Palma Ars Acustica

The Jury of the 2024 Palma Ars Acustica met online on 10 June and designated this year's winner:

Marco Blaauw with his work Global Breath – World of Trumpet Sounds, entered by SWR

Discover the 2024 Palma Ars Acustica entries in MUS under AA/2024/04/03/01-16.

Quote from Marco Blaauw

The Palma Ars Acustica jury had this to say about the winning piece:

The Prix Palma Ars Acustica 2024 goes to Marco Blaauw's radio composition Global Breath – World of Trumpet Sounds, a production from SWR, for its outstanding approach to travelling the world through the means of trumpet instruments, encompassing not only man-made instruments, but also sounds from the environment, ie. animals and birds. A subtle journey through the ancestral rituals of the horn or trumpet. The sound of the trumpet plays the role of an instrument of communication across cultures and continents.

Special Mentions

The jury also gave special mentions to Niki Matita’s Fernempfangsstelle, from Czech Radio, a hommage to Rolf Formis, a “hacker” from the early days of radio, who has long since been forgotten, as well as to Yle's production of Cut off by Finnish-Iranian artist S. Kivi, a piece of communication breakdown between Iran and the rest of the world.

The jury felt that all three pieces have the fact that they deal with communication, with hidden aspects of acoustic communication or with communication that is even forced to remain hidden for political reasons, in common.

For artist Niki Matita’s Fernempfangsstelle, the jury said the following:

Having spent time at both sites in Stuttgart and Prague, Niki Matita delves into the story of this little known chapter of the history of radio, using some wonderful rare historical material and on-site documentary recordings, whilst bridging the past with the present, when mass media and their surveillance are discussed in the light of freedom of speech and political oppression in totalitarian-ruled countries. On top of that, the piece’s aesthetic quality is highly sophisticated, with a fine sense for acoustic details and dramaturgical passages.

For S. Kivi’s Cut off, the jury remarked the following:

A brilliant screenplay that builds tension from the very first minutes, with great sobriety, finally letting us experience the rumours of the crowd right up to intimacy, through this dialogue, this fragile and indispensable thread that is communication, until it breaks. The world of sound, which guides us throughout the play, is sometimes the primary source of the script, sometimes a source of escape, sometimes a leitmotif for a dramatic outcome.
 

The Prix Palma Ars Acustica (PAA) is an international competition organized by the Ars Acustica community to promote and honour outstanding productions of authors in the world of Ars Acustica: radio art, sound art, media art, text sound compositions, electroacoustic music, electronics, live electronica, etc. Candidates should be put forward by specialized producers from EBU radio organizations.

2024 Palma Ars Acustica Regulations