Report: »Time to Listen« 2025

Introduction

With the fourth edition of the Time to Listen conference, the Akademie der Künste and inm – field notes continued to explore the issue of sustainability in contemporary music, placing a special emphasis on transnational networks and cooperation.  

This theme was brought to the fore through a 2024 meeting in Donaueschingen initiated by our cooperation partners Lydia Rilling (Donaueschinger Musiktage) and Sophie Aumüller (Impuls Neue Musik), the goal of which was to develop a network through which a wide range of production-level collaborations could take place between big institutions and independent actors alike. Simultaneously, we worked in close collaboration with a variety of festivals and musicians from the Nordic countries, where we were able to observe similar projects in action: new forms of transnational partnerships and co-production networks between festivals, composers, and ensembles; initiatives through which whole regions were connected by cross-border artistic networks; promising digital approaches helping keep artists mobile.

These parallel developments across varying parts of Europe confirm the relevance of our theme: transnational networks bring together ethical, political, and productive concerns while directly tying in to our core focus of sustainability. After all, working towards sustainability is about developing collaborative, collective approaches oriented at the common good as well as how new forms of collaboration can aid in resource sharing, which concepts of sustainable mobility are realizable, and how we can best support one another.

From the beginning, we were aware that there are already many networks in place working day and night towards these goals, and we knew we could learn a lot from them. With this in mind, it was important to us that we include this work in the conference. We wanted to be sure that as we build new networks, we leave seats at the table, not just for big festivals and institutions, but for independent actors—from cultural hubs as well as rural areas, from the so-called “center” as well as the “periphery”—in equal measure.

The starting point for our conference has been the same from the beginning: the desire to create a non-hierarchical space in which debate, knowledge transfer, and collective learning is open to all those who participate in contemporary music—for composers and musicians as well as researchers, curators, and other interested visitors. Given the openness to transformation required by these major questions of our time, the Open Spaces format, in which agendas and motivating questions are collectively developed on site, seemed to us like the right approach in that it takes into account how much knowledge is already present within the New Music scene.

The enthusiastic response to our Open Call showed just how engaged this scene is with these issues. The artistic advisory board, which consisted of our cooperation partners Lydia Rilling (Donaueschinger Musiktage) and Sophie Aumüller (Impuls neue Musik) as well as Tuuli Lindeberg (Northern Connection, Musica nova Helsinki) and Tania Rubio (Acoustic Ecology Lab), had the difficult task of selecting from a long list of excellent contributions those which best reflected the broad spectrum of themes encompassed by the conference‘s main emphasis. Many of the projects chosen were presentations on existing networks, while others concerned artistic network projects that reveal collective processes in action. The qualities associated with this theme were expressed not only through discussion, but also through sound in the form of a concert and performance.

The conference made clear to us that transnational networks are more than just organizational tools: they are expressions of an artistic and communal ethos and can open up possibilities for solidarity, shared responsibility, and sustainable practice. At the same time, it also became clear that we live in a time in which conflicts over values and diverging political positions have made coming together a difficult task. These tensions occasionally came to the surface at the conference and were felt not least in the dialogue between independent actors and institutions.

Against this backdrop the conference takes on special importance as a forum for exchange, negotiation, and mutual understanding. We look forward to continuing the conversation in 2026 with two issues in mind:

Time to Listen (June 26–27, 2026) invites us to extend the idea of listening and making music to non-human actors: animals, plants, rivers, ecosystems, and technologies are to be understood as sonic partners. In lectures, discussions, and performances, we will explore ways to decouple listening and music-making from anthropocentrism and to bring these practices further into an ecologically and sonically networked world. The conference is part of SPREEKLÄNGE, a festival for contemporary music along the Spree River (June 25–28, 2026), and is being developed in collaboration with composer and scientist Liza Lim, who heads the research project “Multispecies Creativity and Climate Communication” at the University of Sydney.

A second edition of Time to Listen will follow on October 5, 2026, continuing where the conference on transnational networks and collaborations left off. This time, the focus will be on independent ensembles: their central role in contemporary music production, their mediating position between composers and festivals, their often informal but sustainable networks, and the conditions that shape their work and collaborations. The conference is being organized in collaboration with Musikfonds e.V., which is marking the conclusion of the FEB-4 funding program for independent ensembles and bands, as well as Impuls neue Musik.

Until next time,

Lisa Benjes und Julia Gerlach

DAY 1

Warm-up: open network forum

To start off the conference, Fanny (Executive Director of Music Biennale Zagreb) and Peter Brownell (Coach) got the participants of “Time to Listen” 2025 thinking about the conference’s main themes. What is a network, and what role do I play in them? What does power mean, and what are the limits of what’s possible? With these questions, the exchange can begin. After a deliberately brief introduction to all the participating networks, the workshops, discussions, open sessions, and panels get started.

