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Young creatives from Germany and Moldova are invited to apply for the audio storytelling lab “Common Futures”. During the bilateral educational program, participants rethink existing structures and places, speculate about the futures of urban spaces in Berlin and Chișinău and co-create site-specific audio projects.
The program is open to creative practitioners, designers, artists, youth workers, activists, writers, musicians, architects and performers, age 20-35 years old, interested in exploring cities with storytelling tools, sound design and speculative thinking methods. The project includes introduction webinars, an audio lab in Berlin (July 3-8, 2023), realization of group projects, an audio lab & public presentation in Chișinău (end of September 2023).
During the Q&A session on April 20, 2023, 18:00 CET, we provide a detailed overview of the program and answer your questions concerning participation & the application process. Watch the recording.
APPLICATION DEADLINE:
April 30, 2023
What will our cities look like in future? How can our places of living become more inclusive and youth-friendly? How can we deal with the state of uncertainty? How can we use design and art to create cities of the future?
These questions become the core theme of the audio lab that aims at empowering young creatives from Germany and Moldova to exchange on these topics and engage in creating a shared vision for their districts and cities.
Berlin and Chișinău as post-socialist cities share a common past of developing mini-districts after the 2nd World War which are considered undeveloped in terms of cultural infrastructure and opportunities for youth. Many places in these cities are in a state of transition and redevelopment, making it more challenging for young residents to identify with their places of living and have a sense of belonging. Drastic economic and political changes, wars, forced migration, and climate change create an additional feeling of uncertainty and pessimism about the future.
Creative audio storytelling projects can therefore be an invitation to young people to get more familiar with the local context and get actively involved in the process of redefining functions of urban spaces and adapting them to their needs. The hands-on experience opens up the possibility of immersing oneself in new contexts. It fosters a safe playful environment where participants analyse existing structures and places and speculate about alternative urban scenarios for relationships between territories, citizens and non-humans (including ecosystems, green spaces, rivers and animals). The concepts of local and global identities, heritage, commemoration culture, gentrification, communication with non-humans, care labour, access to public space, and inclusion can be among the topics covered during the audio labs. The program enables participants to become creators and share their vision and inspire other young people to get proactive in their neighbourhoods.
The current lab focuses on audio format to reveal unheard voices, to experiment with non-visual dimensions of cities and create playful scenarios to explore urban spaces. Audio formats work with immersive and emotional relations to the environment and allow to test accessibility of urban narratives and share solidarity.
During the program, the group got hands-on experience with audio editing and sound production and met city practitioners to exchange experiences in the field of audio storytelling in Berlin and Chișinău. The participants worked solo and in teams to develop their own audio and soundscape pieces. The projects were presented on September 30 at Casa Zemstvei in Chișinău and during a sonic dinner on November 30 in Berlin. Below you can digitally explore utopic visions of urban gardening and border realities, navigate through the sounds of abandoned spaces, delve into the future visions of grandmothers, and ponder over topics of gentrification and non-human presence in Berlin and Chișinău.
Online
May 2023
During introductory online sessions, the group gets to know each other, exchange on expectations and possible project themes, and get introduced to different audio storytelling formats.
Berlin
July 3 — 8, 2023
The first audiolab consists of input sessions on storytelling, dramaturgy, sound, and creative concept work, study visits, on-site explorations, and practical exercises with audio recording, editing and project management. The goal is to learn basics about sound recording and editing, exchange on concepts of common urban futures and develop first concepts for future group projects.
Online
July — September, 2023
Participants create bilateral audio projects with financial and mentoring support. Possible formats (but not limited to) are audioguides, interactive walks, radio plays, soundscapes, and immersive installations. Bi-weekly mentoring and peer sessions provide necessary support and exchange throughout the production process.
Chișinău
End of September, 2023
At the second audiolab, the groups come together to finalize their projects, take part in further on-site explorations and exchanges with local initiatives and reflect on the results. The test versions of their audio projects are shown during a public presentation and pop-up exhibition at Casa Zemstvei.
