Save the Date: Time to Listen 2024

On 1st and 2nd October, inm / field notes and the Academy of Arts 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.

Through an open call, aspiring participants can submit their proposals to present an individual session (workshops, sound walks, listening sessions, lectures, etc.) at the symposium, with applications open until 9th June 2024. The full programme will be published in early July.

While the “Time to Listen” conference is explicitly about artistic approaches, the complementary workshop series “Community of Practice – Sustainability in Contemporary Music” focuses on practical issues relating to sustainable development in the contemporary music scene. In spring and autumn 2024, we will meet regularly on the topics of mobility (touring and audience movement), sustainable festival organisation and the design of project spaces, certification and accounting, as well as climate handprint. The workshop series has been jointly initiated, developed and funded by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, the Goethe-Institut, Impuls neue Musik, inm / field notes, the Musikfonds, ON Cologne, the Academy of Arts and Art Music Denmark.

1st and 2nd October 2024
Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg

Register here.