Benjamin is a sound art festival at the tramway stops in Florence, Italy.
 

For four days - from October 3rd to 6th - between one service announcement and another, sound art will take over the tramway speakers.

 

ABOUT

Is it possible, through sound, to make public transportation a pleasant and unexpected experience to share with others? Could it be possible to transform the waiting time into an imaginary journey? 

Is it possible to break into the commuters’ isolation? how can we invite people to get out of the bubble of their own personal devices so to find themselves as part of a moving - even if temporary - community?

The goal is to bring the travelers, the commuters, to a surprising elsewhere, to let them experience even just for brief moments other places: new, far away, real or imaginary...sonic travels to other panoramas than those they can see at the tramway stops.

The festival is supported by Comune di Firenze and it would not be possible without the tech support and enthusiasm of GEST.
Benjamin is also glad to share its journey with Sonic Somatic, 60Sec Radio and Biodiversità Records
 

 

 

 

 

CALL FOR SOUNDS

The selected soundworks are by: Anaïs Nisimov, Anna Raimondo, Aurore Balsa, Balam Ronan, Charo Calvo, Chelidon Frame, Radio Continental Drift, Dinah Bird, Felix Blume & Chloé Despax, Francesco Ameglio, Giovanni Corona, Hagai Izenberg, Giulio Aldinucci, Jeanne Debarsy, Jérémie Faivre, Jez riley French, Luana Lunetta, La cosa preziosa, Maria Pecchioli, Massimo Ricciardo & Luca Morino, Pheobe riley Law, Roberto Paci Dalò, Toni Dimitrov, Vacuamoenia, Valeria Muledda and Valerio Orlandini.

The winners of the first edition of Benjiam Call for Soundworks are Radio Continental Drift with Taxi take me home and Giovanni Corona with π.



Beside Radio Papesse's Call for Sound, the sound pieces have been selected thanks to the collaboration with 60sec Radio - Concours de Création Radio  (thank you Boris Chassagne!) and with florentine netlabel Biodiversità Records. 

FEAT. SONIC SOMATIC

Benjamin also collaborates with Sonic Somatic. The 5th edition of the Festival will happen around the Cascine Park and we're glad to co-curate the Sleep Concert scheduled for the night between Saturday October 5th and Sunday October 6th. 

The guest dj and artists are Invernomuto with Black Med , Christian Naujoks, Alpin Folks [listen to their alpine dj sets on Radio Papesse archive], Biodiversità Records fest. Pietro Michi and USER FROM PT and Hagai Izenberg. BRING A SLEEPING BAG! 

Following scholar Alessandra Di Maio’s adaptation of the Black Atlantic theory to the Mediterranean, Black Med aims at intercepting the trajectories that sounds trace passing through this protean area. Divided into different chapters, the Black Med listening sessions are based on a DJ set supported by a series of projected slides containing theoretical texts and backstories referring to the musical pieces, grouped by elegiac themes. The sessions explores different journeys of sound movement, touching topics such as alternate use of technology, migrations, peripheries and interspecies communication. 

[Christian Naujoks, ph. OKNO Studio]

Christian Naujoks is an artist working with music, theatre, performance, installation and painting. He has also been active as a DJ in the Hamburg electronic music scene associated with the Golden Pudel Club and released three solo albums on Berlin-based label Dial Records. In Florence he performs his latest album Wave, its most exquisitely melancholy and most expertly crafted work so far. A rarified and gently captivating expression of ambient romance.


Biodiversità Records presents FossaDelRumore and USER FROM PT in Logos Terapia, an electroacoustic set where sound effects interwine processed field recordings. Logos Terapia takes its cue from an investigation into the digitalization of the frequency interferences that elapse between nature and the sleeping human being, both energy sources. Biodiversità Records is a Florence based independent label. Since its foundation in 2017, it is committed to safeguarding the biodiversity of its catalog, supporting musicians who share an interest in nature, ecology and experimentation.


Hagai Izenberg is a sound artist, composer and musician, founder member of the electronic band Rendezvous. Born in 1978, he lives and works in Israel. Radio Concrete is a monthly experimental radio show which deals with live mixing and processing of field recordings together with radio broadcasting and concrete sounds. Fresh raw materials including everyday sounds, samples from tv & radio, news editions and advertisements are all gathered on a regular basis and then mixed together with live sources (FM and AM stations and other live online streaming sources) and objects (such as amplified/hacked toys).

 

With a stack of records and a stack of books on the console table, Alpin Folks orchestrates an image of both familiar and exotic nature, combining diverse sound sources and quotes from literary and scientific texts. The reading, from being the evening ritual that precedes sleep, here accompanies the dawn and mixes with the dream before waking up. Alpin Folks is a duo formed in 2010 by Martino Margheri and Alessandra Tempesti (aka Gea Brown) who share a mutual interest in electronic music and visual imageries in which one can get a panic experience of nature. 



 

SOUNDS AND TRAM STOPS

Benjamin is ON at twelve tram stops in town, both along the T1 and T2 lines: Villa Costanza, De André, Resistenza, Batoni, Cascini, Strozzi Fallaci, Leopoldo, Careggi, Unità, Novoli San Donato, Guidoni e Aeroporto. Here there are the corrisponding playlists! 

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