MENTOR / UNGROUP.GROUP
Vinzenz Aubry (Berlin) is a European post-digital artist. His work explores human-machine-nature relationships and critically reflects on the social implications of new technologies. Part of his research focuses on augmented audio, where he develops various sculptures, experiences and infrastructures. Vinzenz regularly participates in exhibitions, gives talks and lectures at universities. He is a co-founder of the creative practice ungroup.group.
INSTITUTION REPRESENTATIVE / REIMAGINE YOUR CITY
Katya Romanova (Berlin) brings together her expertise in project management, youth work and design. She has got a degree in Teaching Languages and a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Communications at HTW Berlin. Since 2012, Katya has been actively involved in coordinating cultural, urban, and design projects, including Design Lab Moabit and reimagine your city (2021). She’s got wide experience in youth work, media education, and nonprofit management, with a focus on international volunteering, youth participation, and the organization of sociocultural projects. She also gained experience working and studying in various countries, including the USA and Argentina.
INSTITUTION REPRESENTATIVE / OBERLIHT
Arina Cazac, artist–designer, born in Chișinău, Moldova. She studied industrial and arts pedagogy. In her works, she researches the interaction between people, environment and transformation of urban spaces.
MENTOR / OBERLIHT
Cristian Doroftei, born in 1994, Telenești, Moldova. Spent almost all his life in Buiucani, West Chișinău. Started his filmmaking journey in 2014, as a laboratory technician in the multimedia department while studying journalism at the State University of Moldova. While there, never wrote or filmed something concerning real events. Everything was staged or fictionalized by using his editing skills and imagination. Got his diploma successfully basically by lying, dodging serious tasks, and skillfully playing with his teachers’ trust. Mythomaniac by nature.
MENTOR / ACID AMAZONIANS & QWAS
Rada (from Sofia, based in Zurich) is a researcher and musician. Rada is part of the queer performance trio Acid Amazonians (an instant-composition electro punk noise pop project that challenges concepts of heteronormativity, virtuosity, and stage performance); co-founder of the Kazakh-Swiss exchange programme QWAS (an exploration of post-soviet space through a series of train journeys and radio programmes); a member of the research-based political theatre collective Neue Dringlichkeit; and has taught a series of educational programmes on decolonization and pop culture across Europe and East Asia. Rada loves DIY in all its manifestations.
MENTOR / STUDIO URBANISTAN
Clara Minckwitz is part of STUDIO URBANISTAN, a Leipzig-based label for performative incidents in urban space. Since 2014 Clara Minckwitz and Julia Lehmann have been creating new spaces of encounter and experience somewhere between audio tour, site-specific performance and research theatre, in collaboration with changing artists, producers, performers and/or the local community. Photo ©mim schneider
MENTOR / K.I.E.Z. TO GO
Christiane Wiegand (Berlin) is a freelance theatre director and dramaturg. She has gathered over 18 years of experience in theatre and performance, collaborating with various state and city theatres and independent groups. In 2004, Christiane co-founded K.I.E.Z. ToGo, a performance group that specializes in developing participatory and site-specific projects together with artists from a certain neighbourhood.. Their performances explore current and historical themes of these areas, offering a fresh perspective on familiar spaces. Christiane is also a member of the NUNATAK! collective, which travels with a mobile whale to different locations, inviting people to be swallowed by it and dive inside for ideas from a speculative future.
MENTOR / INKULTUR
Natalia Zviagintseva (based in Berlin) born 1988 in Ukraine. Master of Journalism and Public Relations at Donetsk National University in Ukraine, later on B.A. in Education and Gender Studies at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Nataliia has worked for several years as project coordinator and manager in the field of environmental education and sustainable development. Since 2020 project coordinator and PR-manager of the INKuLtur-programme, which aims to provide people with disabilities in countries of Eastern Europe and Germany equal access to art and culture. Nataliia´s expertise is in the conception and implementation of projects on inclusion, diversity, and anti-discrimination.
