We are more alike than we are different
(Wir sind uns ähnlicher als wir verschieden sind)
Projekt „echoes — soundforum bonn 2024“
in Pavillon für Baukultur, Budapester Straße 7 in Bonn

31 August — 8 September 2024, daily 16:00–20:00 (except Sat + Sun, 16:00-17:00)
No Story begins at the beginning
Sound installation by Miki Yui and Stefan Schneider
Location: Pavillon für Baukultur, Budapester Str. 7, 53111 Bonn

Saturday 31 August 2024 + Sunday 1 September 2024 17:00—20:00
Sounds of Democracy
With Bradford Bailey, Bulat Khalilov, Timur Kodzoko, Esen Erhan, Miki Yui, Stefan Schneider
Location: Pavillon für Baukultur, Budapester Str. 7, 53111 Bonn

Saturday 7 September 2024 + Sunday 8September 2024 17:00—20:00 Uhr
Storytelling — Sitting by the fireside
With Miki Yui, Stefan Schneider, Gabriel Hansen, Susanne Fuchs-Mwakideu, Callshop Radio
Location: Pavillon für Baukultur, Budapester Str. 7, 53111 Bonn

Saturday 14 September + Sunday 15 September 2024 15:00-19:00 Uhr
Listening with the Feet
Deep Listening Workshop and Soundwalk with Viv Corringham
Location: Dialograum Kreuzung an St. Helena, Bornheimer Straße 130, 53119 Bonn
Miki Yui & Stefan Schneider
We are more alike than we are different
(Wir sind uns ähnlicher als wir verschieden sind)
In the 75th anniversary year of the German constitution, we find the social and political circumstances that still predominated at the time of the drafting and ratification of the document completely transformed. Modern societies are based on the consensus that people can live together in peace in spite of different experiences, views, life stories and convictions. How can we fulfil this promise when the fundamental orders in Europe and Africa are as shaken as they currently are (for very different respective reasons)?
In times of permanent and parallel crises, we are left with no other option than to double down on strengthening interpersonal relationships, community and the sense of togetherness. Drawing on these impulses, under the title We are more alike than we are different, the present work formulates potential contemporary approaches to creative action. What forms of community do we want today, in an era where the possibility of building on reliable common ground and tried-and-tested forms of understanding seems to be vanishing rapidly?
During our six-week stay in Ghana, we had many encounters and conversations about topics that are familiar to those of us from the West and which preoccupy us in a similar way here too. Through our artistic research on “sound and community” in the West-African country, we gained a variety of insights into how sounds, in the form of music, noises and language, are essential elements in the formation and organisation of communities.
Our previous work with the subject “sound and community” has led us to adopt a collective mode of working in which we seek, in collaboration with other parties, to listen, act and open spaces for shared action. In this context, our experiences from Ghana are placed in relation to other seemingly similar questions from other regions. As a result, the transitions between artistic and curatorial work are fluid here, in what could be described as a polyphonic working method. We understand the subject of the project in such a way that we no longer see our mission as merely reporting on sound and community, but instead recognise an inherent challenge to interrogate our own ways of working and potentially redefine them. The program of We are more alike than we are different is the living expression of these considerations.