The Sound Practice Research Master’s program at Folkwang University of the Arts is dedicated to the theoretical and practical exploration of sound and music in all its dimensions. It offers a unique interdisciplinary framework that spans cultural studies, musicology, sound art, performance, aesthetics, artistic research, media production, popular and experimental composition. Students engage critically and creatively with sound and listening, developing individual and collaborative approaches to sonic conceptualizing, making, and investigation.
The curriculum addresses a wide spectrum of themes—from histories of recorded music and performance, to neural and psychoacoustic dimensions of listening. Students explore sound and space, site-specific and gallery-based installations, acousmatic composition, and multi-channel practices, while also engaging with avant-garde and non-academic strategies, popular and underground music, collective sound practices, and algorithmic, computational, and AI-based approaches. The program bridges disciplines by combining aesthetics, physics, and semiotics, encouraging students to develop unconventional methods and forward-thinking perspectives in sound production and analysis.
Set in the dynamic and post-industrial cultural landscape of the Ruhrgebiet, the program draws on the region’s unique artistic ecosystem. Anchored in Essen and connected to the wider Ruhr area, students benefit from proximity to internationally renowned platforms for experimental music and interdisciplinary art such as Urbane Künste Ruhr, Ruhrtriennale, NOW! Festival, Essener Klangtage, Museum Folkwang, Schauspielhaus Bochum, Ringlokschuppen Ruhr, Pact Zollverein, alongside independent initiatives such as Neue Musik Zentrale, Strompsiesser, Blaues Rauschen, artist-run spaces, and major orchestras like the Essener Philharmoniker, Bochumer Symphoniker, and Duisburger Philharmoniker a.m.m. offering rich opportunities for artistic inspiration, collaboration, performance, and research.
At the heart of the program is Folkwang University of the Arts, recognized worldwide as one of the most vibrant and prolific institutions for the arts in Germany. With its unique tradition of integrating different disciplines under one roof, Folkwang fosters a cross-disciplinary environment ideal for experimental sound work and research-led artistic practice.
The Sound PracticeResearch master’s program welcomes applicants from a wide range of artistic, academic, and professional backgrounds: sound artists, musicians, improvisers, artists, researchers, designers, performers, composers, theorists, and experimental thinkers. What unites them is a desire to deepen their engagement with sound and listening as critical, artistic, and affective modes of knowledge.
Graduates will emerge as innovators in the field of sound and art – equipped with the skills to create transformative experiences and contribute to new understandings of sound’s role in cultural, social, and spatial contexts.
For more information about the program and application process, please contact: soundpracticeresearch@folkwang-uni.de
Application period: January, 15 – March 15, 2026 https://pruefung.folkwang-uni.de/