Participating networks:

• Acoustic Ecology Lab (Tania Rubio)
• Baltic Contemporary Music Network (Mykolas Natalevičius, Rolands Kronlaks, Mantautas Krukauskas)
• EM Guide (Roberto Beseler Maxwell, Gabriella Gál, Verena Hahn)
• Europäische Allianz der Akademien (Iris ter Schiphorst)
• Futurs Composés (Grégoire Lorieux)
• Heroines of Sound (Bettina Wackernagel)
• International Association of Music Information Centres (Doris Weberberger)
• Konstmusiksystrar (Anna Jakobsson)
• Nexus Netzwerk / Frequenz Festival Kiel (Sherif El Razzaz)
• Northern Connection (Tuuli Lindeberg, Musica nova Helsinki)
• SHAPE+ (CTM)
• Sounds Now (Heloisa Amaral, Ultima Festival)
• Sound SIG Group (Salomé Voegelin und Anthea Caddy)
• Tone List / Audible Edge Festival (Josten Myburgh)
• Toolkit of Care, a European COST research network (Magda Mayas)
• ULYSSES Network (Heloisa Amaral, Ultima Festival)
• Unrelated Narrations

EM GUIDE – A network of independent music magazines | Presentation and discussion

Gabriella Gál, Verena Hahn, Roberto Beseler Maxwell

What does the contemporary music scene need? Reporting and documentation. That is the classic task of music journalism, but it is in crisis: everything is lacking. Declining advertising, rising printing costs, readers' unwillingness to financially support online formats, competition from video: independent music journalism is in danger of not only sinking into insignificance, but disappearing completely. EM GUIDE shows how this niche can its resources, as well as how transnational cooperation can work in practice. As international as music journalism may seem, it is the local that makes the difference. And what has a local impact is also relevant beyond national borders. Six European magazines currently work together in the EM GUIDE network, exchanging articles, making translations, and organizing joint events. The goal: to represent the European music scene, in all its diversity, with the highest standards.

Three initiators, Gabriella Gál (Kulturmanagerin, Budapest), Verena Hahn (On Cologne) and Roberto Beseler Maxwell (Gesellschaft für neue Musik Ruhr), presented on the challenges and opportunities of this work. The most important findings from the first project phase:

• Transnational cooperation opens up new opportunities

• The reach of individual media outlets should not be taken as an indication of relevance

• Cooperation must be managed on a case-by-case basis

• Texts cannot be localized on a one-to-one basis: they always require integration

• New concepts are needed to promote music journalism

In the first funding phase of EM GUIDE, around 300 articles were shared and published in various media outlets. This success, however, raises questions. How important is it that individual media outlets publish content with a distinct identity or style? Are new approaches possible here? This is precisely what the second phase of the project is all about, the funding for which has not yet been decided on by the EU. Through a software-based platform, coordinating texts is already possible. The next step could be to plan and implement content jointly. With urgent issues such as sustainability, diversity, and digital work in mind, this actually presents an opportunity to create a network that maintains Europe’s information culture.

Live Coding Networks – A personal journey through transnational systems and feminist decentralization | Presentation and Discussion

Alexandra Cárdenas

The session focused on networked live coding from the perspective of Colombian composer and live coder Alexandra Cárdenas, who guided participants through the technical, aesthetic, and collaborative aspects of this practice. Cárdenas began by explaining how open platforms and collaboratively developed tools enable decentralized and cross-border collaboration. Using various examples—including OFFAL, Shared Buffer, Livecodera, Estuary, and Flok—she showed how such systems have been contributing to the realization of collective musical processes in real time, as well as to the establishment of new forms of interaction.

Another point of focus was the communication channels used by the global live coding community. Cárdenas traced a process of development that began with mailing lists and IRC and later shifted to Slack and Discord as well as today's federated networks. She emphasized that this infrastructure is not only a functional organizational tool, but has a decisive influence on the social structure and openness of the scene as well.

The lecture-performance was accompanied by audiovisual examples illustrating the functionality and aesthetics of networked live coding setups. Finally, Cárdenas and members of the Livecodera collective presented a short performance in Estuary, in which the possibilities of this collaborative platform could be experienced firsthand. The audience was invited to co-code and become part of the emerging network of sound, code, and interaction.

Green Mobility – Networks for ecological mobility concepts

| Podium discussion

With Elie Peuvrel (Nachhaltigkeitsbeauftragter der AdK), Clemens Hund-Göschel (Zafraan Ensemble), Sherif El Razzaz (Frequenz Festival Kiel), Jakob Fraisse (jazzahead! - Green Mobility); Moderation: Sophie Aumüller

Networks are also playing an increasingly important role in the touring business, not least because they enable greater sustainability. Are there opportunities for better cooperation between artists, agencies, and venues? Various stakeholders with extensive experience discussed this topic during the panel. Jakob Fraisse from the Bremen-based jazzahead! festival stated that sustainability has been a mandatory constant for the event organizers for many years. Sherif El Razzaz from the Kiel-based Frequenz Festival added that the broader region plays an important role in his work. He said that exchanges with other organizers are well worth having and that they enable follow-up gigs for artists who play at the festival—including in neighboring countries. Clemens Hund-Göschel from the Zafraan Ensemble reported from the artists' perspective: In recent years, the ten-member ensemble has made efforts to reduce its travel activities, even using methods that may seem unconventional at first glance: only two members were often sent on international projects, for example. This reduces the ensemble’s carbon footprint, but also promotes artistic collaboration. For Elie Peuvrel, the AdK's sustainability officer, these issues are omnipresent, and require sensitivity from everyone, including the audience.

How can the idea of networking be integrated into everyday touring life? In Bremen, Jazzhead has established a platform for this: Cooprog. A map-based view displays artist’s gigs. Other promoters can see which acts are touring the region, when they have a day off, and when they can play an additional concert. This not only makes tours more efficient, but also shortens the distances between gigs. Sherif El Razzaz welcomes the idea, which is already part of his everyday work: for his festival, he works closely with the five northern German states to enable musicians to play more shows. The associated platform is already online. For him, one thing is certain: networks must be about pooling resources. Sustainability is cultural funding in action. And speaking of funding: everyone agreed that this too needs to be better pooled. The once seductive and identity-forming idea of a premier in only one place or at only one festival is not sustainable. Instead, organizers need to work together right from the project planning stage and enable joint productions. This comes at the expense of exclusivity, but ultimately makes more possible.

