exploratorium

Musical improvisation, but also improvisation in other art forms - movement, theatre, poetry and the visual arts - is at the heart of the work of exploratorium berlin, a centre for improvised music and creative music education founded in 2004.

• Experience freely improvised experimental music live in concert
• learn to improvise (even without prior knowledge)
• deepen existing improvisation experience
• get to know concepts for improvising with different target groups
• meet other people interested in improvisation and exchange ideas with them in free play
• reflect on improvisation in special events
• and read texts about it in a specialised library

The exploratorium offers a wide range of weekend workshops, regular courses and regular ensembles.

Approximately every three weeks, the exploratorium organises a concert, usually with musicians from the international improvisation scene.

In addition, numerous improvisation get-togethers, from the Open Stage from the open stage to the explo-soundwalks and the theatre-sound-direct, invite you to improvise spontaneously together. Many of these are free of charge.

The library contains most of the specialist literature available on the subject of improvisation. There are also events that combine theory and research with improvisation practice.

Since 2020, the fifth pillar of explo has been the ‘young explo’ programme: Regular courses, weekend and holiday workshops, offers for school classes and parent-child programmes are becoming increasingly popular and have become an important part of our work.

The exploratorium berlin would like to help improvisation develop into a form of music-making in everyday cultural life that is just as natural as chamber music, orchestra, choir or band.

Improvisation offers something that is unfortunately uncommon in music – the opportunity to invent music yourself, without sheet music. The special thing about this form of creativity is that it takes place in a group. Just like in a good conversation, the players inspire each other and can thus develop ideas that they would not have come up with on their own.

The exploratorium focuses on free improvisation, which does not require scales, harmony or rhythm patterns. The sound itself is the musical material. Learning to improvise freely means gaining creative experience, learning to understand music ‘from the inside out’ and getting involved in the musical flow. This requires alertness in the moment and intensive listening to the other players and the collective musical process.

Free improvisation means acting independently at every moment, contributing your own ideas and at the same time acting as a collective. Learning this means learning for life.

You can find all the latest details about the events on our website. There you will find the different event stage, learn, play, think and young people.

The exploratorium berlin is a project of the Lilli Friedemann Foundation for Improvised Music and creative music education and – with the exception of a few individual events – is financed exclusively by the foundation.

address:
exploratorium berlin
Zossener Street 24
10961 Berlin-Kreuzberg

The entrance is barrier-free.