10 YEARS FORMS OF HANDS

Laborneun, namely Andre, Claudia and Michael organized performances and events in Thuringia area in 2001. As one example, the Vidna Obmana gig in the cave of Weimar Park may be mentioned. Please find more details on www.laborneun.de.
After getting in contact with Udo of HANDS at one of these concerts the idea of a label-specific festival was born. By referring to one of the early tape compilations out on HANDS entitled „Forms“ the name for this festival was found: „Forms of Hands“

First FORMS OF HANDS festival took place in Arnstadt, Thuringia in 2001 and was organized at „Historisches Bahnbetriebswerk“ – an amazing site with two big and old steam-trains next to the stage. It was to become our location for the annual festivals in 2001, 2002 and 2003.

Since the beginning the festival has been a two-day event. In the first two years nine artists had played, their numbers afterwards rising to 12 artists, and even 14 in 2010. The live-acts have been complemented by DJs. In 2003, Karsten joined Laborneun and Andre quit in 2005. So, since then Claudia, Karsten, and Michael have organized and hosted FORMS OF HANDS as Laborneun, being supported by HANDS label.

As mentioned above, in 2004 a change took place. Laborneun still has its headquarters in Thuringia, but now has an outpost in Northrhine-Westphalia – in Essen in the Ruhrarea, to be exact. From then on FORMS OF HANDS was held in Gladbeck, at the Maschinenhalle Zweckel of old Zweckel mine. With support from the city of Gladbeck and the owner of the building, the Stiftung Industriedenkmalpflege und Geschichtskultur it was possible to rent this great hall. Just have a look at our old flyers from the years 2004-2009 to see which bands played each year’s festival.

The festival has grown over the years and has included some nice specials like an installation of Schachtanlage Gegenort, or the chill-out area hosted by Audiophob. Carsten, Mirko and the hands label itself, annually book the DJs for this area. Carsten also is the VJ for FORMS OF HANDS, and investing lots of effort in the live visuals. The main hall also features djs to make for an introduction to each evening, spin tracks between the artists and make an aftershow-party happen. Another special is the exclusive festival compilation. From the beginning on, HANDS label released a limited compilation, on which you can find a track from every performing artist. Also an annual festival shirt was released since 2007.
Last but not least we began to present one artist each year with an extended performance. These sets of more than 90 minutes length allow for things you usually cannot listen to on other shows or festivals.

In the year 2010 we are happy and proud, that we have been able to continue with FORMS OF HANDS over 10 years now. After all, we had not wanted to change the location for our anniversary, of course, but we had to, since sometimes you haven’t got a choice. We found a new location, which is quite close and also adequate: GRUBENAUSBAUWERKSTATT MARL of Zeche Auguste Victoria. It is a historical monument of the mining industry, again. So we can offer continuity as well as change. This time we can present you more artists then ever for our anniversary; in total 14 artists in 2 days, as well as 2 great dj-battles.

FORMS OF HANDS has always been a lot of fun for us, even though there is a lot of work to be done every year. Finally the festival would not have been possible without all the people who have helped us. So, we think our anniversary is a good opportunity to come to a brief halt and reflect.
Thanks a lot to all the helping hands over the years – in total more then 50 different persons, too many to mention them all. Everything was possible only because of all the people who have helped us in their free time, taken their days off for us, and come here to the festival from all over Germany.

Thanks a lot to the whole crew and team, the artists, the djs, media, HANDS, and finally to our visitors from all over the world who have supported us all the years by being our guests! We hope that FORMS OF HANDS is some kind of coming home every year for you as it is for us, with meeting friends and celebrating the music.

See you at our anniversary

Laborneun and HANDS

P.S.: Feel free to leave a message in our guestbook