babbasawt sound lab 2025

This residency offers a fully funded opportunity for musicians, sound artists, and multidisciplinary artists working with sound, currently residing in Europe.

The residency takes place from January 6th - February 7th, 2025, in Tunis, Tunisia.

This Babbasawt Sound Lab is a one month long residency based around pairing five musicians / sound artists from a Creative Europe country with five Tunisian musicians / sound artists. The selected artists will work together on new collaborative works, while also participating in mentor led workshops on instrument building and experimental music/sound techniques.

The aim of the residency is to foster:

- opportunity for personal, intercultural, and professional growth

- equal access to music technologies

- experimentation in artistic collaborative formats

- inspiration through mentorship to envision a sustainable music career

Musicians are invited to consider the use of innovative musical instruments, built during residency workshop activities or provided by the residency and mentors. Selected artists will acquire new skills in sound creation and music instrument building. They will be able to test their personal strengths within an artistic collaboration, as much as imagine new types of audiences for their work. A multiplicity of perspectives is welcomed in such a collaborative environment, therefore participants can come from different artistic backgrounds, as long as they are interested in experimenting with sound in a structured and innovative manner.

What type of activities are planned?

- In person presentations from the mentors, and additional online talks from guests.

- One public concert by the mentors

- Focused learning on specific musical instruments and new technologies, practical sessions implementing their use

- Multiple day workshops focusing on musical instruments building techniques (acoustic and electronic)

- Coordinated visit to local art institutions and traditional instrument making workshops

- Improvisation sessions and rehearsals with mentors' present

The final goal is to help participants realize new collaborations, and to present this publicly as a performance, exhibition, or participatory action using a variety of musical instruments, including the ones built during the course of the residency.