biegungen im ausland
biegungen im ausland features musicians exploring improvised and experimental music.
Outlandish sounds for outspoken ears !
biegungen im ausland features musicians exploring improvised and experimental music. The long going series has a particular, but not exclusive, focus on Berlin's Echzeitmusik community.
It is willing to reflect all styles of contemporary music, and is keen on artists who have developed a unique vocabulary by sharing music, ideas and approaches to sound through ongoing international exchanges and collaborations.
In the spirit of Echzeitmusik, biegungen im ausland is not interested in further categorization and branding, but would like to promote a lively dialogue, which enables to inspire, reflect and take position. Therefore, it has the motto: outlandish sounds for outspoken ears !
Background
The root of this music described here as Echtzeitmusik, and the spirit of biegungen im ausland, lies in the lineage of European free improvised music, North American free jazz of the 60's and contemporary New Music, all of which have contributed to redefine music and the listening experience since the beginning of the 20th century.
This music blossomed in Berlin in the 90's, thanks to grass root venues like e. g. Anorak in the Dunckerstraße and Vollrads Tonsaal in the Schönhauserallee, where artists from various educational backgrounds got the chance to exchange their aesthetic concepts, which didn't fit the existing schools and approaches they came from anymore. Since then it has branched out strongly and diversified without losing its autonomous and exploring nature.
The massive output of the Echtzeitmusik performing community takes place in mostly non-subsidized venues throughout Berlin. This community of Berliners and foreign musicians plays a major part in Berlin's outstanding international reputation as a central laboratory of experimental art.
The concerts are listed and promoted through the website: www.echtzeitmusik.de
A little history
The concert series biegungen im ausland was initiated, curated and organized by Gregor Hotz, parallel to the opening of the venue in december 2002.
Between May 2005 and 2006, Andrea Ermke was guest curator in his absence.
In 2008, biegungen im ausland invited seven musicians to curate a night of music, thus presenting a musical framework that reflected many aspects of contemporary music: Andrea Neumann, Alessandro Bosetti, Kai Fagaschinski, Nicholas Bussman, Werner Dafeldecker, Ignaz Schick and Tony Buck.
In 2009, biegungen were presented in pairs: The first night in anticipation of the second, and the second reflecting the first. Guest curators and active improvisers Magda Mayas and Clare Cooper placed the onus on the invited artists to arrange the format for the two nights, focusing on exchange and influence, exploring not only each other's sounds but also elements that brought them to what they achieved with their own instruments.
After two further concerts organized by Gregor Hotz a new team took over in March 2010 to care for the series.
Since 2008 biegungen im ausland is partner in the Berlin based new music network ohrenstrand.net, which was set up for the performance and popularisation of contemporary music. The network is funded by the Netzwerk Neue Musik [New Music Network] of the Kulturstiftung des Bundes [Federal Cultural Foundation] and by the Kulturverwaltung des Landes Berlin [Senate of Berlin].
Due to the financial support provided by ohrenstrand.net and the Kulturamt Pankow, the series was funded in 2008 and 2009. In 2010 the funding will be used for a festival in November 2010 featuring Echtzeitmusik, which means at the same time that there is actually no funding provided for the ongoing series at the moment.
biegungen would like to thank
- ohrenstrand.net
- Netzwerk Neue Musik (a project initiated and funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes)
- the cultural department of the Berlin's Senate
- special thanks to Dr. Christa Juretzka, head of the cultural department of the Kulturamt Pankow
- all the participating musicians
- all former curators, technicians and all other people who helped out
_Nuno_Martins.jpg? "Rafael Toral")
