Time to Listen Multispecies Creativity in Music and Sound

In the midst of the planetary crisis, communities are emerging around the world that are dedicated to nurturing and co-creating relational ways of living that prioritize reciprocity, care and respect. They are drawing on long-standing indigenous practices while experimenting with multispecies justice and forms of more-than-human governance.

The "Time to Listen" conference explores the role that sound can play in this transformation. In lectures, discussions and performances, we will explore ways of freeing listening and music-making from anthropocentrism and transforming it into an ecologically and sonically networked world. At stake is nothing less than creativity itself: If relationship - and not the autonomous individual - becomes the site of creative action, what new forms of shared agency, reciprocity and co-production will become possible? And methodologically speaking, how can artistic practices, listening and paying attention, rituals, emotions, stories, humor and a "productive idiosyncrasy" generate the irritations that allow transformative openings?

The program consists of presentations by artists from the "Spreeklänge" project, open discussion formats and sessions that were selected as part of an open call.

With Camilla Bork & Mathias Hinke, Carlos Gutiérrez & Tatiana López, Echo Ho, Masimba Hwati, Liza Lim, Dugal McKinnon, Kate Milligan, Kosmas Phan Ðinh & Michal Mitro, Radio Otherwise, Nardi Simpson, Kristine Tjøgersen, and others.

"Time to Listen" is a conference series that the Akademie der Künste and field notes / inm have been organizing together since 2019 on current discourses in contemporary music. This year's edition is part of the Akademie der Künste's "Spreeklänge" project, a parcours of contemporary music along the River Spree in Charlottenburg (June 25-27). It is being created in collaboration with composer and scientist Liza Lim, who is leading the music-based multi-year research project "Multispecies Creativity and Climate Communication" (2025-2029) at the University of Sidney.

SPREEKLÄNGE

The "Time to Listen" conference will take place in the context of the Akademie der Künste's "Spreeklänge" music trail (June 25-27).

In the context of the music parcours "Spreeklänge", the conference will present and discuss various approaches and practices of more-than-human creativity in presentations and open discussion formats.