First things first: No, Björk is not coming back. But Day for Night will return to Post HTX, the 1.5 million square foot repurposed downtown post office, for an expanded three-day festival December 15-17 that continues to defy traditional labels. It's not a "music festival," although, for the 2017 edition, everyone from Nine Inch Nails to Tyler, The Creator to St Vincent to Solange to Thom Yorke to James Blake will descend upon Houston. It's not an "arts festival," but there will be loads of site-specific art from folks like Ekene Ijeoma, Kyle McDonald and Ryoji Ikeda. The three-year-old festival—a partnership of Free Press Houston and New York-based creative agency Work-Order—is just itself, a welcome sensory overload prepared to inject the festival-fallow winter season with some much needed heat. 

For 2017, the Day for Night folks decided to tack on an auxiliary event billed as a "summit," collecting a hodgepodge of artists and activists for a Friday speaking series. Naturally, it's wall-to-wall heavy hitters: LGBTQ activist Chelsea Manning; avant garde artist and musician Laurie Anderson; Putin-hating musician and activist Nadya Tolokonnikova (Pussy Riot); and tech artist Lauren McCarthy. Special performances by angelic souls such as Solange and Earl Sweatshirt will cap off the Friday summit. The speaker portion is a separate ticketed event, but the lineup makes it just as impressive as the "regular" festival; after all, as the press release puts it, "At the Day for Night Summit, we will all be participants in shaping our collective future," which is definitely something you want to be part of.

The release also described the expanded 2017 festival as the "beginning" of a longterm plan to explode Day for Night to become a multi-venue, five-day event. Considering the sprawling, impressive lineup listed below, we're curious to see how they'll manage to one-up themselves in years to come. Tickets are available here, with 2-day passes starting at $205.

Musical Acts

Nine Inch Nails, Thom Yorke, Justice, St. Vincent, Tyler, The Creator, James Blake, Pretty Lights, Jamie XX, Phantogram, Pussy Riot, The Jesus Lizard, Laurie Anderson, REZZ, Nina Kraviz, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Cashmere Cat, Cardi B, Perfume Genius, Sky Ferreira, Gas, En Vogue, Lil B, Of Montreal performing Hissing Fauna You Are The Destroyer, Venetian Snares X Daniel Lanois, Princess Nokia, Kimbra, Mount Kimbie, Corbin, Shlohmo, The Album Leaf, G Jones, Forest Swords, Babyfather, Dj Tennis, Tim Hecker, Shabazz Palaces, Andy Stott, Jessy Lanza, Jlin, Priests, Bjarki, Roni Size, Demdike Stare, Saro, Rabit x House of Kenzo, B L A C K I E, Marcus Marr, Hoodcelebrityy, Faten Kanaan, True American, Pearl Crush, Deep Cuts, Tyler Barber, N N O A, Santa Muerte, Kona Fm, Anitra, Narcons, Acid Jeep, XLX, Miguel Flaco, Collin Hedrick, Saul Williams, BOOTS, Jenny Hval, and Saint Heron Presents: “Soul Cleansing” Featuring Solange, Earl Sweatshirt, and Kaytranada

Visual Artists

Ryoji Ikeda, Matthew Schreiber, Conditional Studio + Processing Foundation, James Clar, Felicie D'Estienne D'Orves, Kyle McDonald, Ryoichi Kurokawa, Radio Soulwax, VT Pro, The Mill, Hovver, Playmodes, Theodore Fivel, Ekene Ijeoma, Cocolab, Sam Cannon, Vincent Moon and Priscilla Telmon, and Lina Dib

Summit Speakers

Chelsea Manning, Laurie Anderson, Nadya Tolokonnikova (Pussy Riot), Lauren McCarthy