The Faculty of Design, Kyushu University, will host “The Persistent Signal: Articulating Artistic and Curatorial Practice in Sound Art.”
▪Dates: February 18 (Wed) – 20 (Fri), 2026
▪Location: Ohashi Campus, Kyushu University
▪Language: English
▪Support: The Japan Creator Support Fund (For Creator Development), JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Numbers: 23H00591, 23K17267, 24K03533)
Program Overview
This three-day program brings together critical and experimental approaches to artistic and curatorial practices in sound art through lectures, an exhibition, a concert, and a concluding symposium. Linking historical perspectives with present-day challenges and future directions, it examines sound art through the diversity of its practices, ranging across music, performance, visual and media art, science and technology, and political discourse.
Lectures: Sound Installation Art
▪Lecture: Carsten Seiffarth
▪Dates: February 18–19, 2026, 10:30–12:00
▪Location: Recording Studio, Acoustic Research Center, Ohashi Campus
In a series of lectures, Carsten Seiffarth critically explores sound installation art as a distinct discipline. Based on his long-standing curatorial experience, he provides an overview of the field and presents examples of sound art ranging from its historical beginnings to contemporary practices.
▪Session 1:
An introduction to the history of sound installation art, followed by selected examples from the sound art platform singuhr, which has been operating in Berlin since 1996.
▪Session 2:
A presentation of the project Bonn Hoeren (Bonn, Germany, 2010–2021), which focuses on sound art in public space. In addition, two art-and-science projects from the more recent public sound art initiative soundforum bonn (2022 and 2023) will be presented.
Exhibition
▪Opening Reception: February 20, 2026, 15:00-
▪Opening Hours: February 21–23, 2026, 12:00–18:00
▪Location: Studio 6, Multi-purpose Building, Ohashi Campus
Concert
▪Date&Time: February 20, 2026, 15:30–18:00
▪Location: Recording Studio, Recording Studio, Acoustic Research Center
– Minoru Hatanaka and participants of the workshop
– Guest Performance by dj sniff and special guest
Symposium
▪Date&Time:February 20, 2026, 18:30–20:30
▪Location: Recording Studio, Acoustic Research Center, Ohashi Campus
This concluding symposium provides a critical forum for synthesizing the historical trajectories and future possibilities of sound art. Bringing together artistic and curatorial perspectives, the session examines how sound art continues to evolve as a vital contemporary practice.
▪Panel 1: “On Reenactments” with Minoru Hatanaka and Carsten Seiffarth
▪Panel 2: “Future Forms of Artistic and Curatorial Practice” with Ariane Beyn, Minoru Hatanaka, Carsten Seiffarth, and dj sniff
Biographies
Ariane Beyn is an art historian and independent curator based in Berlin, Germany, and Fukuoka, Japan. Since 2023, she has been a Lecturer at the School of Design, Kyushu University. From 2008 to 2018, she was Head of the Visual Arts Department of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program and Director of the daadgalerie. In 2008, she served as artistic director of the art fair abc art berlin contemporary. From 2006 to 2007, she was a visiting curator at the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco. Recent curated exhibitions and public programs include Beyond Migration (co-curator, Goethe-Institute Kolkata, India, 2022, and Goethe Institute Johannesburg, South Africa, 2023); Readings from Below (Times Art Center Berlin, 2020/21); Why an Archive? (Arsenal 3, Berlin, 2020); Lawrence Abu Hamdan: Walled Unwalled; Teresa Margolles: Sutura (co-curated with Bettina Klein); and Sung Hwan Kim: And Who Has Not Dreamed of Violence? (all daadgalerie, Berlin, 2018).
dj sniff (Takuro Mizuta Lippit), is a musician and curator working in the fields of experimental electronic arts and improvised music. His practice combines DJing, instrument design, and free improvisation. He has collaborated with artists including Evan Parker, Otomo Yoshihide, Tarek Atoui, and Senyawa. He served as Artistic Director of STEIM in Amsterdam from 2007 to 2012. From 2012 to 2017, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the City University of Hong Kong School of Creative Media, and from 2020 to 2022, he was an Associate Professor at Kyoto Seika University, Department of Global Studies. Currently based in both Los Angeles and Tokyo, he is Co-Director of AMF (Asian Meeting Festival), a platform bringing together experimental music practices across Asia. He is also a part-time lecturer at Kyoto Seika University and Assistant Professor at Tokyo University of the Arts, Center for Curatorial Studies and Research.
Minoru Hatanaka was born in 1968. Curated numerous exhibitions and events at the NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC]. After serving as Senior Curator and then Chief Curator of the Curatorial Department, he resigned from the ICC at the end of March 2025.
Recent major exhibitions include Viewpoints of Reality in the Multi-layered World (2022), Tribute to RYUICHI SAKAMOTO: Music / Art / Media (2023), ICC Annual 2024: Faraway, so close (2024), and evala: Emerging Site / Disappearing Sight (2024).
Carsten Seiffarth is a curator and producer specializing in sound installation art and experimental music. He is the founder and director of the sound art gallery singuhr – projects in Berlin, which he has led since 1996. Over the past decades, he has curated and produced more than two hundred exhibitions, sound installations, and site-specific sound works by international artists in indoor and public spaces. These include projects by historically significant figures whose practices extend beyond their lifetimes. His work focuses on the translation of artistic concepts into spatial, acoustic, and technical realities, as well as on the transfer of curatorial and installation-related knowledge across generations. Seiffarth has collaborated extensively with museums, archives, and cultural institutions, contributing significantly to the preservation, reinstallation, and interpretation of sound installation art as a time- and space-based medium of experience.