Heroines of Sound 2025: Day 1
Oblivia / Chikiss
Concert Film Performance Panel
Chikiss © Promo
Oblivia © Saara Autere
Ticket Prices
Day Ticket
22 Euro reduced 15 Euro
2-day Ticket
38 Euro reduced 26 Euro
3-day Ticket / Festival Pass
55 Euro reduced 40 Euro
The concerts start at 8 pm.
Concerts
The festival opens with a spectacular show by the performance group Oblivia, who present an experimental musical contemplation of the Anthropocene with “Reality Bang”. In their newest production, the Helsinki-based company dedicates itself to the topic of global warming. Together with composer Yiran Zhao, they perform an arrangement of live electronic music, light and stage design that is as striking for its minimalist yet powerful aesthetic as for its grotesque comedy.
The subsequent performance by Berlin-based musician Chikiss also deals with existential questions. In her distinctive, immersive, and dreamy synth-pop, the singer-songwriter expresses the power of resistance and resilience.
Panel I: Gender and Persistance in Music Cultures
“Art has no gender, but artists do“ – this insight, articulated by art critic and activist Lucy Lippard in the 1970s, was a key argument in feminist art theory’s demand for greater visibility and recognition of women artists in a male-dominated art world. In slightly varied form, Lippard’s statement serves as the title of an article by Julia Eckhardt on gender specificity in music and sound art, in which she highlights how this asymmetrical dynamic continues to shape the music world today. How, then, do gender roles, identities, and the settings and circumstances of creative practice influence musical concepts and strategies? Building on this question, the discussion will explore the current living and working conditions of the participating artists with a focus on the challenges they face today – especially the uncertainties and threats stemming from the many ongoing crises and conflicts, and not least, from the current conservative backlash.
Film screening: Sarah Hennies – “Contralto“ (2017, GP)
“Contralto“ is a one-hour work for video, strings, and percussion that inhabits the space between experimental music and documentary. The piece features a cast of transgender women speaking, singing, and performing vocal exercises, accompanied by a dense and varied musical score that includes a variety of conventional and ›non-musical‹ approaches to sound-making.
Cast
With
Oblivia
Chikiss
Biographien
Heroines of Sound wurde aus der Berliner Szene mit einer feministischen Agenda von Bettina Wackernagel und einer Gruppe von Künstler*innen initiiert. Zur Aufführung gelangen herausragende frühe Werke sowie zukunftsweisende Positionen von jüngeren Künstler*innen. Die Idee ist, die Verbindungslinien unterschiedlicher Genres erfahrbar zu machen und die Präsenz von FLINTA-Künstler*innen im Kunst- und Musikbetrieb kontinuierlich zu stärken.
Programme
5 p.m. – midnight: Sound and film bar
Heroines of Sound Selection 2025
Film portraits by Maryanne Amacher, Beatriz Ferreyra, Midori Hirano and Svetlana Maraš
Film screening: Sarah Hennies – “Contralto“ (2017, DE)
6 pm: Panel I
Gender and Persistance in Music Cultures
With: Sara Abazari (online), Anahita Abbasi, Chikiss, Yara Mekawei, Brigitta Muntendorf, Sarah Nemtsov (tbc), Bettina Wackernagel // Moderation: Nele Weiher
8 pm: Concert I
Oblivia – “Reality Bang“ (2024, DE)
9.45 pm: Concert II
Chikiss – “Resilience“ (2017)
During the Chikiss concert, strobe light effects will be used.
Credits
Heroines of Sound Festival 2025 is funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion, with the kind support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, the Goethe-Institut Chile and initiative neue musik Berlin e.V.
In co-operation with Radialsystem, ZK/U, Ensemble LUX:NM, Schrumpf/ LOUDsoft, Lullabyte.eu /FU Berlin, funded by the European Union.
Media partnerships: GROOVE, Missy Magazin, Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, The Wire, L.MAG, Spitz Magazin, The Berliner, Rausgegangen, tip Berlin, taz. die tageszeitung.
Concerts
The festival opens with a spectacular show by the performance group Oblivia, who present an experimental musical contemplation of the Anthropocene with “Reality Bang”. In their newest production, the Helsinki-based company dedicates itself to the topic of global warming. Together with composer Yiran Zhao, they perform an arrangement of live electronic music, light and stage design that is as striking for its minimalist yet powerful aesthetic as for its grotesque comedy.
The subsequent performance by Berlin-based musician Chikiss also deals with existential questions. In her distinctive, immersive, and dreamy synth-pop, the singer-songwriter expresses the power of resistance and resilience.
Panel I: Gender and Persistance in Music Cultures
“Art has no gender, but artists do“ – this insight, articulated by art critic and activist Lucy Lippard in the 1970s, was a key argument in feminist art theory’s demand for greater visibility and recognition of women artists in a male-dominated art world. In slightly varied form, Lippard’s statement serves as the title of an article by Julia Eckhardt on gender specificity in music and sound art, in which she highlights how this asymmetrical dynamic continues to shape the music world today. How, then, do gender roles, identities, and the settings and circumstances of creative practice influence musical concepts and strategies? Building on this question, the discussion will explore the current living and working conditions of the participating artists with a focus on the challenges they face today – especially the uncertainties and threats stemming from the many ongoing crises and conflicts, and not least, from the current conservative backlash.
Film screening: Sarah Hennies – “Contralto“ (2017, GP)
“Contralto“ is a one-hour work for video, strings, and percussion that inhabits the space between experimental music and documentary. The piece features a cast of transgender women speaking, singing, and performing vocal exercises, accompanied by a dense and varied musical score that includes a variety of conventional and ›non-musical‹ approaches to sound-making.
Cast
With
Oblivia
Chikiss
Biographies
Heroines of Sound wurde aus der Berliner Szene mit einer feministischen Agenda von Bettina Wackernagel und einer Gruppe von Künstler*innen initiiert. Zur Aufführung gelangen herausragende frühe Werke sowie zukunftsweisende Positionen von jüngeren Künstler*innen. Die Idee ist, die Verbindungslinien unterschiedlicher Genres erfahrbar zu machen und die Präsenz von FLINTA-Künstler*innen im Kunst- und Musikbetrieb kontinuierlich zu stärken.
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