Gather Up! was a testament to that spirit. Throughout the day, a wide range of artists showcased not just their music but their defiance—challenging the conventions of what it means to be a musician and what music itself can be. It wasn’t just about sound; it was about experience. It was about navigating between formal institutions and the raw, self-taught paths of discovery and expression.

More than just a series of performances, Gather Up! felt like a collective ritual—a moment where people connected, healed, and honored those whose lives became political statements simply because they refused to treat music as a luxury. Here, music wasn’t just an art form; it was a lifeline, a rebellion, and a memory in motion.

Sam Aguirre, 2025.

How do we translate wishes, grief, and presence into sound? This presentation explores the
creation of sound talismans—objects or compositions imbued with personal intention, ritual,
and sonic resonance. Drawing from concepts of mapping vs. improvisation, self-soothing
through loops, and deep listening, participants will engage with sound as both a medium of
transformation and a refuge.

Through guided reflection, participants will ask:
● What is a sincere wish you hold?
● What can you offer?
● How do you navigate doubt, presence, and trust in the creative process?

Using accessible tools, voice, and found objects, we will explore ways to craft meaningful sonic expressions. No prior musical experience is required—only a willingness to listen,
experiment, and engage with the unknown.

Open to everyone
Registration until March 29th at gather@udk-berlin.de

Kei Watanabe - PETAL (she/they) is a Sri Lankan-Japanese sound artist based in
Berlin. Their practice incorporates found objects, acoustic instruments, voice, and loops, with a strong focus on exploring the tension between stillness and chaos within inner landscapes.
Central themes in their work include memory, prayer, and the interplay of despair and hope.
Kei Watanabe is also a random artist who hates writing these.

March 30th 2025, 4pm to 7pm
Room Bu310
Universität der Künste Berlin,
Bundesallee 1-12, 10719

The symposium will include performances and sessions from feminist, queer and LGBTQIA+ perspectives that are still marginalized and underrepresented in the arts universities. Invited artists, thinkers and practitioners from Berlin will lead sessions based on their work and artistic practice. In addition to the scheduled sessions, there will be listening and reading rooms that allow people to spend their time and attention more flexibly, featuring music and writings by and about female and nonbinary composers. Additionally we want the symposium to allow space for connections and interactions beyond the set program, following initiatives and energies that arise during the day.

Guests include: Abigail Sanders, Coila-Leah Enderstein, Jonathan Lauwers, Kei Watanabe, Mmakgosi Kgabi, Neo Hülcker, Sonqo Ruro & Raras Umaratih

Saturday, 26th of October, 13:00 – 20:00
Universität der Künste Berlin, Bundesallee 1-12, 10719

Participation is free, we kindly ask that you register by email when possible: gather@udk-berlin.de

We will do our best to make the event accessible to individuals with disabilities, care responsibilities and other commitments. We strongly encourage participants to inform us in advance of any accommodations they may need to make the event as welcoming as possible.

Free childcare is available, please register in advance.
The rooms have lift access.
The symposium will mostly be in English, translation into German will be available.

PROGRAMME:

12.30 - 20.00 Reading, Listening, Chill Out Room (Room 41)
12.30 - 20.00 Childcare/Kinderbetreuung (Room 28)

12.30 DOORS open (Probensaal & Room 202)

13.00 - 13.15 Introduction & Welcome from gather collective

13.15 - 13.40 Solo Humpback Whale
performance & presentation - Abigail Sanders

13.45 - 14.30 Crafting talismans of Sound
presentation & sound - Kei Watanabe

14.30 - 14.45 coffee & tea break

14.45 - 15.30 Die Komponistin Amy Beach - “One of the boys?”
lecture - Jonathan Lauwers

15.40 - 16.25 Being alone together alone
movement session - Mmakgosi Kgabi

16.25 - 16.40 break

16.40 - 17.25 Songs from Me to You
performance - Coila-Leah Enderstein

17.30 - 18.15 Discussion

18.15 - 19.00 Dinner break - dinner provided

19:00 - 19.45 Choir of the Warmi Pachakuti
Sonqo Ruro & Raras Umaratih

19.50 - 20.40 ANIMALS
listening session - Neo Hülcker

20.45 - end party outro…

From Manila, Philippines, Anjeline de Dios (b.1982) is an artist, teacher, and writer whose chant practice builds connections between sound art, meditation, and decolonial humanities. She is currently a resident artist of the Goethe Institut Indonesien’s REFLEKT Residency hosted by SAVVY Contemporary in Berlin.

