«The theremin has swallowed me into its microtonal universe.» Dorit Chrysler
This podcast series presents conversations and sounds from the 2025 edition of the Klang Moor Schopfe Festival. Abhishek Mathur travelled to the enchanting setting beneath the Alpstein mountains in northeastern Switzerland, where he encountered artists who entangled themselves with the surrounding soundscape and landscape, creating audio-visual universes in rustic old barns and public spaces.
The works were distinct and unique, yet together they seemed to enter into conversation, resonating across the surroundings and generating a polyphonic field of sounds, voices and ways of listening.
Edited and curated by Abhishek Mathur.
Podcast by Abhishek MathurFlorian Bach and Alexandre Babel play with the idea of negative space and absence in this imagination of their work Ashphalte. Elements such as light, color and sculptures change the objects and their surroundings and create a counterpoint between sound and image.
Podcast by Abhishek Mathur«I've been fascinated by how circuits and electricity and media change the way you experience the world.» Tim Shaw
Podcast by Abhishek MathurWe enter a world hidden from our eyes and experience sights, sounds and sensations invisible to our everyday perception. Mercedes Borguńska and Giulia Hess bring to life bioluminescent fungi, lichens, algae and microorganisms, translating the micro-system of the moor into a macro-universe.
Podcast by Abhishek MathurMarianne Halter and Mario Marchisella are interested in disturbing the familiar in a way which makes one question everyday perspectives. The landscape of the moor is invaded by the songs of birds who imitate mechanical and electronic sounds as a strategy to survive and adapt to their surroundings.
Podcast by Abhishek MathurPercussionist Peter Conradin Zumthor and inventor Gabriel Schneider modify the sound on the bell of the Reformed Church in Gais. Located in the main square of the town, the artistic intervention to this most familiar of sounds produces a hypnotic collective listening experience.
Podcast by Abhishek Mathur«We try to create a kind of living creature that creates its own music.» Peter Bosch & Simone Simons
Podcast by Abhishek MathurClaudia Stöckli describes the political, social and spiritual motivations behind her installation, in which changes in humidity trigger changes in the sound composition. She is joined in this conversation by Mouhssine Bousouiss, a percussionist from the Gnawa community, whose music and healing practices are an integral part of the work.
Podcast by Abhishek Mathur«Friction brings movement and this friction makes me move personally.» Fabrizio di Salvo & Roberto Maqueda
Podcast by Abhishek MathurJapanese artist Kanako Saito’s works explore the dualities of control and the uncontrollable, artificial and natural, city and countryside. Creating an installation with objects from the surroundings of Gais, she endeavours to take meaning out of materials and change how they are understood.
Podcast by Abhishek MathurVanessà Heer brings a revolutionary feminist perspective to the alpsegen, a traditional prayer chanted by herdsmen in the Swiss alps. The reimagined hymn is a tribute to inspirational women, living or dead, a call to be imbued with their spirit and power.
