Raandoom Inside: ROBOT Festival
ROBOT Festival’s 15th edition spun a whirlwind of electronic soundscapes and bold performances across Bologna. With Lyra Pramuk’s Manifesto on Transition as its heartbeat, the festival blended music, art, and activism. From sonic fluidity to electrifying beats, artists took audiences on an unforgettable journey through genres, vibes, and transitions.
“What is life if not a transition? What is human civilization if not a transition? What is the present if not a transition?”
These are just a few of the questions posed by Lyra Pramuk—American singer, composer, producer, and climate activist—while reflecting on the theme of “Transition” in the manifesto she wrote for the ROBOT Festival.
Now in its 15th edition, ROBOT Festival was created to foster experimentation and research in electronic music, energy, and vibes. What it certainly is not, is a container. No claustrophobic metaphors or figures could ever be attributed to it. Launched in 2008 in Bologna to promote electronic music and digital art on both national and international stages, it has grown year after year, establishing itself as an institution in both the city and the field.
Transition - Gender, Digital, Green is the title of the manifesto, viewing transition as a movement in life, time, human civilization, communities, bodies, gender, environment, and finally, in music.
ROBOT Festival, shot by Raandoom at the event
The festival began on September 27th and ran from October 10th to 13th, embodying the theme of “Transition” through various initiatives across Bologna. These included not only music and industry-related events but also environmental activities and involvement with children. On Saturday night, DumBO, a temporary urban regeneration space in an old freight yard, warmly hosted the main event.
Between two venues in the yard, a line-up of disruptive artists guided the crowd through a smooth transition of genres, vibrations, and lights.
SKAnonima/Luci* (an artistic collective founded by Alberto Saggia and Stefania Kalogeropoulos) and Heith (an Italian sound artist) kicked off the night with a site-specific multimedia installation that fused lighting design and music, creating the illusion of liquefying the walls of the main train shed. An invitation into a rabbit hole—though never confusing, vague, or unwelcoming, despite the cold and raw atmosphere typical of concrete spaces.
The night continued to flow between the two venues, with performances by Mabe Fratti, Daniela Pes, KOKOKO!, Max Cooper, Modeselektor, Pandalogia, Ojoo, Ossia, TOCCORORO, and Evissimax. Both Italian and international artists, each known for stirring up their respective corners of the electronic music world with innovation and insolent grace, brought their own flavor of creative disruption to the event.
Hour after hour, what went on was a perpetual sonic interchange, shifting from smoothness to hardness, from waves to strikes, from fluidity to irregularity, as souls traveled gently from venue to venue. Not a single person, myself included, was left gasping at the unfamiliarity of those holding the stage.
A palpable difference surely characterized the artists. Nevertheless, in some way, they acted as a single entity. A transition was happening between the acts, the spaces, and the swaying of the audiences, but it left no trace, like the passing of time.
