19 August 2022
13th Berliner Hörspielfestival: Mitten ins Gesicht! (Right in the face!)
Audio play competitions, live-acts, audiowalks, installations – on site, on the radio, on the Internet
2 – 4 September 2022, Hanseatenweg
From 2 to 4 September 2022, the 13th Berliner Hörspielfestival (BHF) will be taking place at the Akademie der Künste on Hanseatenweg. The independent audio play scene festival’s programme on Friday, 2 September is part of Kultursommerfestival Berlin 2022; admission is free on this day.
The focus is on the competitions for the coveted “brennende Mikros” (burning mics), endowed with high-value audio equipment. 32 audio plays were selected from the 177 submissions. In addition to this, there are 44 “MikroFlitzer” (MicroSpeedster), each no longer than one minute, which were produced within 14 days and have to include the phrase “Mitten ins Gesicht” (right in the face) and “the sound of a closing time window”. In total, the festival received 221 submissions.
In 2022, the annually rotating expert jury for the main prize, “Das lange brennende Mikro” (The long burning mic), chaired by audio play critic Jochen Meißner (BHF), consists of audio play author and visual artist Eran Schaerf, theatre director and audio play author Nele Stuhler, last year’s winner Mariola Brillowska and blind cabaret singer and honorary council president of the Berlin General Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired, Dietrich Plückhahn.
This year, BHF e.V. will once again award an advancement prize for a début, endowed with the production of a new play at the Akademie der Künste’s Studio für Elektroakustische Musik. The prizewinning play Irmi, geboren 1923 by last year's advancement prize winner, Annedore Bauer, will premiere on 2 September.
There’s a live event every evening: the audio play concert Augen auf zum Klänge sehen by the ensemble Atonor (2 Sep), the multi-media performance Fehlerwiesen / First Chance by sound artist and audio play author Antje Vowinckel (3 Sep) and the premiere of a new play by multi-award-winning audio play author Hermann Bohlen (with Robert Schalinski) Live-Mix aus dem Hirn im OP-Saal (4 Sep).
Perspectives from the independent scene will be addressed by Juliane Schmidt (rbb), Nathalie Singer (Bauhaus Universität Weimar), David Fischbach (Buchfunk Verlag publishing house), Marcus Gammel (DLF Kultur) and others, and the current changes in the media in broadcasting will be discussed by prominent representatives of the sector at the invitation of the Hans-Flesch-Gesellschaft | Forum für akustische Kunst, such as Kathrin Röggla, Luise Voigt, Ulrich Bassenge and others, hosted by Oliver Sturm. In a workshop discussion, audio play authors Mariola Brillowska and Helgard Haug (Rimini Protokoll) will talk about their artistic approaches. In Martin Bolik’s interactive audio play production bus, visitors can try their hand at creating an audio play scene themselves – on Saturday with special guest Santiago Ziesmer, the German voice of SpongeBob. Guidemate and Soundmarker (laboratory for site-specific audio works) will present their Audiowalk Award for the first time at the Berliner Hörspielfestival. The installation Gebetomat by Oliver Sturm, an archive of 320 prayers of various religions and faiths in 64 languages, and the collaborative web project 1001 Minutes for Ukraine by Cristiana Coletti and Wolfgang Hamm can also be experienced.
A workshop by the Akademie der Künste’s Studio für Elektroakustische Musik on the realisation of 3D audio plays (already fully booked out) will further add to the programme. The results of the audio play and podcast workshops for blind and visually impaired audio enthusiasts that took place before the festival will also be presented. The festival offers an assistance service for blind and visually impaired guests.
The on-site programme will also be available via live stream on the Akademie der Künste’s Vimeo channel and BHF’s YouTube channel. Deutschlandfunk Kultur will broadcast the festival on its digital channel Dokumente und Debatten on DAB+.
In cooperation with the Film and Media Arts Section and the KUNSTWELTEN education programme of the Akademie der Künste
As part of Kultursommerfestival Berlin 2022
Media partners: Deutschlandfunk Kultur and taz, die tageszeitung
Event information
13th Berliner Hörspielfestival – The Festival of the Independent Audio Play (BHF)
2 – 4 September 2022
Friday, 2 Sep, 2 pm – 12 am; Saturday and Sunday, 3 + 4 Sep, 12 pm to 12 am
Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg 10, 10557 Berlin
Free admission on Friday, 2 Sep, as part of Kultursommerfestival Berlin.
Day ticket: €12/8
Free admission for blind and visually impaired guests and the person accompanying them every day.
Tickets: Tel. +49(0)30 200 57 – 2000, ticket@adk.de, webshop adk.de/tickets
Further information:
www.berliner-hoerspielfestival.de, www.adk.de
Press contact on behalf of the Akademie der Künste:
Anke Beims, Tel: +49 (0)178 5481682, Anke.Beims@berliner-hoerspielfestival.de