The theme of the 2012 Borealis festival is "Protest", with all commissions and events being discussed and developed with this in mind. The act of protesting is of course central to post- Enlightenment Western political and social dynamics. And as continues to been demonstrated throughout the Middle East, North Africa and to some, as yet, small extent against capitalism in the West, the need for human beings to protest in the face of injustice can be stronger than even the most repressive or insidious political regimes.

However, the relationship between art - and music in particular - and protest, has always been a difficult one. The slogans around which any protest, be it revolutionary or reactionary, revolves, are, for the most part, too blunt as tools from which successfully subtle artworks can be wrought. But this very 'problem' can also function as the grain of sand, the 'impurity' around which new and precious ideas can form. The relationship between protest and music, then, remains a difficult one, but it is this very difficulty that also makes it a rich and interesting subject for exploration at Borealis 2012.