MUMBAI: This year, the world-travelling Red Bull Music Academy celebrates its 20th-anniversary edition, bringing its peerless program of workshops, public talks, studio sessions and exhibitions back to the city where it all started: Berlin.
Over five weeks, 61 up-and-coming music makers from around the world will come together at Funkhaus Berlin, a cultural center and historic recording studio complex in East Berlin, which houses some of the best-sounding spaces in the world. There, they will exchange ideas and collaborate with pioneering artists from varied styles, methodologies and cultures. At the same time, Red Bull Music will present a five-week festival of concerts, club nights and public talks at renowned music and cultural venues, exploring the city’s sonic histories and shining a light on the modern musical landscape.
Patiala-born, Delhi-based sound artist/composer/performance artist/painter MORPSIS becomes the only Indian artist to be selected this year and will join the likes of Jivraj Singh, Oceantied and The Sine Painter, who have also attended the Academy in the past.
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Contributing to the regeneration of Funkhaus, which is designated as a protected cultural monument, the Academy will make its home in Block B, helping to return the former H2 radio-play studio to its former glory. The rooms that made up the H1 studio, along with two recording rooms that flank one of the chamber music halls, will serve as production studios. The Academy will rewire and refurbish these studios, reinstating unique features including one of the original reverb chambers. All the fascinating original foley elements that were used for radio plays, from curtains to cobblestones, will remain in place. As always, the Academy studios will be installed with a range of state-of-the-art music equipment, to let the ideas of the participants take flight.
Elsewhere, the Academy will utilize one of the large orchestral recording halls as a lecture hall, and a chamber music recording hall will be used as a spacious session room. Both in the studios and in the larger communal areas, the Academy is working closely with leading Berlin designers New Tendency to create bespoke furniture, as well as pathways and environments within the larger spaces that encourage interaction and collaboration – drawing a line between New Tendency’s own Bauhaus influences and the background of the original architect. To give our visitors a wider understanding of the varied creative output of this most singular metropolis, renowned Berlin gallerist Johann König will install an exhibition of artworks by established and emerging contemporary German artists.
The Red Bull Music Academy 2018 exhibition is curated by Johann König, founder of the eponymous gallery. KÖNIG GALERIE, which opened in 2002, is one of Germany’s most influential and recognized galleries. Funkhaus (‘Broadcast house’) is possibly the largest studio complex in the world, and surely also one of the grandest.
