A live set by the band Gurun Gurun right at the Rudolfinum Gallery. The performance is part of the Art Sounds program accompanying the exhibition Crested/mâcistan.

From the very beginning, it’s clear that coming to terms with the music of the band Gurun Gurun and finding a way to describe it isn’t exactly easy. Is it even a band? Do they play finished compositions, or is everything based on improvisation? On stage, you see four men bent over tables full of strange objects, hard-to-identify electronic devices, musical and non-musical instruments, and a tangle of cables, as they create slowly shifting soundscapes that straddle the line between melody, noise, and subtle vocal layers.

Just like the exhibition Crested/mâcistan at the Rudolfinum Gallery, where bodies and objects intersect with elemental natural forces and changing weather, Gurun Gurun’s live sets are a mix of metamorphosed acoustic and electronic sounds, post-club deconstruction, generative music, and musique concrète.

“Listening to the Czech experimental electronic quartet Gurun Gurun is like traveling in a tinkling spaceship powered by a clockwork mechanism, without knowing where you’ll land.” (The Wire)

Gurun Gurun frequently collaborate with other like-minded musicians, particularly on their recordings. Their eponymous debut, released on the Home Normal label, features guest appearances by singers Sawako and Moskitoo, while their second album, *Kon B*, features Cuushe, Cokiya, and Miko. In recent years, they have also collaborated with Danish producer Opiate and viola da gamba players Irena and Vojtěch Havl.

The quartet performs throughout Europe and Japan; they have played, for example, at London’s Café Oto and shared the stage with Haco, Bitchin’ Bajas, Michael Gira, Carl Stone, Tim Hecker, and Hatis Noit. Their latest album to date, *Uzu Oto* (Buh Records), was also recorded during concerts, with each track recorded at a different show. Nevertheless, Gurun Gurun do not consider it a typical live album. *Uzu Oto* features guest appearances by singer Cuushe and sound artist Asuna. The LP cover is the work of visual artist and sound anarchist Petr Válek.

The Art Sounds project was created through a collaboration between the Rudolfinum Gallery and the Czech Philharmonic as part of the accompanying program for the exhibitions Zhanna Kadyrova: UNEXPECTED and Antony Gormley / Pavla Melková. With the exhibitions Poetics of Encryption, Kateřina Vincourová Skin Care and Sahej Rahal: Beyond the City of Time brought contemporary experimental and electronic music directly to the Rudolfinum Gallery’s exhibition. Now it returns once again as part of the exhibition’s accompanying program Crested/mâcistan: Tanya Lukin Linklater and Duane Linklater.