We are very excited to share the following tentative schedule for The Global Composition 2026: Connective Resonance for (Post)Humans. See green download button below. The conference is a multi-day journey through listening, movement, encounter, research, intellectual discourse and artistic exploration across Dieburg and Darmstadt. Participants are invited into immersive listening experiences extending into forests, cultural venues, public spaces, and experimental sonic environments.
The conference begins with a gentle “Day 0”, allowing participants to gradually arrive and tune into the atmosphere before the official opening of the conference. We want to offer to those, who arrive earlier, some convivial events in advance. One highlight is the excursion to Der Hörweg, a Listening Path through the forests surrounding Dieburg, containing eleven listening stations. Every listening station and its place in the forest has a very special, rich and often hidden acoustic identity that we can experience together on a sound hike. https://www.owkdieburg.de/hoerweg/
Throughout the following days, participants will move between different spaces and experience lectures, workshops, roundtable, concerts, performances, and installations. The idea is to engage with sound physically, socially, aesthetically, technologically, and environmentally throughout the conference days. The conference brings together artists, researchers, composers, technologists, designers, and listeners from around the world to collectively explore new forms of sonic experiences and „connective resonance”, and to critically debate the presence and future of soundscape studies and acoustic ecology.
Special program highlights include The Club of the Future at Centralstation Darmstadt, an experimental evening event developed in the context of World Design Capital 2026. The club becomes a temporary laboratory for collective listening and new forms of togetherness by unfolding immersive 3D-audio soundscapes spatially, responding to the visitors’ presence, and evolving through interaction. Sensors, spatial audio, and performative elements will transform the club into a living sonic environment. https://wdc2026.org/de/frames/der-club-der-zukunft-koerper-im-klangraum
Additional events include excursions to the internationally renowned Waldkunstpfad in Darmstadt, a unique forest-based art trail where contemporary artworks and installations are embedded directly within the natural landscape.
Whether through walking, listening, discussing, performing, contemplating, dancing, or simply sharing space together, The Global Composition 2026 invites participants into a rich, stimulating and embodied culture of listening.
Please, note that this is still a preliminary schedule for our conference; it can be subject to change. We expect to provide a finalized detailed schedule with the names of the participants and the titles of their presentations during the last week of August. Meanwhile, our conference is developing constantly. So, check for updates on a regular basis, and see how the conference is taking shape.
Welcome to The Global Composition 2026: Connective Resonance for (Post)Humans!