Soundtrack for Midnight TAMURO

As part of the Kunstfest Weimar in 2026, a special open-air concert performance will be presented: Soundtrack for Midnight TAMURO by Masamitsu Araki. For this project, the artist, composer, and sound designer draws on memories of his own youth in rural northern Japan—where outlying areas serve as unofficial gathering spots for young people, functioning as improvised social spaces outside of school and work. At the same time, these places are hubs of vibrant subcultures where vehicles become mobile sound carriers.

Drawing on his own biographical experiences, Masamitsu Araki engages in a dialogue with participants and experts from the car-tuning scene in Thuringia and the surrounding regions. Conversations about their personal relationship to rural areas, as well as their shared passion for the perfect sound, combined with field recordings made during a research stay in Thuringia, form the starting point for an electronic composition designed for the modified sound systems of the participating vehicles.

The composition will be premiered at the Festwiese Apolda—a park on the outskirts of the city. To this end, the car tuners collaborate with Araki to develop a poetic choreography that lends the composition a spatial dimension. The artist is also present on stage and controls the moving sound installations live during the performance. Thus, the ghostly motorized orchestra moves through the space, unfolding a fleeting concert at twilight.

The performance of Soundtrack for Midnight TAMURO is made possible by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.

Further information:
kunstfest-weimar.de

Dates

August 21 & 22, 2026
Festwiese Apolda