Kristina Hofers’s class at the University of Applied Arts Vienna focuses on field
recording as an artistic practice and as a subject for critical academic inquiry. It will question field recordings as a practice
of capture: How are they entangled with extractivist logics old and new, with binary epistemologies of ‘Nature’ and ‘Culture,’
with gendered and racialized structures and dynamics of power?
The AIL series picks up on these questions, and
adds some of their own: How has our understanding of nature changed over time? How have these changes shaped the soundscape
on planet Earth? How do the sounds of abiotic elements such as wind, water or earth movements intra-act with the sounds of
living organisms like humans and further their technology? The AIL sound performances take a very close listen at our surroundings
and soundscapes of today.
Please note: The performance will be open to the public, no registration is needed to
participate. If you want to attend the performance as part of Kristina’s class, please register for the course via base.
Guest of Sounds of the Living VI is Robert Schwarz, who incorporates a background including computer music, sound
studies, and architecture into his installations, live performances and recorded music. The Vienna-based sound artist’s current
works, especially his recent album, ‘Stridulations 1-14’, for Superpang, investigate the acoustic dimensions of insects with
a particular focus on swarm behaviour, in conjunction with speculative resynthesis. With more than 20 years of experience
as a sound artist, Schwarz attunes to the internal logic of his subject, creating new and abstract entities from synthetic
and organic sound sources that suggest profound, dissociative states of listening.
Robert Schwarz has released
critically acclaimed albums for Superpang, Gruenrekorder, ETAT and ALTER, and developed a series of walk-in sculptures in
Los Angeles, Brussels and Vienna. He has presented works at institutions and festivals such as MAK Center for Art and Architecture
in Los Angeles, Kunsthalle Wien, Tokyo Arts and Space, CTM Berlin, Skaņu Mežs and Musikprotokoll. Schwarz was selected for
the 2023/24 year of the SHAPE+ Platform for innovative music and audiovisual art, and is co-founder and curator of the ‘PARKEN’
festival in Vienna.
https://ail.angewandte.at/program/sounds-of-the-living-robert-schwarz
