The concept
Music events and clubs are meant to bring people together. In recent years, anti-racist and anti-sexist education within the framework of events has aimed to enable inclusive celebration without discrimination. Nevertheless, these places often provide an exclusive environment from an architectural, security, or sensory perspective, and the target audience remains limited. There are no guidelines to help organizers support people with visual, auditory, or cognitive impairments at events and implement potential measures.
Based on these observations, we researched the existing opportunities for barrier-free music events in Vienna, the measures in place to make clubbing more accessible, and where gaps still exist. The project was completed in June with an exhibition that includes an installation transforming music into a tangible experience and challenging our senses. By using wood as a resonator, music becomes not only audible but also tangible. This relationship between sound and material leads to an exploration: "What remains when hearing becomes secondary?" Visitors could experience the vibrations of the music with their whole body and perceive the sounds in a new dimension. The exhibition space also presented methods that can be used in a party context. These tools enable a more inclusive and diverse party experience without the need for significant infrastructural changes. During the exhibition, two live performances took place on the installation: one by Deaf_iance, an artist with hearing impairments who works exclusively with low frequencies, and a second event where the artist duo Mitra performed an ambient set designed for the installation.
We were inspired to build further structures, experiment with new materials and shapes, and combine them with different genres of music. We see the club as a playground where visitors can freely interact with the music and break down the frontal structure of the classic setup, in which the artist faces the audience.
US:
Réka Novák
Réka Novák is an artist and cultural organizer based in Vienna. She studied media design in Budapest and Catania and recently completed her Master's degree in Social Design – Art as Urban Innovation at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. With practical experience in interactive multimedia installations as well as video and film projects, her artistic and research interests focus on the democratization of culture, making it more accessible and participatory. She is active in the infrastructure of self-organized spaces and co-curates the program of the cultural center 4lthangrund, alongside other tasks such as space coordination, project development, and managing technical, personnel, and PR requirements for events. Her long-standing experience in nightlife and the organization and execution of parties has inspired her to further explore the improvement of club spaces. In the project "Your Club Is Not My Club," she worked with Johanna Kalinke and Theodora Hergheligiu on the topic of accessibility for people with disabilities in the Vienna club scene. In addition to her organizational and installation projects, Réka is currently also working as a motion and graphic designer.
Johanna Kalinke
Johanna Kalinke first trained as a seamstress in Newcastle Upon Tyne (UK) before studying geography at the University of Vienna. She continues to focus on feminist urban and spatial planning in the Master's program in Social Design at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, where she explores this topic through multimedia artistic works. Since 2023, she has been working with Yanic Kieser and Hannah Mucha on the project "Bassenatratsch," which examines the spatiality of care work in public and semi-public spaces. As part of "Care on Earth, Ecology of Work 1," the group explored the club as a space for care work. Together with Réka Novák and Theodora Hergheligiu, Johanna expanded this investigation to include the topic of accessibility in club culture and the sensory experience of music. The project "Your Club is Not My Club" raises questions such as: What remains when hearing is absent? What could a non-capitalist club look like? In addition to her artistic work, Johanna Kalinke is part of the Urban Living Lab Vienna, where she researches inclusion within critical spatial design.
Theodora HergheligiuTheodora is a sound artist, musician, and researcher who investigates the dynamic interaction between human and architectural bodies as well as sound waves. Through musical language, she explores sonic communication and expands the ways in which beings experience sound in unconventional forms. Together with MTRL, she performs electronic live sets and creates immersive soundscapes that emphasize the acoustic nature of sound. Additionally, Theodora has developed several projects focusing on living spaces, urban spheres as playgrounds, and the fusion between digital and analog spaces.