In July 2024, I conducted a 2-day workshop at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, in the context of the Cultures d’Avenir programme. The Cultures d’Avenir project is initiated by Centre Pompidou and La Gaîté Lyrique in Paris, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) in Berlin and Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB). Through a series of workshops and activities, the programme invites young film-makers and audio-visual artists to rethink how artistic practices address and intersect with societal issues and how art and culture can play a role in approaching global contemporary challenges.

My workshop was entitled Urban Reverberations: Exploring City Symphonies in the 21st Century – A Cinematic Workshop in Berlin. Set against Berlin’s unique history of destruction, reconstruction, division, and reunification, the workshop explored the question: What does a city symphony look like in the 21st century? Participating students received a brief historical overview of city symphonies, examining diverse representations of urbanity, transformation, daily life, embodied subjectivities, and historical contexts. Following a brainstorming session, either independently or in groups, the participating students used their mobile phones to create their own short city symphonies. This hands-on experience involved experimenting with various cinematic techniques like interviews, montage, and observational shots. The objective was to explore how these contemporary information and communication technologies shape our connection with the city, including its history, architecture, rhythm, and inhabitants. The outcome showed diverse narratives encapsulating the city experience in a short-form format.