what we immerse ourselves in

Opera’s Darkness Finds a Home in Savonlinna

Savonlinna’s castle festival lets Finnish national opera resonate between stone, lake, and summer night – and shows how dark dramas can mirror the soul of a people.

By Jeppe Rönnow

review15.08

Walking Blind

At its best, the ambitious sound art walk »Witness Stand« at Refshaleøen pierces right into Copenhagen’s gentrification of the old industrial area. But does it realise that it is itself part of the problem?

By Sune Anderberg
review29.07

A Festival For Experiments – But Only When It Dares

Borealis in Bergen promises experimental music but falls short when it comes to traditional concert formats. Instead, magic emerges when the audience is invited out into the forest or into floating sound saunas.

By Patrick Becker
review10.07

Between Skin and Noise in Berlin

From digital melancholy and ritual noise assaults to pure silence – MaerzMusik explored the tactile forces of sound and the boundaries of the body.

By Andreo Michaelo Mielczarek

Dreams, Noise and Apple Crunch in Stavanger

The Only Connect festival in Stavanger transformed the city into a landscape of noise, poetry and bodily vibrations.

By Andreo Michaelo Mielczarek

review29.06

Disappearing Acts: The Resurrection of Tsujimura

Katsuko Tsujimura sought to dissolve the body in postwar Japan. Now, new voices are gently piecing it back together.

By Louise Steiwer
review24.06

»Oops, We Walked Past the Artwork« – the Hidden Presences of Sound Art in Moss

The MOMENTUM biennial in Moss, Norway lets sound art speak, guiding the audience into the borderlands of the senses – where even a toilet resonates like an echo chamber.

By Therese Wiwe Vilmar
review18.06

Klang has Come of Age – and Dares to Be Solemn

This year’s edition of Copenhagen’s festival for new music embraced sonic rituals, cultural encounters, and performances with loops, bodies, and cassette tapes – and featured French musicians playing as if sound itself could change the world.

By Henrik Friis

The World is Leaking – and Art Picks Up the Drops

At the Bergen International Festival, William Kentridge and Ryoji Ikeda let art capture what can no longer be said – only felt.

By Andreo Michaelo Mielczarek

review07.06

When the Past Begins to Make Noise Again

At Geneva’s Archipel Festival, lost instruments and occult soundscapes are brought to life in a journey through speculative rituals and experimental music.

By Anna Ullman
review04.06

The Hunt for Sound Installations in Nuremberg

From seductive echoes in an abandoned yeast factory to allergy-inducing angel wings in a baroque church – Musik Installationen Nürnberg put the body in motion, but left the question of what a music installation truly is unanswered.

By Rasmus Weirup
review01.06

Spor Festival at Twenty: the Eternal Play of Sound

From giant flutes to performative rituals – the anniversary edition of the Aarhus-based festival unfolded the materiality of sound and musical collaboration in new forms.

By Birgitte Stougaard Pedersen