©pavelseye
INSTITUTION REPRESENTATIVE / OBERLIHT
Vladimir US is an artist and curator based in Chișinău, Moldova, founding member of the Oberliht Young Artists Association. He studied art, curating, cultural management and cultural policies in Chișinău, Belgrade and Grenoble. Through his recent works and projects, Us explores the processes of transformation of public spaces in post-Soviet cities, while being concerned with the need to conceptualize an alternative network of public spaces for Chișinău.
MENTOR / GLISSANDO, EPYC STUDIO
Monika Żyła is an author, musicologist, sound artist, curator, and pianist based in Frankfurt am Main, DE. She gives lectures and workshops on social, political, urban, and environmental issues related to contemporary music and sound art in both academic and festival contexts. She is affiliated with the University of Salzburg, the University of Vienna, and the Berlin University of the Arts, among others. She is a co-author and co-producer of the two seasons of podcasts about contemporary music Radio w Kuchni (2016-2017). In 2020-21, she created a series of daily podcast shorts called 333for33 where she combined her field recording practice with storytelling. She works as a researcher for the Sounds Now network. She focuses on curatorial practices within contemporary music and sound art festivals to make them more accessible, inclusive, and diverse. Currently, as editor-in-chief, she prepares a new issue of the contemporary music magazine Glissando #43 (forthcoming fall 2023). She is a co-founder and a core member of EPYC Studio, dedicated to visual media, photography, and architecture, together with Andoz Krishnadas, in which context she realizes artistic and social projects in Senegal, India, and Mongolia. ©Arkandoz Photography
INSTITUTION REPRESENTATIVE / REIMAGINE YOUR CITY
Sveta Gorlatova (Berlin) is a researcher in the field of gender studies, feminist theory and urban planning. As a fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation she’s currently conducting her research project on the concept of “feminist city”. Sveta also is a co-author and co-host of the podcast “Sandbox” about speculative design, cities, contemporary philosophy, economy and political theory. She was a researcher of the “The New Normal” think tank at the Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design and has experience of working with educational programs for urban planners, architects and cultural managers.
MENTOR / STUDIO URBANISTAN
Clara Minckwitz is part of STUDIO URBANISTAN, a Leipzig-based label for performative incidents in urban space. Since 2014 Clara Minckwitz and Julia Lehmann have been creating new spaces of encounter and experience somewhere between audio tour, site-specific performance and research theatre, in collaboration with changing artists, producers, performers and/or the local community. Photo ©mim schneider
INSTITUTION REPRESENTATIVE / REIMAGINE YOUR CITY
Katya Romanova (Berlin) brings together her expertise in project management, youth work and design. She has got a degree in Teaching Languages and a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Communications at HTW Berlin. Since 2012, Katya has been actively involved in coordinating cultural, urban, and design projects, including Design Lab Moabit and reimagine your city (2021). She’s got wide experience in youth work, media education, and nonprofit management, with a focus on international volunteering, youth participation, and the organization of sociocultural projects. She also gained experience working and studying in various countries, including the USA and Argentina.
MENTOR / INKULTUR
Natalia Zviagintseva (based in Berlin) born 1988 in Ukraine. Master of Journalism and Public Relations at Donetsk National University in Ukraine, later on B.A. in Education and Gender Studies at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Nataliia has worked for several years as project coordinator and manager in the field of environmental education and sustainable development. Since 2020 project coordinator and PR-manager of the INKuLtur-programme, which aims to provide people with disabilities in countries of Eastern Europe and Germany equal access to art and culture. Nataliia´s expertise is in the conception and implementation of projects on inclusion, diversity, and anti-discrimination.