Accessibility of Networks (Katharina Ortmann) merged with Creating Networks with society / public: audience-artist-network (Claudia van Hasselt)

In this open session, several participants discussed accessibility and networking in the contemporary music scene. The starting point was the question of what experiences the participants had had with networks, what needs existed, and how cultural managers could support the connection between the artistic scene and decision-makers.

A central topic was the visibility of small, low-budget organizations that organize workshops and networks in cities such as Munich. The scene there is lively, but less visible than in Berlin or Cologne. Many ensembles and young musicians exist without being sufficiently noticed. Musikbüromuc tries to promote professionalism, strengthen exchanges with neighboring cities, and develop the local scene.

The historical and current status of networking tools was also discussed. In the past, there were online maps for free improvisation and contemporary music on which active venues and organizers could be found. Today, such tools exist only in fragments, often as isolated online groups. Web platforms such as emus.space in Sydney show that central databases can be useful for using resources efficiently and reducing the ecological footprint of concert tours.

Participants expressed their desire to build such overviews for the whole world. One problem, however, is the enormous administrative effort involved. The participants described the ideal of a “Dream Team Agency”—a collective, non-exclusive management structure that shares contacts, arranges performance opportunities, and provides trustworthy support. Such a model could strengthen the scene in the long term. Comparable structures exist in the visual arts, such as the “Saloon” collective for female artists, which connects local groups and facilitates international networks.

Another focus of the discussion was the direct involvement of the audience. Examples from Brandenburg, Berlin, Yucatán, and Kurdistan showed how participatory projects, workshops, and integrative concerts can promote sustainable communities. According to the participants, it is particularly important to involve people directly and respond to their local conditions, rather than expecting them to come to the artists. It was emphasized that contemporary music as a label often creates barriers, but for those involved, artistic practice is what’s important, not the category under which it falls.

Participants also reflected on hierarchy in networks. Flat structures encourage participation, but at the same time, there is a need for leaders who can oversee larger contexts and take on long-term responsibility. Flexible organizational forms, rotating teams, the involvement of non-musicians to lighten the administrative workload, and membership models that can help to systematically expand networks were also discussed.

Overall, the session showed that networks in contemporary music grow through personal relationships, collective organization, transparent administration, and participatory approaches. Visibility, exchange, and sustainable structures do not arise solely through formal institutions, but through continuous cooperation based on trust and the active involvement of local and international communities.

Feminist networks in contemporary music

With Rosanna Lovell & Stellan Veloce

In their session, musicians, composers, and networkers Rosanna Lovell and Stellan Veloce first gave participants an overview of existing feminist music networks in Europe. Even without claiming to be exhaustive, this provided an impressive picture of representation and organization. They then highlighted the key characteristics needed to work sustainably and successfully. From obvious essentials (creating spaces) to the seemingly unimportant (a memorable name creates a sense of belonging and attracts attention) to setting parameters (inclusivity and sustainability), a step-by-step guide to success was developed, focusing above all on collaboration and network-driven exchange. Three topics were central to this:

•    Funding

•    Access

•    Aesthetics

In all three areas, it is important to work together. Competition for funding must be a thing of the past—instead, it is about exploiting synergies. Access to networks must be thought of in more universal terms. However, the biggest hurdles to even better collaboration are aesthetic definitions and demarcations. Here, it is important to be open. After all, institutional funding is still often decided based on precisely these criteria. This is neither sustainable nor forward-thinking. New formats, challenges, and attitudes require us to continuously question our own ideas.

Digital approaches to transnational cooperation – Tourbus Projekt

Brandon Farnsworth

In his presentation, Brandon Farnsworth introduced the Tourbus Project, a data-driven research project that investigates how digital traces of live music can be used to better understand and design tour planning, international collaborations, and festival programs. Farnsworth began by introducing himself and explaining that his perspective is strongly influenced by his previous experiences: he is currently a researcher at Lund University in Sweden, will soon be moving to Rennes in France, and has previously lived for extended periods in Berlin and other German-speaking countries, including Zurich. This background explains his awareness of different cultural contexts and the way music, especially experimental music, is categorized and discussed. The project deliberately focuses on the Nordic cultural context in order to highlight the challenges there, but it is also intended to provide impetus for other regions.

The core objective of the Tourbus project is to collect and analyze digital traces of live music, such as concert announcements, festival programs, and event calendars, in order to make networks of artists, venues, and festivals transparent. Farnsworth emphasized that networking in the music scene is often a major hurdle, as it is traditionally difficult to get an overview of who is performing when and where. This is exactly where the project comes in: by systematically collecting and analyzing these digital traces, large-scale patterns can be identified that go beyond individual case studies.

As part of a pilot project carried out in collaboration with Art Music Denmark, Farnsworth collected data from the websites of Danish and Swedish festivals, venues, and artists. Around 500,000 websites were trawled, starting with 400 homepages. The information obtained about venues, dates, artists, roles, and ensembles was processed using the self-developed software Tourbus and transferred to a network that visualizes artistic collaborations and tour activities. The methodology was based on actor-network theories: instead of having fixed ideas about who counts as a musician or performer, Farnsworth allowed the structures and communities to emerge from the data itself. This made it possible to adequately map the flexible and dynamic roles of artists, especially in the field of experimental music.

