Commissions to Natasha Barrett, Gerriet K. Sharma & Otto Livar

Sounding Future is an international platform for contemporary music with a focus on electroacoustic music as well as spatial and sound art. In collaboration with artists and institutions, it produces curated projects that span composition, installation, and digital presentation.

With Worlds/Graz, Sounding Future is realizing three commissions to Natasha Barrett, Gerriet K. Sharma, and Otto Livar, made possible by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation. The project centers on the question of how musical form changes when space and movement themselves become compositional parameters.

The invited composers are developing independent works for a walk-in sound space in which the position and movement of visitors have a structural impact on the musical unfolding. Space is understood not merely as an acoustic environment, but as a form-shaping element of the composition. Transitions, intensifications, shifts in perspective, and sonic layering respond to proximity, distance, and changes in direction. This gives rise to non-linear dramaturgies in which musical processes unfold dynamically.

The world premieres will take place in the fall of 2026 in the outdoor area of the Volkskundemuseum Graz. There, a walk-through, interactive sound installation will be realized, combining real movement with compositionally designed spatial structures. The audience experiences the works not from a frontal perspective as in a concert hall, but through their own movement within the space. Each position opens up a different sonic perspective, creating individual listening experiences without compromising the compositional integrity of the works.

Further information:
soundingfuture.com

Dates

November 8–11, 2026
Courtyard of the Volkskundemuseum Graz