Thinking with our ears, with katrinem and Sam Auinger

Have we perfected ignoring noise in our daily lives to such an extent that we have forgotten how to listen naturally?

katrinem and Sam Auinger are composers whose artistic research deals with the auditory qualities of our living environments. 

This ongoing research is the starting point for their artistic work. 

In this workshop, we will practice thinking with our ears through exercises, sound experiments, and a listening/sound walk.  

We will focus on sounds' emotional and informative quality and our own hearing.

Thinking with our ears enables us to recognize the auditory qualities of a situation or a place, to read a given atmosphere, and to become aware of the interrelationships in what we hear.

The starting point is always conscious listening on the ground. 

In doing so, we also recognize the actors who shape it and its function and use. 

When we understand an urban situation as a sounding living space, a new approach to its liveliness and dynamics opens up.

For over 15 years, katrinem (Augsburg, 1969)  and Sam Auinger (Linz, 1956), both based in Berlin, have been conducting artistic research, both individually and together, on the auditory and atmospheric qualities of (mostly urban) living environments, often involving extended stays on-site.

Both coming from academic music backgrounds, they have developed an increasing interest in the sounds experienced in everyday life as sources of inspiration and material, and thus for listening itself. They have developed special techniques and methods for their research.

The materials generated in this process serve as the basis for both individual and collaboratively de- veloped artistic works in a variety of forms, from texts and compositions to audiovisual pieces.