Hailed as “a sci-fi dance party with a Ph.D. in STEM” by “The New York Times,” Moogfest 2016 will gather more than 250 technologists, musicians and artists to explore new technologies that are pushing the boundaries of creative expression. It’ll be an experience unlike any other. To prove it, we pulled together seven sensationally diverse, can’t-miss festival happenings.

All photos by Carlos Gonzales.

1. Grimes

Friday, May 20, 8:50 p.m. – Moogfest Main Stage outside of Motorco Music Hall

Moogfest celebrates and continues the legacy of Bob Moog, the engineer who invented the analog synthesizer among other creative tools – so, of course, music plays a huge role.

Since her critically acclaimed third album, “Visions,” was released, the Canadian electronic musician and producer Claire Boucher (aka Grimes) has toured the world and become an international phenomenon. She’s headlined festivals, performed on late-night TV shows such as “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” and “Later With Jools Holland,” and has graced the cover of countless music and fashion magazines. Her latest album, “Art Angels,” is a sprawling, arresting work that’s as uncompromising as it is inviting. Grimes’ performance at Moogfest will include a special AV show, back-up dancers and plenty of Grimes’ fantasy-inspired costumes and visuals.

2. DJ Lance Rock and Yo Gabba Gabba with Mark Mothersbaugh, Bootsy Collins, Malcolm Mooney, Van Partible, Kate Stone, Dorit Chrysler

Saturday, May 21, noon-5 p.m. – American Tobacco Campus Amphitheater

Moogfest celebrates young fans of electronic music and invites both adults and children to experiment with new sounds. The program is anchored by an entire day of free outdoor performances, co-curated by DJ Lance Rock of the award-winning children’s TV show “Yo Gabba Gabba!” Workshops, installations and an open electronic music jam session will explore synthesis, collaborative improvisation and hands-on audio collage. DJ Lance Rock is pleased to be presenting the first all-ages program for Moogfest.

After the DJ sets from Lance and Nanny Cantaloupe, there will be a discussion with Nanny, as well as with music pioneers Bootsy Collins, Mark Mothersbaugh (of Devo fame) and original Can vocalist, Malcolm Mooney. Joining them will be Van Partible, creator of the Cartoon Network show “Johnny Bravo.”

3. RTP Convergence – Moogfest’s marquee art installation

May 19-22, CCB Plaza

In partnership with Research Triangle Park, RTP Convergence will be an interactive installation in downtown Durham’s CCB Plaza that invites people to work with each other and the environment to collaboratively create cityscapes made of light. It’s interactive art, and it promises to be fantastic.

Developed by Floating Point Collective, a field of LED rods form a volumetric display. Each rod is equipped with a touch sensor. When touched by a participant, colored light grows from their fingers, creating a light structure that rises into the sky and spreads outward through the other rods. When people are not interacting with the sculpture directly, another layer of interaction is revealed. The light city is affected by real time light data, shifting colored particles and allowing colors to mix in organic ways. Oh, and this attraction, too, is free.

4. Dr. Martine Rothblatt & “Transhumanism”
 Keynote: The Future of Creativity

Friday, May 20, 2-3:30 p.m. – The Carolina Theatre’s Fletcher Hall

Futurist philosophers set the tone for Moogfest’s mind-expanding series of daytime seminars and workshops. One of the highly anticipated speakers is Dr. Martine Rothblatt: author, entrepreneur, transhumanist, and inventor of satellite radio. Rothblatt’s talk will explore the concept of “transhumanism” and include provocative ideas from her book, “Virtually Human: The Promise – and the Peril – of Digital Immortality.”

As a preview, the book introduces Bina48, the world’s most sentient robot, commissioned by Martine Rothblatt and created by Hanson Robotics. Bina48 is a nascent Mindclone of Martine’s wife that can engage in conversation, answer questions and even have spontaneous thoughts that are derived from multimedia data in a Mindfile created by the real Bina.

5. Afrofuturism Conversation: Can You Remember the Future?

Saturday, May 21, 2-3 p.m., The Durham Armory

A broad discussion featuring Reggie Watts, Tyondai Braxton and others about Afrofuturism – an aesthetic that critiques both the present-day dilemmas of people of color and also re-examines historical events of the past – as a discipline and a practice, its current state and what insights it holds for what’s to come in arts, culture, politics and beyond.

