Virtual Exhibition showcases a remarkable collection of contemporary works from artists representing China, the USA, Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, India, Slovenia, Lithuania, Tatarstan, Russia, and the Dominican Republic. This show brings together this constellation of artists whose works interrogate the fractured relationships between memory, technology, nature, and identity in an era defined by rapid digitalization, ecological crisis, and the enduring aftershocks of colonial histories.

Featured artists include A.J. Cincotta-Eichenfield, Alexandre Vianna, Alina Nazmeeva, Angie Lin Boyer, Camilo Salas, Caren Wenqing Ye & Shiqing Chen, Cecilia Villaverde, Deven Verma, Flâneuse du Mal, Hong Huo, Candice Wu, Juan Alvarez, Ker Chen, SPLACES.STUDIO, Mu Tuan, Rachel TonThat & Victoria Cheredeeva, Schuyler Dragoo, Seitaro Yamazaki, Sutanuka Jashu, Tiffany Wei, and Vidmina Stasiulyte.

Following the exhibition, a series of Panel Discussions will bring together thought leaders in art, technology, and design. These discussions will explore how contemporary artists are integrating immersive technology, critical design, and speculative storytelling to confront issues of climate change, digital colonization, and the growing rift between human and non-human worlds. Notable speakers include:

• Yiou Wang, a multimedia artist who creates immersive experiences using interactive media to explore the interplay between human and non-human perspectives.

• Whitt Sellers, an XR technologist and fire performer based in New York City, blending immersive tech with live performances using real-time render engines and XR tools.

• Wei Wu, a multi-disciplinary designer known for computational design, AR/VR projects, and digital fabrication that pushes the boundaries of immersive experiences.

• Sutanuka Jashu, a Kolkata-based artist whose installations merge art, AI, and cultural history to create a vision of ecological futures.

• Schuyler Dragoo, an interdisciplinary artist based in Boston, whose work crosses painting, sculpture, video, and performance, often exploring the dynamics of human-non-human interaction.

• Rachel TonThat, a Zurich-based multidisciplinary artist and writer, who weaves narrative structures to explore themes of speculative futures, memory, and space-time.

  
  

The evening will conclude with a stunning lineup of New-Media Performances that fuse contemporary dance, XR technologies, audio-visual installations, and movement. These performances aim to provoke questions about the human relationship to technology, the body, and our environmental surroundings. Audiences can expect immersive experiences from leading experimental artists, including:

• Yilun Zhan & Zhaonian Li – Through Limits (Contemporary Dance + Lighting Performance)

• Yiou Wang & Hsiao-Chu Hsia – Co-Life/Co-Demise (Audio-Visual + Movement)

• Yanran Bi – Near Light (String and Light Installation Performance)

• Ker Chen & Daniel Mangosing – Hold on no more (Audio-Visual Performing Lecture)

• Whitt Sellers – Underpass Overgrown (XR Flow Performance)

• Kevin Peter He – Passage_Redux (Audio-Visual Performance)

• Summer Breeze – Fully, Lively (Street Styles + Contemporary Dance)

  
  

Day 2: October 20 – Performances, Short Films, and Seed Mapping Workshop

The second day of Jukebox of Dissonance on October 20 will feature more groundbreaking performances and the screening of thought-provoking short films. Artists will explore themes of identity, environmental entanglements, and speculative futures through audio-visual works and performance art. Highlights include:

• Caren Wenqing Ye, Shiqing Chen & Audrey Chou – Rhizome (Audio-Visual + Dance)

• Hong Huo & Mayu Nakaya – Strange Dwelling (Audio-Visual + Dance)

• Yiou Wang & Hsiao-Chu Hsia – Co-Life/Co-Demise (Alt Ver.) (Audio-Visual + Movement)

• Summer Breeze – Fully, Lively pt.2 (Contemporary Dance)

  
  

The event will also showcase a collection of Short Films that challenge mainstream narratives and aesthetics, including:

• Cecilia Villaverde – La Bruja de Texcoco

• Ker Chen – Hunting

• Splaces.STUDIO – Dendro Sonic

• Sutanuka Jashu, Lorena Patricia Garcia Espino, Denise Ackerl, Rocío Palacin Rotbarg, Owen McAteer, Laura Hernández – Unlovable Creatures

  
  

In the afternoon, UAAD will partner with Oreadespress for a hands-on, interactive workshop titled Seed Mapping: Urban Planting Through Digital Cartography. This workshop, led by Rachel TonThat and Irene Lee, invites participants to engage in a form of “guerilla gardening” using geo-mapping technologies to reimagine the city as a site of ecological regeneration. Drawing on the legacy of the Green Guerrillas in 1970s New York, participants will create “seed marbles” to plant in overlooked urban spaces, fostering a direct connection between digital technology and environmental stewardship.

Get your tickets now: jukebox-uaad.eventbrite.com

About UAAD:

Underground Art and Design (UAAD) is an artist-led collective dedicated to fostering change through visual arts and interdisciplinary collaboration. Founded in 2022, UAAD works to dismantle boundaries between disciplines and across geographies, creating a global platform for critical dialogue on art’s role in promoting social, cultural, and ecological transformation.

For more information, event registration, or media inquiries, please contact: hello@uaad.art