Competition Field Recording + lecture by Peter Cusack

A listening session featuring the shortlisted entries for the 2027 Field Recording Competition, which centres on the theme of ‘Movement’. The listening session will be followed by the awards ceremony, remarks from the jury members and a talk (EN) by Peter Cusack on listening to his neighbours and climate change from the window of his home. Climate change is now obviously affecting us all. We experience this directly through ever more extreme weather, increasingly noticeable effects on local wildlife and plants, concerns about water supplies and food availability and constant arguments over ‘net zero’. Many of the impacts have sonic elements, which we can hear. Some are loud, but more are small, subtle, changes in the soundscape that need time to appreciate. Since 2012 Peter Cusack has lived in a 3rd floor apartment that overlooks a small courtyard and garden in Berlin. During that period, he has been trying to document the sounds heard through his window and how they have evolved in this decade which is crucial for coming to terms (personally and collectively) with global heating, biodiversity and other vital environmental issues. In parallel, and in response, Peter Cusack has also been exploring ways of making music – on guitar and with field recordings - that regards the sound environment as a participant and, indeed, as a player in its own right rather than as an unwanted background. This talk will discuss these thoughts and observations illustrated with recordings and photographs.