Social Music Kiosk – Vienna

Social Music Kiosk
(on-air, on-line: http://www.kunstradio.at, Sunday, Nov 25th, 23:00
Brandon LaBelle

In conjunction with the Kunstmarkt event held at the Schöpfwerk housing community in Vienna in October 2007 where art was used as a meeting point for social diversity, Social Music Kiosk functions as a gathering of different narratives related to art and social environments. Originally staged as an artistic contribution to the Kunstmarkt, the Kiosk functioned as a participatory sonic platform, inviting visitors to add to the mix by way of their favorite CDs, audio reports made on-site, and live treatments and interactions. Using the Kunstmarkt as a base, the radio work overlays multiple inputs: a series of audio recordings made by local residents and visitors to the Kunstmarkt, an interview and discussion with the organizers of the Kunstmarkt and social workers from Schöpfwerk, and electronic treatments. Part-documentary, part-question and answer, and part-mix, the work is a telescoping of multiple perspectives onto a social topography.

http://www.kunstradio.at/2007B/25_11_07.html

Thanks to Ulla Ebner for her DJing, Annette Stahmer for her assistance, and to Rudolfine Lackner, Renate Schnee and Sabine for their invitation and conversation.

text from errantbodies web page at
http://www.errantbodies.org/labellesocialmusic.html

Social Music was initially developed as a radio series for Kunstradio, Vienna in 2001. When I was invited by them to propose a series of audio works for broadcast (radio poses provocative questions to the idea of site-specificity…) I wanted very much to create a conceptual framework for organizing the works not so much around making music within the confines of the studio, but by inviting outside influence or social input in determining sound production. Social Music functioned as an overarching umbrella for generating musical and sonic activities that sought out public space, social interaction, spatial discoveries—found sounds, phenomenological tests, conversations between friends…

Following the radio series, Social Music continues as a general theme, as a conceptual attitude, and as a platform for future projects.

radiobookeventkiosk
What is your favourite music?
What tunes do you dance to?
What music do you share with friends or family?
Developed in conjunction with Kunstmarkt 2, the Social Music Kiosk was a participatory situation designed to work with the event as a social meeting specific to the Schöpfwerk social housing community on the outskirts of Vienna. Built in the late 1970s, the Schöpfwerk houses roughly 5000 people, representing many nations, mostly Arabic, and of low-income status. With shops, and related community facilities, such as a library, post office, and school, the Schöpfwerk is a complex and dynamic social environment (with its own mythological status amongst the Viennese population), embodying many of the problematics of social housing while also producing a rich and difficult situation that includes many cultural and social functions, such as garden initiatives, cooking events, radio broadcasts and publications. The Kunstmarkt functioned to offer a positive experience for the community by using art as a vehicle and platform: artworks by local residents were put on display and were offered as gifts to visitors. In addition, other visiting artists were invited to contribute, through forms of action and participation, lending to the live experience. For more information see: http://www.bassena.at