6. Transhumanism Conversation: The Future of Our Species

Friday, May 20, 10 a.m.-noon, The Carolina Theatre’s Cinema 1

Cyborg artist Neil Harbisson joins Pau Riba, BJ Murphy, Rich Lee and Daniel Lock to discuss how humans are taking an active part in their own biological evolution. By becoming technology, instead of using or wearing technology, humans are opening up the possibility of having additional organs and senses beyond the ones confined to our species.

7. Workshop: Music In The Brain with Duke Institute for Brain Sciences

Saturday, May 21, noon-1pm – 21C Museum Hotel, Gallery 6

Explore the effects of music on brain structure and function in this workshop, which will highlight the intersection between artistic and scientific perspectives on this fundamental and aesthetic form of human expression.

Want to Go?

A festival pass costs $249 and offers access to the entire event – performances, conversations, workshops and installations. A VIP festival pass is $499.

Find out more about Moogfest on its website – moogfest.com.

MORE INFO

Durham, located at the apex of North Carolina’s famed “Research Triangle,” has recently undergone a transformation. What once was a neglected town is now on its way to becoming one of the state’s most attractive urban landscapes. Yes, it is a college town, and yes, sports do dominate here—really, they dominate the entire state—but Durham is adapting to popular culture by welcoming funky hotels, hip lounges serving craft cocktails, and small boutiques that are quickly filling up the once-abandoned streets. But just because the city might be upping its coolness factor, it’s still holding on tight to its Southern charm, hospitality, and history. So next time you’re in town supporting either Duke or UNC, or are oddly enough not there for basketball, take some time to visit these seven must-see spots in Durham.

21C HOTEL

Right in the heart of downtown Durham, occupying the historic Hill Building, the 21c Museum Hotelis one of only five 21c’s in the country. The 125-room boutique hotel doubles as a contemporary art museum and is home to Counting House restaurant, spearheaded by chef Josh Munchel, who offers a global take on regional dishes with a menu that showcases North Carolina’s seafood heritage. The museum portion of the hotel is open to the public; make sure to head all the way down to the lower level and enjoy the old bank vault, which has been converted into a mini lounge.

AMERICAN TOBACCO HISTORIC DISTRICT

This live/work/play district known as the American Tobacco Historic Campus was developed from the historic one million square-foot American Tobacco Manufacturing plant. Creatively repurposed, the tobacco warehouses which were once the backbone of Durham’s economy, are now used to house the Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham Bulls Athletic Park, a radio station, culinary school, documentary theater, shops, restaurants and bars, and even has a man-made river. The transformation of this area is indicative of the transformation of Durham itself.

DUKE LEMUR CENTER

Best known for being featured on the popular PBS series “Zoboomafoo,” the Duke Lemur Center is an 85-acre sanctuary for rare and endangered prosimian primates. Housing the world’s larges collection of lemurs outside of Madagascar, the center advances science, scholarship, and biological conservation through interdisciplinary research and public outreach, which includes community-based conservation. Plus, it’s hard to resist the cuteness of a lemur, so imagine being surrounded by cuteness in the world’s largest sanctuary for prosimian primates.

View the rest of the list HERE.

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New Belgium Brewing’s Tour de Fat Releases 2016 Schedule,
Along with Ten Reasons Why This Anniversary Year Can’t be Missed!

Ft. Collins, Colo., March 29, 2016 – This year, New Belgium Brewing celebrates 25 years of brewing up fun, a silver anniversary that means new tricks, musical supersizing, and doubling down on wackiness for the brewery’s annual Tour de Fat. The traveling celebration creates a spectacular sensory experience complete with great beer, bikes, music, comedy, sustainability, and philanthropy. In honor of this monumental year for the brewery, New Belgium has crafted a list of 10 reasons 2016 is a year you and all your friends must attend Tour de Fat:

1. Chances are good it’s coming to a city near you! This year Tour de Fat is traveling to nine locations:

• May 21 – Washington, DC
• June 25 – Durham, NC
• July 9 – Chicago, IL
• August 13 – Boise, ID
• September 3 – Ft. Collins, Colo.
• September 10 – Denver, Colo.
• September 17 – San Francisco, CA
• September 24 – San Diego, CA
• October 1 – Tempe, AZ.

To keep up on the latest info for each city, check out NewBelgium.com/TourdeFat.