The analysis of the pilot project yielded data on around 160,000 artists and 50,000 groups or ensembles. After data cleaning and manual checking, Farnsworth focused on analyzing venues, as these represent more stable entities and duplicates could be better taken into account. This identified around 1,200 different venues in the Nordic region, ranging from large concert halls and museums to bars and community centers in rural areas. As expected, the spatial distribution showed high densities in urban centers such as Copenhagen and Stockholm, but also revealed a wide dispersion across rural regions.

A key benefit of the project lies in the reconstruction and representation of artist networks as well as cross-border mobility patterns. Farnsworth demonstrated how communities were identified within the data by grouping together venues that share many of the same artists and visualizing the flows between countries, for example through chord diagrams that show connections between countries based on joint performances.This analysis not only provides new insights into international networks of cooperation, but can also help in the evaluation of policy measures which aim to promote musician mobility.

Finally, Farnsworth discussed the implications of the project for music distribution and control over data. The presentation introduced the idea of designing digital infrastructure to benefit artists rather than maximizing profits for platform operators. This opens up opportunities for sustainable tour planning, such as slow, climate-friendly tours along train connections, as well as for targeted interventions to strengthen representation and solidarity within music. Overall, the Tourbus project shows how digital tools and data analysis can be used to promote networking, visibility, and self-determination for artists in an international context.

Sonic Fragilities | Lecture-Performance

Laura Mello und Steffi Weismann (Errant Sound)

The concept of networking is also present in performance. This applies not only to collaboration between musicians, but also between performers and venues. After all, the location of a performance also influences artistic practice. Laura Mello and Steffi Weismann—both part of Errant Sound—began their session at “Time to Listen” with a performance of the composition “Sonic Fragilities,” which the two composers deconstructed and re-contextualized at the Akademie der Künste. The work was originally performed at Floating Berlin, a retention basin for rainwater near the former Berlin Tempelhof Airport. A total of 13 sound artists have performed at the site, providing a study of collaboration and engagement with the location: individual works were combined on site and brought to life. This work demonstrated how important a network, i.e. collaboration, really is—in paying joint attention to the location, but also in the interaction between the participants.

The performance of this recomposed study focused on participation: the musicians stretched wires across the auditorium, between which cardboard boxes were suspended. Equipped with microphones, the boxes become sound spaces and resonators that pick up and amplify the vibrations of the wires. The wires were also activated and vibrated with bows. Additional resonating bodies were added step by step, for example “tin can telephones,” two tin cans connected by wires, through which the participants converse or simply exchange noise.

Networks beyond institutions

With Tania Rubio, C-drík Fermont (Syrphe), Holger Schulze (Universität Kopenhagen, Dänemark), Magda Mayas, Rosanna Lovell (GRiNM/Gender Relations in New Music and gather collective, Moderation: Julia Gerlach

What role do networks play beyond institutions? How do they work together? Is this collaboration even desirable? All panel participants agreed that it’s complicated. With the website Syrphe, interdisciplinary artist Cedrik Fermont has been documenting and promoting obscure music from Africa and Asia for years. Holger Schulze, a musicologist at the University of Copenhagen, provided an academic perspective on the scene. Tania Rubio has been working on and with networks in her native Mexico for many years. Magda Mayas is a pianist, researcher, networker, and co-founder of making waves. And Rosanna Lovell is actively involved in two collectives: GRiNM and gather.

What it means to care for a musical scene—alone or with others, archival or compositional—became clear in the introductory round. Fermont has always been a lone wolf. His vision is to document music from Africa and Asia, enable knowledge transfer, and thus help artists from these continents gain more visibility in Europe. Mayas has created her own network in Berlin out of frustration that voices from Palestine are not heard and therefore not represented. Lovell brings a decidedly feminist perspective to the discussion, Rubio a Mexican one: working at the intersection of sound research and environmental awareness in connection with the integration and appreciation of local communities, there was simply a huge void before her work.

These networks have little or no institutional support. This is partly intentional, but also often unavoidable. To gain visibility and traction, networks must work together. Schulze reports on the situation in Denmark: there, cuts in the cultural budget led to completely new alliances between scenes that previously had little or no contact with each other. This decoupling from institutions and sources of potential funding actually opens up opportunities, says Fermont. Independence from funding conditions enables more self-determined work. Mayas agrees, while adding that freelance artists are the most vulnerable to funding cuts and expressing the need for more institutional support.

For Schulze, on the other hand, it is clear that institutional structures remains important: isn't that exactly what collaboration between smaller collectives and bigger initiatives is all about? Lovell welcomes precisely this kind of collaboration. Working only within one's own bubble ultimately does leave one open to new ideas. Keyword: visibility. Both sides—institutions and independent networks—should neither ignore each other nor deliberately ignore what they have in common. Institutions need to open up and be more approachable, while independent networks should not categorically rule out allying themselves with institutions, e.g., through funding. Synergies should be exploited.

Open Session: cresceNMDo »Cooperation Resources Exchange – Sharing Creating Exploring in the New Music Domain«

Giancarlo Staffetti

Giancarlo Staffetti's project cresceNMDo (“Cooperation Resources Exchange – Sharing Creating Exploring in the New Music Domain”) aims to reduce inequalities between European structures in the field of new music, extend the life cycles of commissioned works, and create better working conditions for composers and artists. Staffetti emphasized that many artists have difficulty accessing artistic residencies and adequate working conditions. This not only affects the quality of artistic work, but also prevents more elaborate projects from being created and made accessible to a wider audience. At the same time, exchange between actors in the scene—from producers to publishers to venues—is declining, and audience engagement is waning.

