Tuned City Tallinn, July 4-10 2011

Dock e.V. (Berlin) and MoKS (Mooste) presents:

TUNED CITY TALLINN

Sonic Landmarks â€“ a sonic path through Tallinn
official program of the European Cultural Capital Tallinn 2011

4th â€“ 10th JULY 2011 / Tallinn Estonia

â€œMost people would probably say that architecture does not produce sound, it cannot be heard. But neither does it radiate light yet it can be seen. We see the light it reflects and thereby gain an impression of form and material. In the same way we hear the sounds it reflects and they, too, give us an impression of form and materialâ€
(Steen Eiler Rasmussen â€“ Experiencing Architecture (1959)

Hear Tallinn with new ears! Buildings and architecture are usually described in visual terms. But it is often our sense of hearing which assists us in experiencing and navigating through the spaces of urban cities.
There is no sound without space and no space without a sound. In every day life we are surrounded by the sounds of diverse nature and various origins. Language, sounds of nature and civilisation â€“ sound as a carrier of information or as a factor of disturbance permanently encircles our consciousness.

Tuned City Tallinn will undertake an acoustic exploration of Tallinn. The goal will be to identify and explore the sonic landmarks of the city which define its identity, shape its communication and transform the perceptions of its visitors and inhabitants. A fascinating cross-section of international artists, performers, scientists and thinkers will be brought together to present their ideas about sound and space. In addition, the public will be invited to participate directly through a series of workshops and sound walks and experience diverse site-specific installations, performances and demonstrations.

[1] WORKSHOPS

[2] SPEAKING WITH SPACE – CONCERT PROGRAM

[3] SONORITY OF PLACE – CONFERENCE PROGRAM

[4] SITE SPECIFIC PROGRAM

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WORKSHOPS

In close collaboration with our partner Ptarmigan (http://ptarmigan.ee), we are offering a series of workshops short before and during the event in July. Invited artists will each share their individual tools for listening to the city, and offer both a deeper insight into their artistic practice and a chance for the participants to become actively involved in the program of the event. And whether those tools be telephones, acoustic tubes, electronic transducers, radio waves or physical movement, the participants in these workshops will never hear the city the same way again.

These workshops are open for registration right now:

City sounds concerts / June 28 â€“ July 3 2011
with Ici-MÃªme (Grenoble, F)
http://www.tunedcity.net/?page_id=1881

Methaphones workshop / July 4 + 5 2011
with Unsworn Telecom (Stockholm, SE)
http://www.tunedcity.net/?lp_lang_pref=en&page_id=1472

12-tone filter / July 4 â€“ 10 2011 (during the event)
with eyland 07, RenÃ© Rissland, JÃ¼rgen Lehmeier (NÃ¼rnberg, D)
http://www.tunedcity.net/?page_id=1478

Tuning the City / July 5 â€“ 10 2011 (during the event)
with Mads Bech Paluszewski (Copenhagen, DK)
http://www.tunedcity.net/?page_id=1715

framework radio â€“ documentation and production / July 7 â€“ 10 2011 (during the event)
with Felicity Ford (UK) and Valeria Merlini (IT / D)
on behalf of Patrick McGinley, framework radio (US / EE)
http://www.tunedcity.net/?page_id=1503

An overview can be found here:Â http://www.tunedcity.net/?lp_lang_pref=en&page_id=950

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SPEAKING WITH SPACE – CONCERT PROGRAM

07.07.2011 20:00
Charles Curtis (US) â€“ Naldjorlak (by Eliane Radigue)

08.07.2011 21:00
Charlemagne Palestine (BE) â€“ Schlingen BlÃ¤ngen (organ performance)

09.07.2011 21:00
Thomas Ankersmit (NL/D) â€“ Saxophone and Synthesizer Improvisation

10.07.2011 21:00
Maja S.K. Ratkje (NO) â€“ Electro-acoustic Vocals

Traditional and classical music often treat the performance hall as a tabula rasa to be inscribed with sound, and even improvised music can overlook the site it is performed within as an important factor. So what happens when a musician decides to play a duo with space as the partner?

Tuned City has invited four vibrant, innovative and influential contemporary performers to address the topic of sound and space through four individual music performances. Each artist has developed a special relationship over their career with their chosen instrumentâ€“the cello, the organ, the saxophone and the voiceâ€“which becomes like a spoken idiom to them. Using this unique language, the performers will engage in dialog with a variety of spaces, from the warm, wooden intimacy of a 14th Century horse mill to the cold, concrete depth of Soviet-era industrial structures.

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SONORITY OF PLACE – CONFERENCE PROGRAM

This series aims at drawing correspondences between â€šarchitectureâ€˜ and â€šsoundâ€˜ to a more primary relation between notions of â€šplaceâ€˜ and â€špractices of listeningâ€˜. In other words to underscore an interplay between the sense of being â€šsituatedâ€˜ and the intentionality of what is being â€šheardâ€˜. It is from within this primary level of interactions that a sense of â€šsoundâ€˜ as well as a notion of â€šsiteâ€˜, and by extension â€šarchitectureâ€˜, are derived in the first place. For the current constellation of talks and presentations a particular emphasis is placed on an understanding of listening, not a biological constant, but rather a â€špracticeâ€˜ that both shapes and is shaped by various contexts. In this sense every mode of hearing is understood to be distributed across a diversity of practices and disciplines.

Talks and presentations as well as pertinent artist projects and presentations included in this Tuned City event draw upon recent developments in such diverse fields as urbanism, art and architecture history and theory, philosophy, sensory history, sensory ethnography, archaeoacoustics and musicology, getting closer to what may be at stake in auditory models of â€šsituated-nessâ€˜. One common approach, shared by the various practitioners, understands the â€šsonic imaginationâ€˜ to be an operative mode of thinking. It is this mode of thinking that potentially engages the social, aesthetic and even ethical, political implications of an attentiveness to the sonority of place. Please have a closer look:

http://www.tunedcity.net/?page_id=1378

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SITE-SPECIFIC PROGRAM

To properly explore the sonic effects possible within the cityscape, it is often necessary to move beyond the traditional model of the seated conference- or performance-audience. For Tallinn 2011, we aspire to present a selection of innovative and fresh sound experiences across several specially-selected locations in the city.

Taking place each afternoon, the Site Specific Projects are a modular series of parallel programs featuring soundwalks, performances, installations and interventions. These projects involve the audience in a new way of experiencing sound and space through the use of sculptural, graphical, musical and sonic means. Some of the projects are designed for a small group of people, keeping the experience of the project both participatory and intimate. Such projects may be offered several times during the Tuned City event. Other projects may only be offered once within the context of the conference program, and some may require registration to keep the audience within a certain size. Please check the project descriptions at our website for more information:

http://www.tunedcity.net/?page_id=1446