FREE ENTRY / 48 Hours Neukölln - "Urban silence"

How do you actually define silence and what role does it play in an urban space? Can we break out of the all-encompassing flood of sound in the city to enjoy silence or its ideal? What urban and architectural requirements would have to be met for this? Is silence even possible and desirable in an urban environment? The annual theme for the 2024 festival edition calls for reflection on silence in urban spaces as well as on the physical - cultural meaning of urban sound space.

Historical, personal and aesthetic meanings of sound spaces evoke associations and reactions that enable us to classify, group and interpret sounds individually. Through cultural contexts, personal preferences and prejudices as well as artistic conventions and aesthetic decisions, the process of hearing sound becomes a subjective experience, even in an urban environment.

How do you navigate urban soundscapes and what role do they play locally and/or globally?

Sound plays an important role in urban spaces. It can set new boundaries and barriers: while the walls of privacy reveal their secrets and backyard noises accompany our everyday lives beyond the courtyard, private conversations in open public spaces are difficult to follow.

Nowadays, traffic seems to be almost a sonic epitome of urbanity. Do we perceive it as cacophonous noise or rather as enchanting music? Or is the boundary between the two another cultural construct in which silence represents an unwanted/unwanted contrast?

And last but not least, the residents of a city should not be forgotten as producers of sounds: people (crowds) and human voices as sonic signposts (familiar or warning) lead us unconsciously through the city and draw new public spaces. The language(s) that are read, spoken and heard in public spaces also guide through and shape an urban soundscape.

Further facets of the urban soundscape are fleeting and constant natural sounds: from singing birds, rustling lawns, barking dogs and buzzing insects to rustling trees and bushes to pelting rain and the rippling water of the canals, these sounds bring about different insights that complement one another complement, support or contradict. How is the city perceived through such sound waves? Which layers of natural sound can you feel in Neukölln and/or Berlin and experience as a city experience?

In the upcoming festival edition of 48 Hours Neukölln, all explorations of aspects of urban silence are welcome: from field recordings to experimental music to traditional forms of expression - everything is allowed. Musical compositions, (sound) installations, texts, theater and poetry as well as images and sculptures are intended to artistically explain the theme of urban silence and to implement it in a visually and sensory sophisticated way. We are very curious about the numerous interpretations of the topic!