The project is based on three central pillars: co-production and residencies, networking, and learning and skills development.

1. Co-production and residencies: Here, ambitious works are created or re-staged. Residency phases are to be based on new artistic directions and shared values while incorporating both artistic and administrative aspects.
2. Networking: A traveling professional event brings together key players in the contemporary art sector. This takes place through conferences, Speed Meetings, pitches, work-in-progress presentations, and market and location shows. The aim is to open up new networks and promote exchange between artists, producers, and institutions.
3. Learning and skills development: Working groups and resources are provided on specific topics. Also in play is the development of new target groups, strengthening local engagement, mobilizing public and private partners, and testing cooperation and co-production models.

The overall objectives of the project are to promote new artists and projects by established artists, to improve understanding of the challenges in different countries, to open up new co-production networks, to exchange knowledge and skills, and to set up an open-access resource hub.

cresceNMDo is currently in the structuring and planning phase. Partners are being sought and confirmed in order to prepare the submission of an application to Creative Europe. The project focuses on cross-border cooperation, sustainable structures, and the long-term strengthening of New Music in Europe.

DAY 2

New Alliances – Contemporary music amidst geopolitical change 

With Les Vynogradov (Kyiv Contemporary Music Days), Gabriella Gál (EM GUIDE), Iris ter Schiphorst (Komponistin und Akademie der Künste), Monika Mattiesen (AFEKT Festival), Moderation: Tuuli Lindeberg (Musica nova Helsinki)

In order to face crises with our heads held high, we need more solidarity. Whether it's armed conflict or political radicalization, whether global, (trans)national or local: scenes must act together and support each other. This also applies to contemporary music and its players in Europe. How this can be achieved and what the situation is like in general was the topic of this panel discussion.

Les Vynogradov (Kyiv Contemporary Music Days) reported on the situation in Ukraine. After the start of Russia's war of aggression, the local scene was decimated by flight. Vynogradov's organization initially focused on supporting the artists who remained in the country and raising money internationally. Good networking made this possible before he and his team left the country themselves and relocated to Berlin— a move that was once again made possible by good contacts and networks. For Kyiv Contemporary Music Days, the move to Germany initially meant more attention and growing internationality—albeit for the wrong reasons. Keeping networks of Ukrainian musicians alive and well is currently very challenging: most of them are scattered around the world.

Monika Mattiesen, artistic director of the Afekt Festival in Estonia, noted that after the war of aggression began, the Estonian government invested a lot of money in culture, especially in the region around Narva, where a large part of the Russian-speaking minority lives. Among other things, projects for children and young people were created there to help them get to know their homeland better through field recordings. She and her team also organized residencies for Ukrainian artists.

Gabriella Gál (EM Guide, Budapest) reported from Hungary, where subcultures and minorities have been targeted by the government for years. This, too, has led to a crisis in the music scenes, as well as to uncertainty and doubt, including about their own artistic practice.

Tuuli Lindeberg from Musica nova Helsinki took up the thread as moderator of the discussion and asked the participants about the aesthetic impact of change and crisis. Vynogradov reported that many Ukrainian artists are increasingly working with the sonic realities of war: silence, drones, and noise. But musical escapism is also having its moment. Art, he says, is even more important in times of crisis.

It was important to all participants to make clear that in times of disruption, funding alone does not help to overcome crisis. It creates a foundation, but the task of overcoming must be taken up and put into practice by the artists themselves. Solidarity is required from everyone involved. And if a crisis inhibits international exchange, this is a) not necessarily negative and b) means that transnational funding structures must be rethought and funds used in a more targeted manner.

Sound, Listen, Search | Listening Game

Peter Cusack

In his sound walk, Peter Cusack took a playful and interactive approach to the principle of networking. The participants roamed together through the Tiergarten park adjacent to the Akademie der Künste in search of an undefined “sound box” that picks up ambient noise and then streams it to the mobile network. The participants listened to this stream on their headphones, enabling them to locate the box. This took place not least through their own efforts: everyone had sound generators with them. At some point, their sounds were also picked up by the box and played back on headphones through their cell phones. The louder the sound, the closer they were to the box.

In two rounds, musician Peter Cusack, who specializes in field recordings, demonstrated what perception means and how it often provides orientation and enables connections, especially within a network.

How can we expand this conversation to include networks from the USA, Canada, Asia, Latin America and and Africa

Ricardo Lorenz (Leiter der Session), Clémence Creff, Eiliyas Nicholas Kelly, Björn Gottstein, Eva Zöllner, Doris Weberberger, Cedrik Fermont, Sophie Aumüller, Brandon Farnsworth

The discussion began with the observation that music from South America struggles to find an audience in Europe. It was considered regrettable how little presence this music has and how low the level of interest and curiosity often seems to be. It was suggested that aesthetic judgments may play a role and sometimes act as a filter, and that New Music may be less open than is often assumed. It was also pointed out that language and travel barriers make exchange difficult and that publications are often only noticed when they are available in Western languages.

It was repeatedly emphasized that Western countries have the means to make international composers visible, while many regions remain structurally disadvantaged. At the same time, it was noted that there is a lack of information in Europe about contemporary music scenes in South America; for example, there is no music information center for South America.

The question of how trust can be built led to the assessment that little has changed in recent decades concerning many structural inequalities. While some regions are well connected, others remain virtually invisible. It was emphasized that a certain basic attitude of trust is necessary, even if not everything can be understood immediately.

