Recycling Cartography

Suitable for anyone who would like to sit for an hour and to watch and listen to the second life of their collection of recyclables.

20:15 Follow-up discussion

INFORMATION ON ACCESSIBILITY
Wheelchair accessible
Details on accessibility here

Hardi Kurda – Concept, Composition
We Spoke – Performance, co-composition Zurich version

«Recycling Objects» (2016 / Zürcher Version, 2024/25)
World premiere

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Can we imagine a world where all things – even objects that have been discarded and forgotten – are valued as vital resources? This is the question that «Recycling Objects» puts forward. For this concert, composer Hardi Kurda and the We Spoke ensemble worked with Zurich locals to collect items found on their neighbourhood streets. The result is a recycling map of the city, which serves as the musicians' score: one that elicits unexpected beauty and hidden sounds from the supposedly useless.

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TICKETS

single ticket 20–40 / 15 CHF
day pass 90–110 / 70 CHF
festival pass 220–300 / 140 CHF

Tickets for the «Recycling Cartography» are also valid for «Rethreading Weaves & 50 Hertz» and «Recyclinghof für gefundene Klänge».

ABOUT «RECYCLING OBJECTS»

«Recycling Objects» is a found score project that invites musicians and artists to participate in the city's climate melody by tuning discarded materials into instruments of expression. It explores how the found score becomes a sensory medium, engaging smell, touch, and taste as participants collect recyclable objects throughout the city. Using a cartographic notation technique, participants map out both geographical locations and junk objects, creating an interactive composition that blends sound, space, and sustainability. This approach demonstrates how art, the environment, and human creativity can collaborate to foster a deeper understanding of one another. What might seem useless transforms into a rich source of sound when we attune ourselves to its possibilities. When combined with other objects, these materials create unexpected harmonies and textures. «Recycling Objects» asks: can we reimagine a world where all materials, even if discarded or forgotten, are valued as vital resources in both the artistic and environmental sense? By drawing connections between sound, place, and recycling, «Recycling Objects» envisions a future where every item has potential and worth, and where we listen carefully to the hidden music of our surroundings.

Hardi Kurda