Word of Welcome Bochum

Dear friends of BLAUES RAUSCHEN,

for many years, the BLAUES RAUSCHEN festival has been providing impetus throughout the Ruhr area with an innovative program that brings together local and international sound researchers. The festival thus strengthens the region’s profile as a venue for contemporary musical experiments at the highest level. At the interface of music and sound art, discourse and technology, contemporary social issues are constantly being reflected upon and experienced through the senses.

In Bochum’s Viktoria.Quartier, the focus is on the power of music to accompany social change and develop visions of the future: Under the title “Emotional Resonances”, the concert program at the Schlegel Kultur Club takes musical traditions and transforms them electronically. In this way, they become the raw material for a reflection on how we want to live and communicate with each other. The cooperation between atelier automatiques and the media science department at Ruhr University Bochum is particularly promising: here, the concept of “sonic fiction” will be discussed, which deals with the transformative and cultural potential of sound.

With these focal points, the festival program makes an outstanding contribution to the cultural events in Bochum’s Viktoria.Quartier, which offers the ideal environment for BLAUES RAUSCHEN with its numerous clubs, the “Dive − Festival for Immersive Arts” or the “Cute Community Radio”.

I would like to thank the organizers, open systems e.V., as well as everyone involved in making this special event a success. I wish BLAUES RAUSCHEN and its audience inspiring experiences, insightful encounters and touching resonances.