Time to Listen 2024
An Open Space on Sustainability in Contemporary Music

On 1st and 2nd October, inm / field notes and the Akademie der Künste welcome you to the third part of the “Time to Listen” symposium on sustainability in contemporary music. Through open discussions, artistic interventions and performances, a communal meal and lectures spanning music, politics and science, this year's focus will be on sound-aesthetic approaches to the complex of issues surrounding climate (in)justice.

The climate crisis is global and yet its consequences do not affect everyone equally: countries in the Global South bear the brunt of environmental change, which manifests itself in floods, droughts, crop failures and collapsing ecosystems. Even within different societies, population groups facing discrimination and marginalisation have fewer opportunities to adapt to the effects of climate change, which is why the climate crisis exacerbates social injustice. At the same time, it is precisely these countries and social groups that contribute the least to the climate crisis. Regardless, the voices of those most affected are rarely heard in global climate policy. Instead, countries in the Global North that are responsible for the climate crisis are the ones that set the tone.

Sound and music can play an important role in the transition of our societies to a more just and sustainable future. Through listening practices, we can gain a deeper understanding of our ever-changing environment against the backdrop of climate change and focus our ears on those human and non-human actors that have been overlooked. Sound and music can convey powerful and constructive narratives and shape a collective imagination of our future that is not only environmentally sustainable but also fair and just in a global sense. With this thematic framework, we also build a bridge to previous symposia on decolonisation and diversity in new music.

In a keynote, philosopher Eva von Redecker will present ideas from her book Bleibefreiheit which she describes as an essay on life, death, and swallows. In light of the raging climate crisis and wars that render entire regions uninhabitable, she encourages us to rethink the concept of freedom: as the freedom to live in a place where we could stay.

Over the course of the two-day conference, artists will present their concepts and works through open panels and participatory workshop formats (lecture performances, sound walks, listening sessions, or guided improvisations), addressing the following questions: What responsibility does art have with regard to sustainability, especially in a global context? How can we use sound to negotiate how we want to live together, and who belongs to this “we”? How can contemporary music be used to point out inequalities and raise awareness on the massive damage caused to natural and social systems? What considerations on climate ethics arise in curatorial work? What local responses do we have to global challenges? How do we empower music stakeholders who are geographically or socio-economically disadvantaged? What do sounds mean in our lives, and what can we learn from them? What knowledge and transformation potential lies in music and sound?

After the conference, a digital reader will be created from the selected contributions.

Programme and abstracts at www.field-notes.berlin

Programme on Tuesday, 1 Oct

9:30 am, Foyer
Registration

10 am, Studiofoyer (Studio lobby)
Welcome by Manos Tsangaris, President of the Akademie der Künste
Peter Cusack: “Listening to Climate Change and Making Music Through the Window”
Listening introduction

10:30 am, Studiofoyer
Introduction and collection of topics for Open Sessions by conference hosts Lisa Benjes (inm / field notes) and Julia Gerlach (Akademie der Künste)

11 am
Parallel Sessions

Studiofoyer
Jorge Zurita: “Emerging Nodes (flows from hydro-activism)”
Participative workshop with video score

Clubraum
Futures of Listening: “Curating Water Knowledge”
Listening session and discussion

Besprechungsraum
Danish Climate Network: “Guidelines for institutional and artistic addressing of climate challenges”
Participative workshop

12 pm, Sesselclub
Coffee Break

12:15 pm, Clubraum, Besprechungsraum, Sesselclub
Open Sessions

1 pm, Studiofoyer
hany tea und Cavid Dhen: “rice as food as politics”
Performance

1:30 pm, Studiofoyer
Lunch Break

2:30 pm
Parallel Sessions

Studiofoyer
Nico Daleman: “Cancelling Noise”
Listening session and discussion

Clubraum
Banu Çiçek Tülü: “Inundated: Speculations on Water as a Site and a Paradigm”
Lecture performance with live electronics

Besprechungsraum
Open Panel Discussion: “Best practice and pitfalls in collaborations between art, society and science and intercultural setting”
With Beltràn Gonzalez (composer), Claudia von Hasselt (Frau von Da), Adnan Softić and Nina Softić (Klimaton) and Karen Power (composer), Suk Jun Kim (sound artist and member of Futures of Listening)

3:30 pm
Parallel Sessions

Sesselclub / Salon
Karen Power: “arctic ice speaks through time”
Suk-Jun Kim: “Futures of Listening”
Presentations of the pieces in the sound booth

Clubraum
Alejandra Borea: “Sound recycling: (aesth)ethics of sampling”
Participatory talk and collective listening exercise

Besprechungsraum
Kirsten Reese: “Climate justice learning and teaching”
Introduction to the reader (forthcoming) and participative workshop

4:30 pm, Studiofoyer
Collective summary

5 – 6:30 pm, Eingangsfoyer (Entrance foyer)
Café Climate
Open discussion format about climate (in)justice
With experts Alexandra Nehmer (architectural researcher), Bernhard König (composer, author of the book Musik und Klima), Dr. Carla J. Maier (sound researcher, founder of the “Planetary Listening” collective), Eckhard Roelcke (musicologist, journalist, activist of Letzte Generation), Jovana Popić (anthropologist, artist) and members of the European Alliance of Academies

6 pm, Studiofoyer
Gugulethu Duma: “water ~ wading ~ voice”
Lecture performance

7 pm
Convivial evening

Programme on Wednesday, 2 Oct

9:30 am, Foyer
Registration

10 am, Studiofoyer
Eva von Redecker: “Bleibefreiheit”
Keynote

11 am, Studiofoyer
Talk with Eva von Redecker
Moderation: Reimar Volker (Goethe-Institut)

11:15 am, Sesselclub
Coffee Break

11:30 am
Parallel Sessions

Studiofoyer
Marina Cyrino / Matthias Koole / Angélica Freitas: “Buck Passing”
Performance excerpts an discussion

Clubraum
Nathan Gray: “Listening to Indigenous cultures and extractive industries in Australia’s Northwest”
Listening session and discussion

Glasgang or Besprechungsraum
Álvaro G. Díaz Rodríguez: “The soundscape in the migratory path of The Beast in Mexico”
Presentation of the sound installation

12:30 pm, Clubraum, Besprechungsraum, Sesselclub
Open Sessions

1:15 pm, Studiofoyer
Lunch Break

2:15 pm, Studiofoyer
Ute Wassermann: “Sympoietic vocal practice”
Participative voice performance

2:45 pm, Studiofoyer
Open discussion format: “What considerations on climate ethics arise in artistic and curatorial work?”
Moderation: Sara Walther

4 pm, Studiofoyer
Panel discussion: “Navigating Music Funding with Sustainable Practices”
With Reimar Volker (Goethe-Institut), Gregor Hotz (Musikfonds), Sophie Aumüller (Impuls neue Musik), Björn Gottstein (Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung)
Moderation: Lisa Benjes (inm / field notes)

5 pm, Studiofoyer
Collective summary, closing circle and farewell

Ongoing Sound Booth in the Salon

Futures of Listening: “Curating Water Knowledge”, 60 min
Karen Power: “arctic ice speaks through time”, 60 min
Elsa M'Bala: “Ass Niang Collection”, 60 min

Ongoing Sound Installation in the Glasgang

Álvaro G. Díaz Rodríguez: “The soundscape in the migratory path of The Beast in Mexico”

Selection committee: Lisa Benjes, Julia Gerlach, Amanda Gutierrez, Néstor F. Martínez, Tania Rubio, Iris ter Schiphorst and Sabine Vogel.

The symposium is a co-production of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, and inm / field notes.