Heroines of Sound

Founded in 2014, the Heroines of Sound festival sees itself as a forum for artists working in a wide variety of electronic music genres. On the occasion of the festival's fifth anniversary, this volume takes stock of the festival concept. Artists and theorists have their say, reporting on their experiences with the festival, critically examining the current situation of electronic music with regard to gender and diversity issues, or explaining their personal version of electronic music. The authors were free to choose the form and style of their contributions, resulting in interviews and short statements, conversations with fictional participants, visual contributions, polemical and poetic contributions, essays, portraits, and scientific studies. This volume provides a panorama of electronic music in all its diversity: from classical live electronics to advanced pop to club and DJ music, as well as a compendium that provides the first overview of the current presence of composers and musicians in electronic music.

Established in 2014, the Heroines of Sound festival sees itself as a forum for female artists of electronic music in the most varied of guises. On the occasion of the festival's fifth anniversary, this volume takes stock of its concept and provides a forum for the festival's artists and theorists to have their say. They relate their experiences with the festival, engage in a critical reflection of electronic music with a view toward issues of gender and diversity, or describe their personal version of electronic music. The shape and form of the articles was left to the authors; this resulted in interviews and short statements, conversations with fictional participants, images, polemical and poetic contributions, essays, portraits, and scholarly investigations. This volume provides a panorama of electronic music in all its diversity: from classic live electronics and advanced pop to club and DJs, as well as a compendium offering, for the first time, an overview of the current exposure of composers and musicians alike in electronic music.

Since 2014, the Berlin festival Heroines of Sounds has been presenting early and current heroines of electronic sound. The focus is on female artists who are advancing electronic sound transformation in advanced pop and electronic music and interpreting it performatively. In order to put current positions into historical context, works by pioneers of early electronic music are performed each year. With the Heroines Editions, the festival, in cooperation with partner institutions, initiates events and discourses with the aim of strengthening the presence of artists in the music industry. In addition to concerts, performances, sound and film bars, discourse events are among the central formats of the festival, shedding light on the current situation of electronic music from a gender perspective. Heroines of Sound has had a lasting influence on the current debate on feminist upheavals in music. With over 120 artists and scientists, five successful festival editions have been realized, attracting international attention.

Sabine Sanio has been teaching on the Master's program in Sound Studies and Sonic Arts at Berlin University of the Arts since 2009. Her numerous publications deal with contemporary aesthetics, media aesthetics and history, sound art, new and experimental music, and the relationship between the arts. She has been part of the curatorial team for the Heroines of Sound festival since 2015.

Bettina Wackernagel studied musical theater direction with a focus on contemporary music and electronic media. As a director, she has been responsible for numerous world premieres, including at the Salzburg Festival, the Munich Biennale, and Ars Electronica in Linz. Since the 1990s, she has initiated festival formats that shed light on current trends in electronic music and art through social discourse. In 2014, she founded the Heroines of Sound festival, for which she has been responsible for the artistic concept ever since.

In German (some contributions are in English)

Introduction

contents