In accordance with its statutes the foundation sponsors projects of cultural excellence and events which enhance the prestige and international importance of the City of Bonn as a city of culture, and especially as the birthplace of the composer Ludwig van Beethoven. Priority will be given to projects which accompany and supplement the Beethoven Festival Bonn. According to the guidelines adopted by the Board of Trustees the sponsored projects should be expected to meet with an extraordinary response, be supportive of international co-operation and make a significant contribution to the attractiveness of Bonn as the seat of international organisations and as a congress location.
The foundation also sponsors projects and events of individual artists, groups of artists and cultural institutions (museums etc.) from the entire spectrum of arts and culture. Projects should be clearly and unmistakably related to Bonn; national and international co-productions are nonetheless welcome.
ECHOES - Soundforum Bonn
echoes – soundforum bonn has been combining artistic and scientific research and practice since 2022. In close operation with a scientific institution of Bonn, sound artists pose questions in dialogue with scientists about nature, the destruction of nature, biodiversity and sustainability. Following a joint research expedition and a residency in collaboration with local cultural institutions, new sound art projects are created each year both in Bonn and at the partner institutions’ locations.
After the Bonn City Sound Artist 2022 Robin Minard investigated the sounds and living conditions of frogs in the rainforest together with biologists from the Museum Koenig and the University of Santa Marta in Colombia, biodiversity in the plant kingdom is the central theme von echoes – soundforum bonn 2023.
For this year’s echoes – soundforum bonn, the artist duo Roswitha von den Driesch and Jens-Uwe Dyffort, who live and work in Berlin, have been appointed City Sound Artists Bonn 2023 by the Beethoven Foundation. In close exchange with biologists from the Nees Institute at the University of Bonn and the CRC1211 research network, they will investigate the development of plants in extremely water-scarce environments. Their artistic research forms the basis for the creation of new sound installations, Roswitha von den Driesch and Jens-Uwe Dyffort will realise in Antofagasta, the capital of the Atacama Desert in Chile, and after that in Bonn at the Beethovenfest.