“What Matters” was the question andtatement of 2022 presentation of works by the JUNGE AKADEMIE, the interdisciplinary and international artist-in-residence programme of the Akademie der Künste. In an exhibition and a multifaceted programme including screenings, concerts and readings, 29 fellows from all of the Akademie’s art sections presented sound and video installations, photographs, sculptures, paintings and performances they developed during their studio residencies in the Hansaviertel in Berlin and at Villa Serpentara in Olevano, Italy.

“What Matters” is not to be understood as the title of a thematic exhibition but rather indicates the diversity of questions, perspectives and realities that are interlaced in an artist residency, while emphasising their urgency. The exhibition focused on the artists’ individual approaches that encompass a broad spectrum of themes: from questions about the transformation of societies and their expression in relation to the urban space and landscape, to interrelations between the individual and social systems such as state, religion and the economy, to reflections on body images and conceptions of history, personal archives and the intertwining of nature, technology and culture.

What matters is artistic testimony, poetic resistance and the imagining of sustainable futures in the face of global tipping points – whether climatic or political in nature. Two years into the pandemic and the associated restrictions, “What Matters” was the most comprehensive presentation of works to date by the JUNGE AKADEMIE.

To quote one of the fellows: “What matters? Make them see…”

AMBIENT HARDCORE

Sound Art Performance

At the Akademie der Künste, Nazanin Noori presents a 30-minute sound scenario, combining manipulated world trance and unreleased music by the producer herself with traditional ethnic chants and hymns of the Sufis. The performance refers to the Sufi state of “ḥāl”, which involves leaving habitual consciousness in order to develop an internal sensorial world, separate from that of the musician. Noori’s overall work takes inspiration from music that is performed in ritual practices, Pauline Oliveros’ principles for “Deep Listening” and Antonin Artaud’s writings on the “Theatre of Cruelty”. Her compositions exist primarily in the realm of healing sounds and dark ambient, but branch out into techno and doom electronics.