Digitalization is the central topic of the future, as the “buzzwords” AI, sensor technology and robotics suggest. In art and music, however, there are also strong countervailing trends. For example, the vinyl record and the analog synthesizer have been experiencing a renaissance for years. Blaues Rauschen breaks with these oppositions and searches for sound and aesthetics in the in-between.

This fits into time, because what we do is not only about the new direction, but always about the connection and mixing of different possibilities. In art, music, and sound art, there would be no innovation without material blending, social and technical collaborations, and creative engagement with past, present, and future.

Under the theme of the connection between digital and analog and the blending of human made and machine-made, this year’s festival oscillates between electronic soundscapes, physical experiences with sound, live coding as a concert, and the influence of technology on perception and the relationship between real and imagined spaces.

The program selection shows the different performative handling of these fusions and frictions. Together with new partners and new venues in Essen, Herne and Gelsenkirchen we invite you to interesting performances on 4 days at 8 locations.

In addition, a three-day hacklab with participants from an open call and a virtual composition workshop with composers from Germany, Hungary, Israel and Great Britain will take place in the city of Essen for the first time this year.

“BLAUES RAUSCHEN” expresses the mixtures and frictions between the digital and the analog and the shifting of boundaries and conventions through artistic means. The live format of the festival stages makes it possible to experience the often abstract artistic approach in a sensual way. The recipients leave their private comfort zone with the screens permanently switched on and become the community of those interested and emotionally engaged in a live performance.

In this way, the festival can contribute to the artistic aura of the Ruhr region. This aura is important for the stabilization of a social environment that is ready to take up, shape and reflect the social transformation processes of digitalization with critical openness and attention.

Karl-Heinz Blomann
Artistic director