Conference Lausitzer Rhythmen: Hören, Erinnern, Leben

BTU News article

What does Lusatia actually sound like? What memories, experiences, and stories do its noises and sounds carry? What role does hearing play in active memory and experience? These questions are the focus of the soundscape project “Lusatian Rhythms,” initiated by Prof. Dr. Astrid Schwarz (Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg) and Prof. Dr. Shintaro Miyazaki (Humboldt University of Berlin).

On June 4 and 5, 2026, the conference “Lusatian Rhythms” will take place in Berlin and Cottbus. Drawing on a variety of academic perspectives, it will explore the sounds and noises of Lusatia, a region historically shaped by lignite mining. In a visually dominated present, hearing often takes a back seat, even though it plays a central, often underestimated role in experience and memory. Contributions from musicology, artistic research with sound and image, acoustics, architecture, and film art open up different perspectives on the soundscapes of Lusatia and their socio-technical assemblages. The focus is on questions regarding how these soundscapes manifest in the lived environments of local people, how Lusatia can be experienced through sound and image, and how memories are generated by technology and nature. We also aim to explore, in part experimentally, transitions to other sensory perceptions such as smell and touch.

Against the backdrop of the planned phase-out of coal by 2038, these questions take on added significance. The open-pit mines in Lusatia that are still active today will become key elements of future remembrance, living archives.

June 4, 2026, from 1 p.m. to about 5 p.m.

Place:  Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Room 2.26 (Signallabor), Georgenstraße 47, 10117 Berlin (Please register by email with  anna.brautmeier.1@hu-berlin.de)

Schedule:

13:00 – Eröffnung, Astrid Schwarz und Shintaro Miyazaki
13:30 – Transformationen Klanglandschaft RUHR – Richard Ortmann & Uta C. Schmidt
14:15 – Resonanzraum Lausitz – Adrian Dorschner
15:00 – Pause
15:15 – Akustische Ökologien von Braunkohleregionen – Peter Cusack & Udo Noll
16:00 – Analyse durch Synthese – Anne Dippel, Alastair Mackie & Sarah Thanner

June 5, 2026, from 9 a.m. to about 5:30 p.m.

Place:  Kunsthalle Lausitz, Güterzufuhrstraße 7, 03046 Cottbus (opposite main railway station)

Schedule:

09:15 – Ein Lausitzer Glockenspiel? – Stefan Hernschier & Jan Magister
09:45 – Landscape Leeway und die Zukunft von Opolno Zdrój – Constanze Fischbeck
10:45 – Pause
11:00 – Zeitgenössische Musik und Literatur der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts in der Lausitz –  Albrecht von Massow
12:00 – Mittagspause
13:00 – Zwischen Findlingen, Förderbrücken und Erinnerung – Toni Schneider & Göran Liebchen
13:45 – Living Library – Eva Lopez
14:15 – Pause
14:30 – Es liegt was in der Luft – Alexandra Skedzuhn-Safir
16:00 – Pause
16:15 – Kurzpräsentationen und Diskussion lokaler Projekte
17:30 – Abschluss

The conference is held in German. The schedule is subject to change without notice.

Poster