COURAGE TO SHAPE UTOPIA | Workshop Nr. 1
10. December 2025
#residency #utopia #tonali
The beginning of October opened a completely new resonance space for us in Hamburg: As part of the artistic residency tied to the TONALi Award „Mut zur Utopie“, our artistic directors Franziska Ritter and Christian Siegmund launched their joint project with the first cohort of TONALi Academy students. This kickoff workshop marks the start of a co-creative process culminating in the curated „Social Symphony No. 3“ at the TONALi Festival 2026 on July 3, 2026.
Die Workshop-Stimmung: auf dem Weg zur Utopie darf der Humor nicht fehlen.
The artistic work was thematically centered on the topic of the award: utopia. The two curators deliberately chose this title for the workshop too. In a time marked by strong dystopian global vibrations, utopia should become a shining artistic counter-proposal in the work with the Academy students - as an attitude, an encounter, a possibility to let new things grow.
Before the first workshop began, the Academy students received the task „15 minutes for a (U)Topia“: They were to search within a 150-meter radius around the Academy for a place, a moment, or an atmosphere that held potential, possibility, or a special quality for change. These findings were called Topia: concrete starting points for what we often prefer to project into the distance - utopia right here and now.
Die Topie „Du oder ich?“ der Akademistin Viviane Ruof.
The Academy students documented their Topia through sketches, sounds, photos, or found objects, and presented their discoveries - poetically, sensorially, close to their own perception. Places of light, silence, encounters with the random - small islands of possibility in urban space.
The next step was dedicated to encounter: „15 minutes for a SYNTOPIA“. Pairs of musicians (who, in this duo format during their training, will also develop artistic interventions for specific areas in Hamburg in the so-called „Art Protection Zone“) formed tandems betwenn their Topia, combined their visions, and developed a musical intervention dedicated to a person in the „Art Protection Zone“. These miniatures were presented on Friday in the TONALi hall - accompanied by the invited guests, the TONALi team, and many curious listeners. What emerged was a multifaceted showing that touched deeply: sound became gesture, music became dialogue, utopia became lived reality. Between quiet mindfulness and playful exploration, a resonance space of formats and experiments opened up, where communal energy grew from individual impulses.
Diese urbane Syntopie von Henrike Henoch und Pau Llopp erklang für ein älteres Ehepaar mit Fahrrädern.
Bei der Syntopie von Ípek Atila und Emilia Durka durften Worte Klänge werden.
With this first stage of the residency, a journey begins that sparks curiosity for the process ahead - and makes the „Courage to Shape Utopia“ palpable. We already invite everyone to join us on July 3, 2026, at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, when the Social Symphony No. 3 will resonate - a symphony grown from many small Topia.
Pau Llop entdeckt Utopien mit der Posaune.
