Apart from the political tensions, one tension among our group of soundmakers was the tension between machine-made and man-made music. Some artists felt that machines made music too simple, and that the appeal of technology overshadowed the human capacity for performing and listening. After two weeks of common rehearsals and discussions, as well as many common meals etc. the artists staged a two day sound festival in the Gallery and in an abandoned Hotel, the Viennoise. In those performances, another tension emerged, that between sounds that felt beneficial and sounds that felt bland or even painful. The best sounds started painful but ended up feeling beneficial.

The Turkish band Anabala (Murat Ertel and Ceren Oykut) and Myizer Matlhaku from Botswana delivered a particularly elegant show. Like a bridge between two unknown shores, their show connected the players. Their musical origins remaided obscure, but the energy with which all players sought each other out was increasing throughout their exchange of sounds. The audience was moved, and at the end of the show, the players knew they had reached each other. That energy plain to see in this picture, taken seconds after the show.