Oscillations: Sonic Inquiries and Practices is a two-year project jointly organised and curated by the Akademie der Künste (Berlin), Centre for Humanities Research at the University of the Western Cape (Cape Town) and Deutschlandfunk Kultur / Klangkunst (Berlin).
Oscillations is founded on the premise that sound is knowledge. Epistemological and sonic objects usually circulate together, connecting geographies of the global south and north which we understand as trans-hemispheric connections. However, their coupled oscillations also exhibit erasures and distortions, as traces of violence and ignorance.
Animated by the project partners’ commitment to critically engage with contemporary shifts in sound discourses, artistic practices and aesthetic histories, Oscillations is intended to bring a trans-hemispheric relation into sound practice and sonic inquiry. Implicit to the relation, and process is a conceptual framing that pays attention to the historically asymmetrical and ambiguous character of shared colonial histories.
The current open call covers residencies in Berlin and Cape Town and is aimed at sound artists, scholars and cultural practitioners based in Southern Africa.
Three two-month residencies in Berlin are directed at mid-career sound artists, partly supported by the DAAD Arts & Media Program. The residencies in Berlin cover:
- Return economy flight from a major city in Southern Africa to Berlin.
- Residency stipend of €2700 incl. accommodation, ground transport, insurance, daily allowance.
- Participation in regular meetings and workshops at the Academy of Arts during the residency.
- Collective exchange with project participants in regular online meetings and participation in listening and reading sessions with the CHR’s Sound Working Group.
- Development of an audio work to be presented as an installation at Akademie der Künste, Berlin and as a radio broadcast at Deutschlandfunk Kultur/Klangkunst (German broadcast), April/May 2024.
- Progress on an article-length manuscript with the view to publishing in a peer-reviewed academic journal in 2024/2025 if appropriate.
In Cape Town, the call covers two two-month residencies for mid-career practitioners and two one-month residencies for entrants new to the field of sonic inquiry and practice. Residencies can be taken up in the June 2023 – March 2024 period. The two-month residency in Cape Town covers:
- Return economy flight from a major city in Southern Africa to Cape Town.
- Residency stipend 2700€ (incl. accommodation, ground transport, insurance, daily allowance).
- Participation in regular listening and reading sessions with the CHR’s Sound Working Group.
- Participation in reading group/laboratory on archiving sound art.
- Participation at CHR’s Annual Winter School.
- Presentation of work in progress at the Oscillations Workshop, scheduled to take place 11 – 14 September 2023.
- Development of an audio work to be presented as an installation at Akademie der Künste, Berlin and as a radio broadcast at Deutschlandfunk Kultur (German broadcast), April/May 2024.
- Progress on an article-length manuscript with the view to publishing in a peer reviewed academic journal in 2024/2025 if appropriate.
