Chelsea Manning to speak at Moogfest as music festival highlights female, binary and transgender artists

Chelsea Manning will take part in a keynote conversation about technology during Moogfest, to be held May 17-20 in downtown Durham.

Manning, who was born a man and served with the U.S. Army as an intelligence analyst under the name Bradley Edward Manning, was court-martialed and pleaded guilty — or was convicted — on 27 charges related to leaking classified intelligence documents. She was sentenced to 35 years at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Her sentence was commuted by President Barack Obama earlier this year after she had been incarcerated for near seven years, including time while awaiting trial.

Also joining next year’s festival will be LCD Soundsystem synth experimentalist Gavin Rayna Russom, theremin virtuoso Armen Ra, SOPHIE, Kuwaiti conceptual artist Fatima Al Qadiri, Afrofuturist DJ Maliibu Miitch, and the U.S. debut of Japanese multi-instrumentalist Midori Takada.

Wednesday’s announcement was celebrated by “Always On,” a 50-hour livestream with continuous performances from female, transgender, and non-binary electronic artists and beatmakers. The livestream began at noon Wednesday. To watch the stream, go to http://AlwaysOn.Live.

Presale festival passes are available at moogfest.com.

Representatives from Moogfest will be at Motorco Parts & Labor Wednesday, Dec. 6 from 6 to 9 p.m. to celebrate the lineup release. Durham “found sound” producer AWAYMSG will perform.

Moogfest relocated from Asheville to Durham in 2016. The festival features live performances, discussions, art exhibits and installations, and demonstrations of instruments and sound equipment. Featured artists have included Laurie Anderson, Suzanne Ciani and Michael Stipe.

This story was originally published December 6, 2017 at 12:16 PM with the headline "Chelsea Manning to speak at Moogfest as music festival highlights female, binary and transgender artists."