DYSTOPIE sound art festival 2020
Berlin – Brasilien

Alte Münze – Spreeufer – Errant Sound
Installations – Performances – Symposium
24 Projects – 40 Artists

16. Oct. - 1. Nov. 2020

Dystopian Hopes

In the past years, dystopias have immensely gained in significance, not only in fiction. Signs of dystopian scenarios are likewise marking the real world, whether in authoritarian states or in the threat posed by the ever more drastic climate change – and not least with the Corona pandemic. With Brazil as this year’s guest country, the DYSTOPIE sound art festival takes on a special dimension. In view of the recent political upheaval, proposing a public platform to Brazilian sound artists has gained in importance. For it is precisely the fictional, artistic dystopia that bears the seed of utopia.

Dystopian Listening

Topias – spaces and places – have always played a central role in sound art. For the DYSTOPIE festival, topias are morphed: newly created, condensed, rubbed, superimposed, and destroyed. If listening is a transformation of mechanical waves into information, is listening not also morphing? We wish to open a window on a radical dystopian listening experience in a political time where talking to each other would often seem to be a utopian practice – manipulated by fake news and enclosed in echo rooms. 22 audiovisual installations and performances will enlighten many perspectives, negotiate, and give a sound to core questions of dystopian thinking. These will then be discussed in the concluding symposium Listening as a tool to blow out the bubble.

Online registration: https://www.dystopie-festival.net/2020/locations/?lang=en