Ever-so-slick hotel brand W is no stranger to overlapping with the music world. They’ve already flipped the script of a typical music with their roaming Wake Up Call festival (you can check our recap of the Bali leg HERE), and many of their properties feature bespoke music studios for visiting artists (and guests).
Now they’re steady building up another side of their music industry connections, for the second year linking up with Mixcloud to host a creative platform at various W’s around the world, dubbed Future Rising. You can think of it as a good ol’ fashioned band comp, in a similar vein to what their sister brand Aloft does with Project: Aloft Star, but you’d only be half right.
Sticking to W’s ‘done differently’ vibe, Future Rising is a platform that brings together rising talent from both the worlds of music and visual art, fusing the two to present immersive audio-visual experiences that celebrate a sense of place and tease out every inch of creativity within the participating individuals.
“Music has been integral to the W brand since its inception. W Hotels is committed to supporting future creative leaders and immersive experiences for our guests through our shared passions, including music,” said Bruce Ryde, Vice President, Luxury Brands and Brand Marketing Asia Pacific, Marriott International. “Our continuation of partnership with Mixcloud is just one of the ways to bring the brand’s new/next vision to life for travellers around the world and connect them with this cult of talent present in the distinct locations selected for this year”.
For this year, Future Rising will task all participating artists with really exploring their respective city’s spirit, co-creating an audio-visual performance for guests that will premiere at each event. For example, the first event at W Guangzhou will team Beijing-based singer and rapper Lexie Liu with interdisciplinary artist Adrian Yu, who is best known for exploring Asian-American identity through site-specific installations. Those in attendance at the event, which is tonight (Friday 20th September), will bear witness to the unique output from these two individuals.
Similar events will roll out at W Bangkok (Thursday 26th September), W Goa (Friday 18th October), W Kuala Lumpur (Thursday 7th November), and finally W Brisbane (Friday 15th November). The latter, a debut for Future Rising on Australian soil, will see Canberra’s wildly experimental rapper Genesis Owusu (check him out below) teamed with art collective Tszuj who are known for light-based installations, stage designs and live animation.
If you’re over in any of these cities on the above dates, make sure you’re RSVP’ing ahead of time to attend Future Rising. More information can be found at futurerisingnow.com.
