AnimotMUZIK: Interspecies sound events with nightingales

12–14 May 2022

Iški morost, Ljubljana Marsh and Škocjanski zatok, Koper

Authors
David Rothenberg,Katarina Radaljac

David Rothenberg’s guest appearance marked an important development of the long-term interspecies music cycle AnimotMUZIK, first initiated in 2019 under the curatorial direction of zoomusicologist Katarina Radaljac. The project continues to promote sound research that encourages artistic collaboration with non-human animals and challenges established modes of musical expression.

Instead of a pre-composed structure based on animal sounds, this edition foregrounded a more immediate performative approach. Listeners were invited into an experience of direct interspecies improvisation, where musical responses emerged through attentive listening and interaction with the sonic environment.

The programme was accompanied by a reflective introduction combining theoretical and experiential approaches to artistic engagement with other species.

As part of the DOPPS campaign The Guardians of the National Forest, David Rothenbeng became the guardian of the Red-breasted Flycatcher.

David Rothenberg’s guest appearance marked an important development of the long-term interspecies music cycle AnimotMUZIK, first initiated in 2019 under the curatorial direction of zoomusicologist Katarina Radaljac. The project continues to promote sound research that encourages artistic collaboration with non-human animals and challenges established modes of musical expression.

Instead of a pre-composed structure based on animal sounds, this edition foregrounded a more immediate performative approach. Listeners were invited into an experience of direct interspecies improvisation, where musical responses emerged through attentive listening and interaction with the sonic environment.

The programme was accompanied by a reflective introduction combining theoretical and experiential approaches to artistic engagement with other species.

As part of the DOPPS campaign The Guardians of the National Forest, David Rothenbeng became the guardian of the Red-breasted Flycatcher.

David Rothenberg

Is a musician, composer, and writer, and a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Music at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. His work focuses on the musicality of non-human animal sounds, which he approaches as music. He is a leading figure in interspecies music, known for improvisations with birds, insects, and whales. He has released over 30 recordings and authored numerous books, including Why Birds Sing, Bug Music, and Survival of the Beautiful. His project Nightingales in Berlin was released as a book, CD, and film.

Katarina Radaljac

Is a musicologist whose research focuses on the music of non-human animals and interspecies interaction. Her work bridges zoomusicology, applied ethnomusicology, interspecies art, human–animal studies, and animal ethics. She curated the first edition of AnimotMUZIK in 2019 and its second edition in 2021, produced by Cona. Since 2013, she has been a regular contributor to Radio Slovenia’s Programme Ars.

Artist: David Rothenberg
Cycle curation: Katarina Radaljac
Organisation: Irena Pivka, Katarina Radaljac
Technical support: Brane Zorman
Language editing: Melita Silič
Public relations: Katarina Radaljac
Photography: Matjaž Rušt
Production: Cona, Institute for Processing Contemporary Art, 2022–2023
Partners: DOPPS–BirdLife Slovenia, PiNA, HEKA Laboratory

David Rothenberg’s guest appearance in Ljubljana was part of the Acoustic Commons (Soundcamp 2022) project and belongs, together with a lecture by Katarina Radaljac: Interspecies musical creations in collaboration with DOPPS, to the program unit POznanje v Steklenik.

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