2023
About the Program
DJ culture is an ever-growing and ever-innovating presence in the Netherlands. Echoing through the underground to rising up across the international music scene, the electronic music scene is ever-evolving and always open to new interpretations.
DJ Tobias kicks it back old school at TAIWANfest! Have a listen and vibe along to an all-vinyl DJ set from a veteran Dutch Vancouver turntablist and technoculture curator.
dj_tobias, aka tobias c. van Veen, explores sonic futures of resistance & riddim through performance and installation as a sound artist and techno-turntablist. DJing vinyl since 1993, tobias’ style is marked by the cut-up & non-linear mixing styles of future techno and house, from the Afrofuturist sounds of Detroit to 21st century minimal, electro, and dub.
Hailing from the West Coast of Turtle Island, tobias is founding electronic music curator of New Forms Festival, former curator at the Society for Arts and Technology (SAT) in Montréal, and an early instigator of underground techno events combining performance and media arts. A pivotal figure in Canada’s evolving technoculture, he has collaborated and played with Tim Hecker, dub gnostic, Cobblestone Jazz, Sutekh, Kit Clayton, and Loscil, among others, and has held residencies at Laïka, SAT, and with Colin the Mole and DJ Fishead.
Tobias has released six albums of experimental electronic music, working with Tomas Phillips, Katherine Kline, Martijn Comes, Matthijs Vincent Kouw, and Richard Chartier, and he is the offworld director of label IO SOUND [iosound.ca]. He currently DJs on Twitch at twitch.tv/pandemixDJs as part of DARKViBE THERAPY and the Birdcage Radio crew, including live tag teams with @djproBEN in Los Angeles, and serves on the Board for Garden City Electronic Music Society [gcems.ca]. tobias holds doctorates in Philosophy and Communication Studies from McGill University, and he is series editor of Afrofuturist Studies & Speculative Arts at Lexington Books [afrofuturiststudies.org].
From the Curating Team
Curating community performances at TAIWANfest is like painting a self-portrait, constantly questioning Taiwanese culture's role in a Canadian festival. With these community performances, we aim to foster cross-cultural dialogue and break down ethnic barriers, highlighting Canada’s diverse society.
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Performance / Vendor / Sponsorship Opportunities
TAIWANfest Vancouver is grateful to be held on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam Indian Band), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish Nation), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation). We acknowledge our privilege to be gathered here, and commit to work with and be respectful to the Indigenous peoples of this land while we engage in meaningful conversations of culture and reconciliation.