2024 roundup
2024 has been a bit of a rollercoaster, but I want to focus on the positive aspects here. Firstly, I would like to thank Ben Eshmade and Daylight Music, as well as Mich Leemans at Ancienne Belgique, for giving me the opportunity to curate Sonic Pieces showcases as part of their concert series. It was a beautiful and memorable way to celebrate the label’s 15th anniversary, and in particular the last event at The Hot Tin in Faversham, UK, was magical.
Also a big thank you to Raúl Pastor Medall for collaborating on a third solo album for Sonic Pieces and furthermore for taking me to his mum’s country house in Castellón, Spain – the place where he grew up and which provided the imagery for “Limestone Gravitas”, the publication that accompanies his new record. It was a truly special moment to be there together, compiling the book and working on the layout.
In general, I really enjoyed continuing the mi – so editions art book series and, in addition to “Limestone Gravitas”, I worked on two more publications during the year. At the beginning of 2024, I completed “Poetry” with Frank Schültge (F.S.Blumm), a collection of his drawings that we had already started working on in 2023. And it was a pleasure to collaborate with Morgan Cuinet on a publication as well as exhibition of a series of his collages entitled “Ekotopia”.
I’m grateful for all the amazing in-store concerts we’ve had at mi – so this year. And while they were all special in their own way, the mini-residency with Peter Broderick at the end of October definitely stood out. It somehow added another layer to the experience, almost spiritual. And it was wonderful to see Peter again after many years and even play a round of Carcassonne like in the old days.
We also continued our exhibition series at mi – so and I very much enjoyed being more involved in the curation. What was new was that sometimes small details or objects remained after the exhibition ended. Thanks to Franziska Lutze, we were able to refine our space with some colour accents. And we started displaying and selling pieces by ceramic artist Deborah Metherell. Her porcelain is simply beautiful and fits perfectly with our aesthetics.
Last but not least, heartfelt thanks to everyone who has supported us this year by purchasing our releases or a piece of art, visiting our shop or attending an event, as well as everyone who has written about us or our releases or supported us in other ways. Without you, what we do would not be possible!
– Monique Recknagel, December 2024