2. Tour de Fat 2016 Presents Dr. Dog! This Philly-based Neo-Americana Psych Rock outfit draws inspiration from the Rolling Stones, the Velvet Underground and soul music and will headline the Tour de Fat stage in Tempe and San Francisco. Their new concept album has been garnering rave reviews and earning them sold-out shows. To that end: Tempe and San Francisco will require a $10 ticket this year, well worth the all-day entertainment and shenanigans!

3. Turning a quarter-of-a-century super charges the creative juices. This year marks the 25th anniversary for New Belgium Brewing, which means more variety, local/regional acts and double the zany antics you come to expect at Tour de Fat.

4. Help push Tour de Fat past the $5 million mark! It could happen this year and we need everyone’s support! Although it’s a day of revelry, bike love, and fun times, the main mission of Tour de Fat is to give back to our non-profit friends, who spread bike love year round.

5. Become a trader! Nine people will trade will their car for a bike through an amazingly transformative experience celebrated through the Tour de Fat car-for-bike ceremony. Want to apply to trade your vehicle for the gift of two wheels? Click here to apply.

6. Did someone say great beer? Tour de Fat offers an opportunity to enjoy New Belgium classics, such as Fat Tire and Citradelic Tangerine IPA, along with more esoteric beers from its Lips of Faith series. It’s also the only place to enjoy Carnie Blood, a beer made in honor of the Tour de Fat Carnies that make this all possible every year! Carnie Blood Vol. 3 is an Imperial Stout brewed with two single-origin cocoas and chicory. Yum!

7. One word – costumes! Tour de Fat is the place to bring out the Halloween costume again, dress as your alter-ego and let your freak flag fly. We like to say if everyone is weird, no one is weird. So start thinking about it now!
 
8. Always wanted to be in a parade? Now you can! Tour de Fat offers costumed bike parades in each city, with rolling closures of city streets. It’s a magical feeling to legally own the road on your bike!

9. The entertainment keeps going and going and going. Once it starts it lasts for about five hours with several venues going at once, filled with variety acts that’ll make you scratch your head, tap your foot and laugh out loud.

10. Do you like to win? We have contests! From a Slow-Ride, to a Fashion Show and even The Bike is Right! Gameshow – Tour de Fat is looking for ways to put you in the show and give away New Belgium cruiser bikes. So start shining up your dance shoes and practice your slow-mo bike riding skills.

“During this off-season we’ve been working on how to make this year stand above the rest. We’ve curated incredible acts for our Sputnik mobile stage, Le Tigre Grande and Grotto stages and then of course our main stage presenting Dr. Dog at some stops makes it an epic year,” said Matt Kowal, Tour de Fat’s Impresario. “The performances are going to be dynamic and super creative, making it the best costumed, free-flowing, bike and beer festival you could attend. We’re stoked to hit the road and see the magic happen.”

This year marks the 17th season for Tour de Fat, which has raised more than $4 million for local non-profits since it all began and close to $650,000 last year alone. The daylong festivities are free in all cities except for Tempe and San Francisco, but all proceeds from beer and merchandise sales, along with parade donations, go to local non-profits.

During each tour stop, New Belgium tries to leave as little of an environmental imprint as possible. The tour hosts green vendors, has compost and recycle stations and festival trucks that operate on biofuel sourced from recycled waste oils.

For the Tour de Fat credo, schedule, videos and to submit an entry to swap your car for a bike, check out NewBelgium.com/TourdeFat. To learn more about New Belgium Brewing, visit NewBelgium.com.
 
About New Belgium Brewing Company 

New Belgium Brewing, makers of Fat Tire Amber Ale and a host of Belgian-inspired beers, is recognized as one of Outside Magazine’s Best Places to Work and one of the Wall Street Journal’s Best Small Businesses. The 100% employee-owned brewery is a Platinum-level Bicycle Friendly Business as designated by the League of American Bicyclists, and one of World Blu’s most democratic U.S. businesses, and a Certified B Corp. In addition to Fat Tire, New Belgium brews thirteen year-round beers; Citradelic Tangerine IPA, Ranger IPA, Rampant Imperial IPA, Shift Pale Lager, Slow Ride Session IPA, Snapshot Wheat, Sunshine Wheat, 1554 Black Ale, Blue Paddle Pilsner, Abbey Belgian Ale and Trippel and a gluten-reduced line, Glutiny Pale Ale and Glutiny Golden Ale. Learn more at www.newbelgium.com.