Workshop/ Seminar at Udk Berlin
2 Blocks, Fridays 14-20 h, Saturdays, 10-16:30 h: 7./8.6.2024 and 14./15.6.2024
“The most basic musical experience is the absence of music” (John Cage)
Over the centuries, Western culture has attempted to divide and classify the audible into sounds and music. Ordinary noises and everyday sounds, which were perceived as neither disturbing nor musical, were usually not the focus of interest. The sound of our urban environment is usually unconsciously ignored. A kind of “auditory amnesia” can be observed – we are experts in the practice of listening away. Nevertheless, the acoustic environment shapes and influences the way we experience, feel and think.
The workshop will focus on our urban sound environment and its auditory qualities, with a particular interest in its musical properties and the relationship between sound and space. Can our urban sound environment also be used as musical material, or is it just noise and a negation of the Western sound system? How can its rhythms, tonalities, sound textures and timbres be consciously perceived and used in artistic practice? How can we develop a language to talk about the acoustic environment?
For our artistic research we use soundwalks, work with field recordings, listening exercises, the creation of mind maps. The workshop does not require any special prerequisites and is open to all interested parties.