©pavelseye
MENTOR / GLISSANDO, EPYC STUDIO
Monika Żyła is an author, musicologist, sound artist, curator, and pianist based in Frankfurt am Main, DE. She gives lectures and workshops on social, political, urban, and environmental issues related to contemporary music and sound art in both academic and festival contexts. She is affiliated with the University of Salzburg, the University of Vienna, and the Berlin University of the Arts, among others. She is a co-author and co-producer of the two seasons of podcasts about contemporary music Radio w Kuchni (2016-2017). In 2020-21, she created a series of daily podcast shorts called 333for33 where she combined her field recording practice with storytelling. She works as a researcher for the Sounds Now network. She focuses on curatorial practices within contemporary music and sound art festivals to make them more accessible, inclusive, and diverse. Currently, as editor-in-chief, she prepares a new issue of the contemporary music magazine Glissando #43 (forthcoming fall 2023). She is a co-founder and a core member of EPYC Studio, dedicated to visual media, photography, and architecture, together with Andoz Krishnadas, in which context she realizes artistic and social projects in Senegal, India, and Mongolia. ©Arkandoz Photography
MENTOR / UNGROUP.GROUP
Vinzenz Aubry (Berlin) is a European post-digital artist. His work explores human-machine-nature relationships and critically reflects on the social implications of new technologies. Part of his research focuses on augmented audio, where he develops various sculptures, experiences and infrastructures. Vinzenz regularly participates in exhibitions, gives talks and lectures at universities. He is a co-founder of the creative practice ungroup.group.
MENTOR / K.I.E.Z. TO GO
Christiane Wiegand (Berlin) is a freelance theatre director and dramaturg. She has gathered over 18 years of experience in theatre and performance, collaborating with various state and city theatres and independent groups. In 2004, Christiane co-founded K.I.E.Z. ToGo, a performance group that specializes in developing participatory and site-specific projects together with artists from a certain neighbourhood.. Their performances explore current and historical themes of these areas, offering a fresh perspective on familiar spaces. Christiane is also a member of the NUNATAK! collective, which travels with a mobile whale to different locations, inviting people to be swallowed by it and dive inside for ideas from a speculative future.
INSTITUTION REPRESENTATIVE / REIMAGINE YOUR CITY
Katya Romanova (Berlin) brings together her expertise in project management, youth work and design. She has got a degree in Teaching Languages and a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Communications at HTW Berlin. Since 2012, Katya has been actively involved in coordinating cultural, urban, and design projects, including Design Lab Moabit and reimagine your city (2021). She’s got wide experience in youth work, media education, and nonprofit management, with a focus on international volunteering, youth participation, and the organization of sociocultural projects. She also gained experience working and studying in various countries, including the USA and Argentina.
INSTITUTION REPRESENTATIVE / OBERLIHT
Vladimir US is an artist and curator based in Chișinău, Moldova, founding member of the Oberliht Young Artists Association. He studied art, curating, cultural management and cultural policies in Chișinău, Belgrade and Grenoble. Through his recent works and projects, Us explores the processes of transformation of public spaces in post-Soviet cities, while being concerned with the need to conceptualize an alternative network of public spaces for Chișinău.
INSTITUTION REPRESENTATIVE / OBERLIHT
Arina Cazac, artist–designer, born in Chișinău, Moldova. She studied industrial and arts pedagogy. In her works, she researches the interaction between people, environment and transformation of urban spaces.
MENTOR / OBERLIHT
Cristian Doroftei, born in 1994, Telenești, Moldova. Spent almost all his life in Buiucani, West Chișinău. Started his filmmaking journey in 2014, as a laboratory technician in the multimedia department while studying journalism at the State University of Moldova. While there, never wrote or filmed something concerning real events. Everything was staged or fictionalized by using his editing skills and imagination. Got his diploma successfully basically by lying, dodging serious tasks, and skillfully playing with his teachers’ trust. Mythomaniac by nature.
MENTOR / INKULTUR
Natalia Zviagintseva (based in Berlin) born 1988 in Ukraine. Master of Journalism and Public Relations at Donetsk National University in Ukraine, later on B.A. in Education and Gender Studies at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Nataliia has worked for several years as project coordinator and manager in the field of environmental education and sustainable development. Since 2020 project coordinator and PR-manager of the INKuLtur-programme, which aims to provide people with disabilities in countries of Eastern Europe and Germany equal access to art and culture. Nataliia´s expertise is in the conception and implementation of projects on inclusion, diversity, and anti-discrimination.
