WEDNESDAY // JUNE 05

In a reality where technology is inexorably taking over more and more functions and tasks, we would like to compare the characteristics and potential of machine hearing with the traditional capabilities of human hearing. Are we aware of the difference between data driven analysis and contextual understanding, between objective and subjective listening? How can we combine both in critical, cooperative and emancipatory ways? In our Lecure & Talk format, we have Mace Ojala as our guest on the topic of “Machine listening”. Ojala is a media scientist at the Ruhr University Bochum and presents his research findings here. The “human” aspect of listening will be presented by composer and musician Marja Ahti.

On the seventh evening of the festival, we focus on the practice of “deep listening”. At the Schlegel Kultur Club in Bochum, we will first be welcomed by crys cole, who will present her surreal yet sensual soundscapes with minimal instrumentation, focusing on the sense of hearing. Marja Ahti will explore the boundaries between acoustic sound material, field recordings and the synthetic sounds of electronic instruments. Finally, Nokuit awaits us with his new show, which invites us into an idiosyncratic cosmological space and allows us to look deep into contemporary discomfort. An evening in which the art of listening and personal reflection will take center stage.