The question of the role of curators as possible mediators led to the consideration of whether curating is a form of authority or rather a form of facilitation. It was suggested that curatorial work should be understood more as a practice of enabling encounters and exchange. At the same time, the importance of spaces in which people are not reduced to their origins and in which aesthetic filters can be consciously questioned was emphasized. Different backgrounds—from New Music to DIY—should be allowed to coexist.

Curating transcultural collaboration | World Café

Miriam Akkermann, Katharina Rosenberger

Artistic projects involving multiple participants often have a short lifespan—namely, until the performance. Katharina Rosenberger from the Zurich festival Sonic Matter addresses the question of how collaborative approaches can be extended beyond this horizon into the longer term. Sonic Matter attempts to maintain contact between artists and the commissioning institution (the festival), particularly at the transnational and transcultural level in order to facilitate mutual invitations on an ongoing basis. Together with Miriam Akkermann (Musikstiftungsprofessur for New Music at the Musicology Seminar of the Freie Universität Berlin), Rosenberger asked in this collaborative workshop how institutional structures can enable, shape, and support networks in the long term. The session focused primarily on the input and feedback of participants, who discussed different topics in four groups and then presented their findings.

•    Representation and diversity

Diversity is often not adequately represented. This is partly due to politics, but organizational challenges also play a role. Keyword: language barrier. English is the standard language of internationally active institutions. Those who do not speak this language must not be excluded. This is where institutions are called upon and challenged: inclusiveness must be more than just a gesture. The participants, however, are seeing initial positive trends here. Some festivals are already paying more attention to multilingualism—from program texts to the event itself. However, representation and diversity are often not given sufficient consideration during the curation and planning stages. What is worth promoting and considering from the organizers' point of view? This is an urgent debate. It is important to always question the norm.

•    Curatorial perspectives

Curation involves much more than program planning and the design of individual projects. Those who curate are also caretakers. This work is about places, free spaces, and trust, especially when funding is comparatively low. Networks must be aware of this and maintain good relationships with political funding structures and institutions. This is the project of communication: projects take time and cannot always be funded exclusively with money that is tied to a specific festival or a clear time frame.

•    Integration and sustainable impact

Even if inclusion is desired and should be demanded, 100% inclusion is impossible. Decisions always have to be made; selection processes are part of the practice. Exchange and cooperation are important, but not always practicable or applicable. Language barriers must not be ignored—they can also hinder or slow down projects. Communication must be guaranteed. This working group added important points to the keyword “sustainable impact,” especially with regard to long-term funding: networks must find ways to discuss this desirable goal with each other, because if project A is funded, it inevitably means that project B will not receive any money. This fact harbors the potential for conflict which must be managed.

•    Formats for encounters

Encounters require not only space, but also mutual respect. Aesthetic concepts can vary greatly, and in transnational exchanges this is often noticeable even between neighboring countries. This fact also has consequences for curation. Preconceptions and traditional practices must first be acknowledged, then examined, and finally overcome. The participants in the working group agree: “western arrogance” is particularly under scrutiny in this process. Often, however, it is the little things that break down potential barriers: everyday activities—cooking together, going for walks, dancing—help to promote what we have in common in artistic practice in a positive way.

Grounding Local Responses to Global Polycrisis – Sonic Reflections on »Landslide«

Ariel W. Orah, Samuel Johnstone, Pisitakun Kuantaleng

Ariel W. Orah, Samuel Johnstone, and Pisitakun Kuantaleng presented their joint project “Landslide” as well as the artistic initiative Soy Division. They offered insights into the creation, development, and methodologies of their work, which operates at the intersection of sound art, social practice, ecological responsibility, and political reflection. These initiatives arose from personal, collective, and societal experiences of crisis: the pandemic, war, energy crisis, ecological and economic uncertainties, and political events such as October 7 provided the starting point for their artistic work.

Soy Division was originally conceived by Ariel W. Orah as a solo project that addressed social and ecological injustices and integrated them into artistic practices. The name is a playful reference to the band Joy Division (without intending to put them on a pedestal). The starting point was the question of how art can work in the context of social practice, especially when one lacks academic training in artistic fields. The project developed into a loosely organized platform where local and international artists, activists, and interested parties came together. This transformation from an individual project to a collective initiative illustrates Soy Division's flexible way of working, which adapts to changing social and personal circumstances.

The choice of Berlin-Schöneweide as the location for “Landslide” is both strategic and symbolic: Historically characterized by industry and right-wing extremism in the 1990s, the neighborhood now offers space for artistic experimentation and community activities. The artists used these “peripheral” spaces to involve local communities, form new alliances, and respond to the crisis of ecology, politics, and everyday life. The pandemic, war, energy crisis, and further global crises were taken as a starting point to develop art as a means of reflection and collective experience. Sound played a central role in this: it was used as a means of resistance, observation, and the communication of complex ecological and social contexts.

Samuel Johnstone presented “Soil Loops,” a long-term sound art project that explores the relationship between soil, ecology, and society. Using microphones and sound installations, he made the subtle signs of life in soils audible, from urban gardens to historically contaminated industrial sites. The project combines Western scientific methods with indigenous knowledge and shows how local ecological realities can be reflected in global contexts. The aim is to capture ecological, social, and political crises as interrelated phenomena and communicate them artistically.

Ariel W. Orah presented “Gurita Suara” (“Octopus of Sound”), a series of sound sculptures resulting from personal, social, and ecological crises. One example is a work that addresses global raw material extraction and the social consequences of nickel production in Indonesia. Interactive sound installations were used to teach children and adults alike about global injustices. The works combine personal reflection, environmental awareness, and the joy of artistic experimentation.