In this talk-performance-meditation Anjeline de Dios reflects on the notion of ‘listening to listening’. Through her practice of chants she explores healing as a complex sonic phenomenon; not only the act of giving attention to, and being affected by, literal sound, but also the relational-infrastructural task of building symbolic, discursive, and material frames: In a common effort to exercise solidarity across difference and conflict, she makes an appeal for approaches that integrate critical, self-reflexive thinking with a tender, experimental relatedness towards our own and each other’s affective and embodied selves, reiterating the generative potency of sound for this integrative work.

The event will be held in English.

This event is supported by the Berlin Program for the Promotion of Equal Opportunities in Research and Teaching (BCP), the AG Women's Funding of the UdK Berlin, the Women's and Equality Representative of the UdK Berlin and KLANGZEITORT.

Link to the audio-recording of the lecture-performance:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QZ58cQ29oAitNeeECHl-3yuxivFkpqAv/view?usp=sharing

The composer Tania Rubio is a guest of the Gather collective. She presents the Documentary Film “Territory, Memory and Migration” about the Acoustic Ecology Lab Mexico-Germany, that she founded, and talks about “Biomusic, from animal communication to the creation of new music through the crossover between art, science and community.” In her compositions, Rubio combines electronic music with natural sounds and the traditional instruments of South America with those of the classical orchestra. Rituals, myths, natural sounds, symbols and landscapes find their way into her music. She uses different sound colors, images, media and materials. Rubio is pursuing her doctorate degree under the guidance of Carola Bauckholt with the project: "Biomusic: from animal communication to music composition" at the Anton Bruckner Private University Linz.

"Territory, Memory and Migration by the Acoustic Ecology Lab Mexico Germany" is an international cooperation supported by the Goethe Institut Internationaler KoproduktionsFonds.

The Gather Collective (formerly FEM_MUSIC_) is a participatory and low-hierarchy project that began in 2016 to discuss intersectional perspectives on contemporary art and music production. It is funded by the Berlin Program for the Promotion of Equal Opportunities in Research and Teaching (BCP), the AG Frauenfördergelder of the UdK Berlin and by the Women's and Equal Opportunities Officer of the UdK Berlin.

Registration only for the online event is required. Link after registration here: gather_ @udk-berlin.de

Documentary trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvd5atEzQ4w

Link to the audio-recording of the lecture:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d8e7LQe83cP61RUaRVlaZE8DExrS2Viq/view?usp=drive_link

What does newly composed music sound like from the audience’s perspective? What do people value about their interactions with live contemporary classical music? And what can alternative formats or forms of audience participation bring to these experiences? This talk will introduce a new publication that explores these and similar questions - the first large-scale audience experience study on contemporary classical music. Drawing on data collected across ten European countries, the book makes contributions to future discussions on audience diversity and accessibility. Contemporary classical music is analysed as a ‘high art subculture’ rife with contradictions and conflicts around its cultural value. At the event, Gina Emerson will present insights and ideas from the publication and come into conversation with members of gather.

Dr. Gina Emerson is a musicologist, project manager and curator. Her research explores and connects the topics of audience experience, sustainability, cultural participation and the use of new technologies in art music contexts. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the IASS Potsdam in the Art-Science Cooperations for Sustainability group. Since 2020, she has been a board member in the BGNM (Berlin Society for New Music) collective. Her first monograph, Audience Experience and Contemporary Classical Music, will be published by Routledge in March 2023.

This event is supported by the Berlin Program for the Promotion of Equal Opportunities in Research and Teaching (BCP), the AG Women's Funding of the UdK Berlin, the Women's and Equality Representative of the UdK Berlin and KLANGZEITORT.

Book on Routledge's website:
routledge.com/Audience-Experience-and-Contemporary-Classical-Music-Negotiating-the-Experimental/Emerson/p/book/9780367696818

Link to the audio-recording of the book launch:
drive.google.com/file/d/1cFFxx_d2kEA0r5nroREywQkuuE35ghkw/view

External speakers will be academics, artists and actors who are active in various feminist music and art organizations. In subsequent discussions, the topics will be explored in greater depth. Interested parties from the contemporary music scene outside the university or college are also explicitly welcome: The forum forms a hinge between studies and professional work (in the independent scene) for young composers and musicians.

• November 24, 2017: 'GRINM and beyond' with Arnbjörg Marìa Danielsen and Marta Forsberg (Konstmusiksystrar)

• December 15, 2017: 'Handlungsfelder' with Julia Eckhardt, Neo Hülcker and Kaffe Matthews

• January 12, 2018: 'Other practices' with Holly Herndon, Marianne Svašek and Jennifer Walshe

• January 26, 2018: 'Working with archives' with Talisha Goh and Bettina Wackernagel

All events took place in Charlottenstr. 55 in room 151 and the protocols in which Lucien Danzeisen, Rosanna Lovell and Merle Krafeld recapitulate the individual events are available in our book.