From a political perspective, “sound art” — or the deliberate use of sound — can be employed to critique power structures. The designed acoustic environment is then not a neutral space, but a field in which order and resistance are played out through sound. Parallel to her bestseller „The Mushroom at the End of the World“, anthropologist Anna Tsing developed the concept of “rewilding.” This idea of returning the sites of the Anthropocene to a pre-capitalist state serves as the starting point for the series of works and live performances that Başak Günak presents under the title “Rewilding.” Folk songs from southeastern Anatolia become a whisper, a gentle murmur, a hum. This overlays the artist’s own sound, previously used for sound installations — Başak Günak becomes an archaeologist and collector of her own material. For her, these compositions are ecosystems in their own right.

Sound artist and composer Başak Günak (Berlin) is also known in the field of electronic music under the name AH! KOSMOS. Her work encompasses sound art, performance, sound installations, and compositions for theater and contemporary dance. She has released three solo albums and numerous EPs on the labels Subtext Records, Denovali, and Compost Records. Günak’s works have been presented worldwide at various festivals and institutions, including the Barbican Theatre, the CTM Festival, and the Tokyo EMAF. Since 2018, she has run FUU, a label for experimental music. Her sound installations have been featured at the Sharjah Biennial 16, ARTER Istanbul, and Galerist Istanbul. She has composed for the Berliner Festspiele, the Gropius-Bau Berlin, and the Kunstmuseum Basel, and has been invited to international artist residencies amongst others at the INA GRM, the Academy of Arts, the Elektronmusikstudion Stockholm, and the Dutch National Opera.