As we talk, walk the streets, drink coffee, drive cars, ride bycicles or type text into a keyboard – we create sounds. But still our senses are dominated by the visual impressions.

Sounds need to be created by movement. If you here something, there is something going on. If you see something it might be static.

To listen, we have to be quiet. Silence is needed to recognize sounds around us.

Sound surrounds us. If we close our eyes and just listen, we may listen more intense. During City walks we might remember what we have seen, but barely what we heard. We tend to filter sounds and stop listening actively. During a week long journey through the city of Graz we get exposed to the sounds, the signals and noise, we collect those sounds and recompose them.

In the next hour we invite you to join our conversation on our experiences in soundwalks and composing soundscapes. We discuss the political, social and cultural dimensions of the urban life. Let’s start the conversation about sound in the city and get to know the active citizens …

Journeys through the urban Soundscapes. A conversation of artists, composers, researchers and activists. Recorded during the La Strada Festival in Graz, 2021.

We met for a weeklong project, recorded our sound-walks and composed soundscapes. As an art of listening and finding new approaches to the urban environment. Asking what sounds represent, why sound is political.

Thanks to the engagement of Aldo Scarpitto, Ana Anastasov, Connor Alexander, Olga Srstkova, Max Obane, Aleksandra Matlingwiewicz, Tristan Rebane, Manish Kumar, Birte Brudermann, Nasaket Azimli.

Facilitators: Birgit Waltenberger from uniT / Kunstlabor Graz, Rivka Saltiel, University Graz and Walther Moser, Radio Helsinki.

The School of Participation is supported by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union and led by Walk the Plank. With international partners Plovdiv 2019, Bulgaria; Novi Sad 2021; Serbia, uniT Graz, Austria; Kaunas 2022, Lithuania; Coventry 2021, UK; and associate partners Limerick City & County Council, Ireland; aRe, Yerevan, Armenia; Tartu 2024, Estonia and Veszprem, Hungary.

The School of Participation in Graz is co-funded by Graz Kultur, Land Steiermark Kultur, Europa, Sport und Bundesministerium für Kunst, Kultur, öffentlicher Dienst und Sport.