Pisitakun Kuantaleng presented the project “The Three Sounds Of Revolution,” which he developed at daad in 2023 and which grew out of his experiences as an artist and activist in Thailand.

The inspiration for the project came from protest movements in Thailand, in particular the so-called “three-finger salute,” which has become a symbol of solidarity, equality, and freedom. Each of the three fingers represents one of these values: the index finger for solidarity, the middle finger for equality, and the ring finger for freedom. Kuantaleng used this symbolic structure to organize the core principles of his artistic work and translate political context into an audible form. For the project, he explored protest culture and revolutionary songs, which he brought together in exhibitions, club nights, and festivals to generate both political reflection and participatory joy. The result was a space in which artistic practice connects political discourse, historical experience, and social criticism.

Following the presentation of the artistic projects, the presentation addressed questions arising from Soy Division’s practices as well as “Landslide” for the institutional art scene. A central theme was the relationship between local initiatives and established art institutions. The artists emphasized that genuine collaboration is only possible if institutions listen first, rather than immediately imposing their structures, funding mechanisms, and hierarchies. This shift in perspective—from a top-down funding model to a dialogue based on mutual respect—was described as crucial for sustainable, socially relevant artistic practice. It is not simply a matter of raising funds or gaining prestige, but of creating an empathetic connection that promotes creative freedom, community-building, and social reflection.

Questions about the scalability of small initiatives were also discussed. “Landslide” deliberately operates on a small scale: few participants, limited resources, but intense depth of content. The question was: how can repeatable, long-term impact be achieved without projects losing their experimental and flexible nature? Partnerships with local, often volunteer-run initiatives play an important role in this. This connection between established structures and new, experimental formats can contribute to the long-term resilience and visibility of small initiatives.

Another focus of the discussion was the question of global representation. How can international artists, especially those from the Global South, be involved in curatorial decision-making processes without this involvement being purely symbolic? The presentation addressed the need to critically reflect on power structures and decision-making processes in order to make the integration of global perspectives authentic and sustainable.

The presentation ended with a call for institutions and artists alike to learn to listen, create spaces for collective practice, and integrate the complexity of global crises into artistic work.

Open Session: European Network for Coproducing

Sophie Aumüller und Lydia Rilling

The spontaneously initiated open session by Sophie Aumüller (Impuls Neue Musik) and Lydia Rilling (Donaueschinger Musiktage) also addressed the question of how networks can be maintained in the long term and how transnational cooperation can be improved or even completely restructured. The discussion began from the perspective of the organizers: in order to successfully address the omnipresent reality of shrinking budgets, rising production costs, and the general desire for greater sustainability, closer cooperation between festivals within a European framework is necessary. But is this also desirable and feasible? Can the established web of long-term planning, funding, tour schedules, and projects be disentangled?

The first step would be transparency on all sides. Currently, this is rare or non-existent. As many participants pointed out, many festivals and curators play their cards close to the chest. Too often, premiers and exclusivity are considered more important than institutional exchange. This is compounded by planning phases of varying lengths, which often make it difficult or impossible for artists and managers to book further dates. Given this situation, the idea of a European network in which projects are jointly planned, financed, and produced is still currently unrealistic. Smaller steps must first lay the groundwork, because the exchange of information can take place on many levels, even among the artists themselves. Similar to the panel discussion on the topic of “Green Mobility” and the Tourbus project, a map-based approach is conceivable.

The creative perspective of the artists is important and often neglected in the established festival scene. The thematic adaptation of their ideas and current projects to the wishes of curators should not constitute the bulk of the work. Rather, a “map of creativity” is needed, on which the creative process can be viewed at any time.

Periphery as a state of mind

With Kamila Metwaly (MaerzMusik), Josten Myburgh (Audible Edge Festival), Ariel Wiliam Ora (Soy Division), Simon James Phillips (Composer/Musician and Artistic Director of SENSE for the Gwaertler Stiftung), Salomé Voegelin (Sound SIG Group), Moderation: Lydia Rilling (Donaueschinger Musiktage)

This panel discussed the concept of the periphery from different perspectives and approaches: geographically, of course, but also artistically, politically, and in terms of representation.

• Josten Myburgh curates the Audible Edge Festival in Perth, Australia. Far off the beaten path, organizing concerts here is not only particularly expensive, but the scene is also rather small. This is a big advantage for the local DIY culture, says Myburgh. Locals have no choice but to work together. And the festival has now become profitable.
• Indonesian multidisciplinary artist Ariel Wiliam Orah gave this session its name with an essay. He himself moved from downtown Berlin to the suburbs, but also applies the concept of the periphery to networks and initiatives. These are in good hands on the periphery. After all, a network or project does not necessarily have to scale and grow, i.e., strive to go from the periphery to the center, where it is assumed that more attention can be generated. The professionalism required to do so can be very tedious.
• Kamila Metwaly is the artistic director of MaerzMusik and considers the term periphery from an artistic and curatorial perspective. For her, the question arises as to how the periphery fits into the center, i.e., how the “unconventional” fits into the “accepted” when putting together a program. Is this consideration even relevant? Isn't curation about questioning perspectives and shifting established hierarchies?
• Salomé Voegelin is an artist, Professor of Sound at the London College of Communication, and is active in the SIG Group, which explores political, social, ecological, and feminist perspectives through sound. She brought peripheral vision or sideways glances into play. The perception of blurring at the edges is important, even in music. Only in this way can connections and effects be felt.
• Simon James Phillips is a composer and musician with a particular interest in transdisciplinary methodologies of collaborative work. At the Swiss Gwaertler Foundation, he heads the collaborative research project SENSE, which critically examines the foundation's funding culture and structure. When awarding grants, he wants to dissolve what he sees as the continuing perception of a contrast between the periphery and the center. One of his approaches is to eliminate the terminology. Plurality is the heading under which he works.

