2011

December 8 and 10, 2011 | echoraum

In 2011 shut up and listen! opens its doors in a new venue: echoraum, Vienna. This year’s motto NEAR WEST focuses attention on contemporary positions in music and (sound) art from Israel, Palestine and the bordering countries as well as on artists whose work explicitly concentrates on this region. The title of this year’s edition turns the tables, paving the way for a change of perspectives, and at the same time addresses the theme of diverse cultural kinships of “unhostile siblings”.

In Frontiers – Ein Computerspiel, das an die Grenzen Europas führt the artist group gold extra portrays stops along the route of refugees travelling from the Sub-Saharan region of Africa to Europe and reinterprets with subversive undertones various game concepts found in the first-person shooter genre. In his lecture Die Söhne der Onkel the Egyptian composer Hossam Mahmoud addresses Middle Eastern music traditions and along with the violinist Frank Stadler performs the world premiere of a work for oud and violin. This year marks the birth of the shut up and listen! Award, and the winning works by Cormac Crawley, Christopher Haworth and Wysozky & Arden Day are performed as part of the festival programme. In his electroacoustic compositions Mémoire, Hommage and Départ the Berlin-based composer Mazen Hussein works through the memories of his childhood in Syria. And finally, two legendary trumpeters come together for a duo concert: Franz Hautzinger and Mazen Kerbaj. Day two of the festival begins with the documentary film Messages from Paradise #1 by Samuli Schielke and Daniela Swarowsky, in which stories about immigration shed light on the pros and cons of living in Europe. Next comes a panel discussion about cultural identity and rediscovering one’s roots from afar. Gabriela Mossyrsch performs works for harp by Amr Okba and Yoav Pasovsky. Shay Nassi aka mise_en_scene from Tel Aviv gives a live performance. Seth Ayyaz makes reference to audio recordings he has been collecting of various Sufi shrines, mosques and other religious sites in Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Syria. In Polis, a multi-channel realization of his soundscape composition, Oliver Schneller presents audio recordings from Cairo, Beirut, Istanbul and Jerusalem.