WORKSHOP:media sound performance mit Marco Donnarumma

Title: Sensory reconfiguration: undoing the "normal"
Speaker: Artist, inventor and theorist Marco Donnarumma
Date: November 07 - 10, 2026
Time: November 07 & 08 (Saturday + Sunday) each from 11 am to 5 pm
& November 09 & 10 (Monday + Tuesday) each from 2 to 8 pm
Location: Un-Label Studio
Language: English spoken language (peer-to-peer translation into German spoken language is possible if required)

Content

Perception as a field of multiplicities - this workshop uses sensors, biosignals and performative experiments to explore what is possible as an artistic practice beyond the "normal" body.

Western society conveys the idea that there is only one system of perception - that of the efficient and productive body. In reality, however, there are as many possibilities of perception as there are bodies. Marco Donnarumma is late-deafened - and does not see this as a loss, but as a different, complex form of hearing. His workshop starts right here. In this sense, hearing has nothing to do with "normal" hearing, but takes place in a different sensory context in which feeling, seeing and deep sensitivity interact with different intensities. Thinking of perception as a field of multiplicities opens up infinite possibilities for artistic practice. Technologies such as sensors, robotics and prostheses play an important role on stage: technologies can have a limiting effect by forcing a body to adapt to the "normal". Or they can be imaginative, contradictory and empowering by utilizing and celebrating what lies beyond "normal" perception.

In this workshop we will question 'normal' perception and the myths associated with it, with a particular focus on the relationship between sound and the body. We will then observe and describe our own unique (sound) perceptions in order to bring them together in a "map of sensing" - a kind of map of sensory potentials. This will be done through collective reflection, performative sonic experiments with our bodies, as well as trying out some body-based technologies that Marco has developed in the course of his artistic practice. These include biophysical musical instruments that generate music from the muscle sounds of a moving person. Or prosthetic organs that enable a diverse inner physical experience of sound through feeling, vibration, bone conduction and acoustic resonances of the body.

In the second part of the workshop, we will use our map of perceptual modes to explore how knowledge inscribed in bodies with disabilities, combined with new technology, can generate innovative approaches in the performative arts. We will learn practical methods to design and craft sensors, robotics and prosthetics that explore and activate the difference and uniqueness of sensing. Based on this knowledge and small prototypes, we will then develop experimental performative formats (solo, in duos or in groups). Technology becomes a tool to explore and experience the political potential and aesthetic richness of disabled bodies. These experiments can be presented at the end of the workshop as part of a small show or discussed with an audience - depending on the decision of the participants.

The WORKSHOP will be held in English (peer-to-peer translation into German spoken language is possible if required)

For German Sign Language please register until October 22, 2026.

The WORKSHOP:media sound performance is aimed at professional and semi-professional artists and cultural workers with and without disabilities. Participants should have some experience in the field of media, sound or performance. The format is particularly intended as empowerment for artists with disabilities who are already actively working and want to specifically expand their artistic practice, professional perspectives or visibility, or who have questions about leadership in this field.

Speaker

Marco Donnarumma

Marco Donnarumma is an artist, inventor and theorist. His oeuvre confronts normative body politics with uncompromising counter-narratives in which bodies stand in a field of tension between control and self-empowerment, presence and absence, grace and monstrosity. He works equally as a sound and visual artist, performer, choreographer and theater maker and presents his works on stages, in concert halls, museums and galleries. He is particularly known for his use of sound, AI, biosensors and robotics to turn the body into a site of resistance and transformation. His works have been shown in thirty-seven countries in Asia, Europe and North and South America. He has been honored with numerous awards, most notably being named "Artist of the Science Year 2018" by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Award of Distinction in the Sound Art category at Prix Ars Electronica 2017, a Digitalive Award 2018 from the Romaeuropa Festival - together with Margherita Pevere - and a ZER01NE Creator Grant in 2024. For his contribution to the field, Donnarumma was named a pioneer of performative arts with advanced technologies by the Austrian national daily newspaper Der Standard. He writes about music, performance and technology, combining aesthetics, feminist studies and critical theory with scientific research. His texts appear in ACM Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Music Journal, Frontiers in Computer Science, Performance Research and on cultural platforms such as Hyperallergic and Furtherfield.

Accessibility

All event rooms are barrier-free. Assistance dogs are welcome.

• Accessible for wheelchair users, at ground level (door width: entrance door studio 85 cm, intermediate glass door studio 105 cm)
• Barrier-free bathroom with shower and toilet incl. a hoist for wheelchair users (door width: 82 cm)
• Barrier-free access to the garden possible thanks to stairlift for wheelchair users (door width from studio to storage room where the lift is located: 77 cm, door width from storage room to garden: 100 cm)
• Automatic door opener at the entrance door
• 3 dedicated disabled parking spaces in front of the door
• 1 additional disabled parking space of the city of Cologne around the corner
• Public transport: The barrier-free "Lenauplatz" stop on line 5 is 100 meters away

If required, we can provide the following assistance, please specify when registering:

• Peer-to-peer translation into German spoken language
• Work assistance or mobility assistance on site
• Interpreting into German Sign Language (DGS) - Please register by October 22, 2026

For further information please contact

Address: Un-Label Studio | Hosterstr. 1-5 | 50825 Cologne-Neuehrenfeld
The Lenauplatz stop (barrier-free) on KVB line 5 (Dom / Hbf - Ossendorf) is located in the immediate vicinity of the building at Hosterstrasse 1-5.
Departure times (KVB)

For questions and further information write to: nikos@un-label.eu
Phone +49 (221) - 5501544
info@un-label.eu