MENTOR / GLISSANDO, EPYC STUDIO
Monika Żyła is an author, musicologist, sound artist, curator, and pianist based in Frankfurt am Main, DE. She gives lectures and workshops on social, political, urban, and environmental issues related to contemporary music and sound art in both academic and festival contexts. She is affiliated with the University of Salzburg, the University of Vienna, and the Berlin University of the Arts, among others. She is a co-author and co-producer of the two seasons of podcasts about contemporary music Radio w Kuchni (2016-2017). In 2020-21, she created a series of daily podcast shorts called 333for33 where she combined her field recording practice with storytelling. She works as a researcher for the Sounds Now network. She focuses on curatorial practices within contemporary music and sound art festivals to make them more accessible, inclusive, and diverse. Currently, as editor-in-chief, she prepares a new issue of the contemporary music magazine Glissando #43 (forthcoming fall 2023). She is a co-founder and a core member of EPYC Studio, dedicated to visual media, photography, and architecture, together with Andoz Krishnadas, in which context she realizes artistic and social projects in Senegal, India, and Mongolia. ©Arkandoz Photography
MENTOR / ACID AMAZONIANS & QWAS
Rada (from Sofia, based in Zurich) is a researcher and musician. Rada is part of the queer performance trio Acid Amazonians (an instant-composition electro punk noise pop project that challenges concepts of heteronormativity, virtuosity, and stage performance); co-founder of the Kazakh-Swiss exchange programme QWAS (an exploration of post-soviet space through a series of train journeys and radio programmes); a member of the research-based political theatre collective Neue Dringlichkeit; and has taught a series of educational programmes on decolonization and pop culture across Europe and East Asia. Rada loves DIY in all its manifestations.
INSTITUTION REPRESENTATIVE / REIMAGINE YOUR CITY
Sveta Gorlatova (Berlin) is a researcher in the field of gender studies, feminist theory and urban planning. As a fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation she’s currently conducting her research project on the concept of “feminist city”. Sveta also is a co-author and co-host of the podcast “Sandbox” about speculative design, cities, contemporary philosophy, economy and political theory. She was a researcher of the “The New Normal” think tank at the Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design and has experience of working with educational programs for urban planners, architects and cultural managers.
MENTOR / STUDIO URBANISTAN
Clara Minckwitz is part of STUDIO URBANISTAN, a Leipzig-based label for performative incidents in urban space. Since 2014 Clara Minckwitz and Julia Lehmann have been creating new spaces of encounter and experience somewhere between audio tour, site-specific performance and research theatre, in collaboration with changing artists, producers, performers and/or the local community. Photo ©mim schneider
The audio lab is targeted at twelve young creatives, age 20-35, based in Germany and Moldova who have an open mind toward interdisciplinary collaborations and teamwork in an intercultural environment. Participation is free of charge.
applications are closed
We embrace and celebrate unique experiences, perspectives, and cultural backgrounds that each participant brings to this program. We understand the barriers that underrepresented groups face. That is why we are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone is welcome and treated with dignity and respect.
The following criteria are relevant for the selection process:
Particular attention will be paid to the educational and professional interests of the applicants, in order to ensure an interdisciplinary approach and include diverse backgrounds. No previous experience with working on audio projects is needed. The applications are evaluated and considered to the same extent in a non-discriminatory manner.
Results will be communicated to all the applicants through email by May 9, 2023.
All related questions should be directed to info@reimaginecity.org.
Submission opens: April 5, 2023
Submission closes: April 30, 2023, 23:59 CET
Results: May 9, 2023
applications are closed
The project is funded under the grant program “MEET UP! Youth for Partnership” by the Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (EVZ) Foundation and the Federal Foreign Office.
re:imagine your city
info@reimaginecity.org
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