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A micro-orchestral clash with an overturned, beaten-up, and suspended piano. For decades, the group has been hacking, abusing, and reinterpreting technologies, patterns, and cultural objects in a musical context. Of course, confronting the piano is a kind of ultimate mission in culture, the end of the road, but also – at least in the Fluxus tradition – a liberating act, fortunately not too grandiose.

The term ‘discombobulator’ refers to an alleged technologically advanced US military sonic device, named by a certain gentleman from Palm Beach, Florida, who refuses to remain anonymous at all costs. Informally, the term can also describe anything that can be misleading or confusing. There are reasonable doubts about the actual existence of this technology, the description of its operation resembles the lore of cheap sci-fi crap from streaming services, and finally, the name was clearly fabricated by someone who very, very much wants to appear intelligent.

The discombobulator is a product of the political scene, which has broken away from any limits of mundane reality and can produce the absurdity it needs without any restrictions – much more freely than, for example, art, which struggles with ethical, intellectual, legal, and resource problems.

Mikro Orchestra are Jarosław Kujda, Paweł Janicki, Małgorzata Kujda, and Tomasz Procków. They debuted in 2001 in Wrocław with a performance at the WRO Media Art Biennale. This one-time experiment turned into a project that was eagerly invited to the largest European art festivals such as Ars Electronica, Transmediale, Club Transmediale, Piemonte Share Festival, FESTA ELETTRONICA, experimentaclub (Madrid), Festival Emergences, EXIT festival (Paris), ENTERmulPmediale (Prague) and many others.

The Mikro Orchestra project has also been the subject of radio and television broadcasts (BBC News, Copernicus, RAI, ARD, Viva Polska, TVP1, RTL2, ARTE) and articles in national and international press (Gazeta Wyborcza, Przekrój, Liberation, El Pais, VOGUE, Glamour, German Max, Wired Magazine, Japanese Art Yard). The group represented Poland during the celebration of the Polish Year in Austria and the Polish Year in France. The group also participated in the American documentary “8 BIT – a documentary about art and video games” and has a number of publications related to contemporary art to its credit.

Vitalina Louis Mahomedova is a young Ukrainian artist who has been a resident at WRO since 2022, where they specialize in creating interactive sound installations and lead Sunday workshops for children. At the WRO Art Center, Louis is developing their interests and skills in robotics, programming and designing interactive media installations under the guidance of Paweł Janicki.