digital/colonial (ABO 2) - Music from the corners of the cloud

Music from the corners of the cloud

The transition to the digital age is a double-edged sword for artists from communities that have been subjected to colonization: on the one hand, social media and its algorithms have the potential to bring people together who share language, experience or history. But at the same time, this communitization is undermined by mechanisms that - whether intentionally or through a lack of foresight - reproduce the cultural and economic norms of the Western European world as if they would or should apply globally. Cultural and creative diversity thus run the risk of being flattened worldwide. The internet is a new colonial borderline along which cultural and creative autonomy is being fought for.

The project "digital/colonial" aims to create a framework for composers from the so-called Global South to creatively respond to their own experiences with new forms of cultural colonization and marginalization - resulting from the ubiquity of digital technology.

With works by
Ashkan Behzadi (UA), Huihui Cheng (UA), Feliz Macahis and Chong Kee Yong

ENSEMBLE RECHERCHE
Anja Clift, flute
Eduardo Olloqui, oboe
Shizuyo Oka, clarinet
Klaus Steffes-Holländer, piano
Christian Dierstein, percussion
Adam Woodward, violin
Sofia von Atzingen, viola
Åsa Åkerberg, cello
Lukas Nowok, sound direction

Supported by the Koussevitzky Foundation.

This project is part of Ensemble Recherche's broad-based plan to initiate a discussion about artificial intelligence and its impact on art and creativity in its 2024/25 season ("What is Real/What is Not").