The debate focused primarily on the relationship between small collectives and institutions. According to Myburgh, trust in institutions was lost in Australia during the pandemic. Local initiatives have since experienced a renaissance. Voegelin reported from the UK, where cultural funding has practically ceased to exist. This has of course resulted in a highly precarious situation, but it can also liberating for the actors involved. Orah added the Berlin perspective: funding is not a reliable constant if you want to truly let the artistic process take its course. With comparatively little effort—food at events, merchandising—it is possible to create a financial baseline that makes you at least partially independent of subsidies.

Sounding Care – Sonic Practices of Care under Systemic Pressure

Anthea Caddy and Magda Mayas

Anthea Caddy and Magda Mayas presented their ongoing research project entitled “Sounding Care.” At the beginning of the presentation, they gave a brief introduction to the project before playing a 20-minute audio piece. A more detailed discussion of the project followed.

“Sounding Care” has been in development for about a year and a half and arose from the feeling of no longer being able to speak freely. The starting point was experiences of censorship and restrictions on freedom of expression that are perceived worldwide, but especially in Germany. Against this backdrop, the project sought ways to make people visible and audible and to protect and represent different opinions—especially through sound and artistic means.

At the same time, the project ties in with central questions that ran through the conference, such as care and community. Based on both positive and negative experiences, the participants asked themselves fundamental questions: What does it actually mean to care for one another—especially in times of crisis? How can we be there for one another when social, political, or emotional pressure is coming from many sides? How can we open up creative scope for action under these conditions?

As a practical implementation, the team began by interviewing people from the Berlin scene and related contexts. These conversations form the core of a growing archive that is continuously being expanded. The aim is to collect individual voices, experiences, and perspectives and make them audible, thus enabling a multi-layered examination of care, community, and diversity of opinion.

At the center of the work is a growing collection of interviews with cultural practitioners, recorded in different contexts and spaces. Participants were invited to answer three deliberately open-ended questions:

1. What does care sound like?
2. How does care manifest itself in your practice?
3. What do you wish for in terms of care?

Heterogeneity of recording locations and sound qualities is not a shortcoming, but an integral part of the concept. The voices are complemented by instrumental sound materials taken from the artists' existing archives or newly recorded for this project. Sound is not used here in an illustrative way, but as an independent practice of care and listening that opens up, condenses or even agitates spaces.

The presentations are based on generative software that constantly recombines voices and sounds. Decisions about which voices become audible are in some cases deliberately left to the system. This is intended to counteract the tendency for the loudest voices to always prevail, even in democratic settings.The artists do not position themselves as external observers, but as participants within the community under investigation.

The subsequent discussion showed that the concept of care is highly ambivalent and politically charged. Several speakers described care as requiring caution, even self-censorship, due to fear and reservations around taking a public stand.

At the same time, the positioning of the project was critically reflected upon. While some considered the collected voices to be politically one-sided and closer to activism than to art, others defended this disclosure of a clear stance as central to artistic research, which is always situated and never neutral.

Tracing Presence on Land

Emilio Gordoa, Josten Myburgh, Sabine Vogel

In their joint project, Myburgh (Australia – saxophone), Gordoa (Mexico – percussion, drums), and Sabine Vogel (Germany – flute, electronics) get closer to the environment and specific landscapes by making music on site. In the process, the compositional meets local conditions, which are made audible through field recordings and then processed. What normally emerges worldwide—at the summit or in the Australian outback—is performed reflectively for “Time to Listen” at the Berlin Akademie der Künste: a dense and gripping mixture of processed wind instruments, contact-microphoned drums, and unusual flute sounds from visually even more unusual instruments.

In their joint practice, the three musicians reflect not only on home, origin, and belonging, but on how something new can emerge from their very different perspectives—always in dialogue with the location in which they find themselves. The location always has different resonances that not only affect the instruments, but also vice versa: the instruments are tools for listening more accurately and precisely.

What might open networks of the future look like? Summary and outlook

Fanny Martin und Peter Brownell

At the end of the conference, participants gathered one last time to reflect on the past two days and use this as a basis for looking ahead to the future. After a short physical warm-up with synchronized breathing and qigong exercises, the group was encouraged to visualize their role within the group network through interactive surveys and movement exercises. In the final phase, participants reflected on their role in future networks and shared these reflections in partner discussions. Finally, they discussed what they would like to hear in the next “Time to Listen” year, from creative, artistic, and critical perspectives to inclusive formats with non-human actors.

Management: 
 Lisa Benjes (field notes / inm) 
 Julia Gerlach (Akademie der Künste)

Partner und Artistic Advisory Board:

Sophie Aumüller (Impuls neue Musik)

Tuuli Lindeberg (Musica nova Helsinki / Northern Connection)

Lydia Rilling (Donaueschinger Musiktage)

Tania Rubio (Acoustic Ecology Lab)

 Team: 
 Safia Azzouni (Akademie der Künste)
 Inka Baumgarte (field notes / inm) 
 Filip Bayer-Čech (field notes / inm) 
 Luise Langenhan (Akademie der Künste)

Follow-up Report

Thaddeus Herrmann