Soundtracks: Recording in Progress!

The audio play
What distinguishes receiving societies? Who receives and records whom, and to what end? How do the German media report about arrival and reception? The author and radio broadcaster Julia Tieke developed an audio play that converts the media discourse into a linguistic and acoustical process of translation, interpretation, and commentary.

2015 media reports in German, mainly portraits and reports about migration and displacement experiences by various groups, form the basis for nine monologues. They were translated into the respective languages of the countries of origin and then recorded in seven different languages. The multi-lingual collage is supplemented by excerpts from the Basic Law, Germany’s constitution, a German text level as well as singing by all of the involved actors.

The work was initially conceived specifically for the cupola hall of the silent green in Berlin-Wedding as a walk-in audio play for twelve loudspeakers arranged throughout the space. Later, a stereo version was made and can be heard here.

The audio guide
On a second level, Julia Tieke recorded the entire work process with a microphone and used that to create a 50-track audio guide. In it, the translators, speakers and sound technicians who participated in the creation of the audio play comment and explain both personal and content-related details. In addition, some of the foreign-language monologues of the play were re-interpreted back into German. All of the comments and conversations (a total of approx. 5 hours and 30 minutes) are in German if not stated otherwise.

Soundtracks in cooperation with Schlesische27, raumlaborberlin, TAK Theater and silent green as part of 100 Years of Now.