Der Ohrenmensch

The radiophonic constellation describes a mutually modifying relationship between technically mediated perception and what is being historically considered noise or sound. In the radiophonic environment, not only the boundaries between noise and sound shift, but also those between device and idea, transmitter and receiver. In the radiophonic space you never know exactly where you are when you hear something. The boundaries between the world and the simulation are undetectable in this gap between transmission and (un)conscious disruption.

The question of what is being transmitted and received, what is hidden and what is understood, not only pursues technical processes and psychoacoustic habits, but also political interests.

What does the ear know? What forms does this knowledge take and in which fields can it be applied? What will become of the technical apparatus of radio when the knowledge it constitutes is transferred to other technologies?

The three-day event Der Ohrenmensch introduces the walk-in radio archive. In concerts, lectures, and performances, international artists and scientists from a wide field will explore aesthetic and theoretical conditions of the radiophonic environment as well as the political possibilities for action in the radiophonic space. Three experimental formats guide visitors through the program: The Radiophone Funkkolleg (Radio College) addresses the question of what listening knowledge is and how it is expressed ever anew in listening experience. In Explorations, artists and radio professionals are invited to examine the radio artworks in the walk-in radio archive in regards to radiophonic concerns. Finally, a series of concerts and performances examine “radio listening” with regard to its musical possibilities.

With contributions by ARK (Johannes Ismaiel-Wendt, Sebastian Kunas, Malte Pelleter), Nathalie Anguezomo Mba Bikoro and Gilles Aubry, Hermann Bohlen, Lino Camprubí, Cevdet Erek, Wolfgang Ernst, Beatriz Ferreyra, Marie Guérin, Wolfgang Hagen, Alexandra Hui, Hassan Khan, Sebastian Kunas, Verena Kuni, Aurélie Nyirabikali Lierman, Flora Lysen, Stefan Maier, Mara Mills, Nástio Mosquito, Marko Peljhan, Marina Rosenfeld, Zoran Terzić, Viktoria Tkaczyk, Sarah Washington, Anna Zett, Elisabeth Zimmermann, and others.