DYSTOPIE sound art festival

In her essay “From Utopia to Dystopia”, the Hungarian philosopher Agnes Heller describes dystopia as a dire warning: “Prevent this thing from happening!” In this respect, the Dystopia Sound Art Festival wants to present sound-artistic positions which make central issues of our times audible and thus perceptible. The invited artists will explore dystopian scenarios related to current political, technological and environmental developments. These include dystopian visions involving society and the state, and nature and climate.

The project’s organisers have chosen the “Alte Münze”, a former mint located in downtown Berlin, as the main festival venue. With its acoustically separate basement, vaults and machine rooms, the site offers ideal conditions for a sound art exhibition. In addition, the festival will stage performances in the Errant Sound gallery room and other public venues. The festival aims to strengthen the exchange and cooperation between Berlin’s longstanding sound art and music scene and the Brazilian sound art scene. The organisers have established a partnership with the University of Rio de Janeiro and plan to stage the festival in Brazil in 2021, featuring selected works produced for Berlin. Several Brazilian sound artists are being directly commissioned to produce works, but the majority of artistic pieces will be chosen via an open call for proposals. The festival plans to offer a broad spectrum of acoustic, electronic, and interconnected installations, performances and concerts.

Artistic director: Georg Klein, Laura Mello
Curatorial advisors: Alexandre Fenerich, Julia Gerlach, Kirsten Reese, Mario Asef
Artists: Marina Mapurunga, Vivian Caccuri, Giuliano Lamberti Obici, Fernanda Farah, Chico Mello, Thom Kubli, open-call artists, Ensemble Adapter and many more