Brief portrait
The KLANG MOOR SCHOPFE festival presents international sound art in a unique cultural landscape: the Appenzell high moor «Schopfe» at the foot of the Hirschberg with its specific flora and fauna and the characteristic small scattered barns forms the spatial and acoustic environment. Eleven sedge barns, originally used for agricultural purposes, will be used by the invited artists for site-specific audiovisual installations.
The small-scale open festival site allows visitors to «wander» through the various installations on a two-hour tour. The artistic sound installations, the archaic architecture of the Schöpfe and the moorland landscape combine to create a total work of art that appeals to all the senses and is able to fascinate a wide audience.
Artistic concept
The KLANG MOOR SCHOPFE festival aims to make a diverse spectrum of contemporary audiovisual art audible and tangible in a special geographical space. The invited national and international artists deal with the landscape conditions and the local situation when creating the works for «their» Schopf.
The simple, functional wooden barns, which once served as a depot for the sedge, characterize the cultural landscape. The barns have been adapted to changing needs over the course of time and are architecturally unique. The simple, differently sized interiors influence the acoustics through their shape and materiality.
Many of the artists work at the interface of experimental music, visual arts and science. The festival takes this interdisciplinarity into account with a series of events that make it possible to get to know the participating artists and their experimental work beyond the presented installation. These include artist talks, concerts, live performances, video nights and other special events with the artists.
The intimate character of the festival and the presence of the participating artists on site allow for an intensive exchange between the participating artists as well as direct encounters between the audience, the local population and artists. The idea of exchange and encounters is supported by the wide range of low-threshold events on offer.
Musician and sound artist Patrick Kessler from Gais is responsible for the idea, concept and curation of the KLANG MOOR SCHOPFE festival.
KLANG MOOR SCHOPFE on Vimeo:
Nicholas Schaerer, member of the program board, presents KLANG MOOR SCHOPFE at the Symposium on sound art in Switzerland as a part of the exhibition festival KorSonoR 2023 in Geneva. (Duration: 20 mins)
Newsletter
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Previous issues
KLANG MOOR SCHOPFE is a biennial festival. The first edition took place in 2017. International artists such as Roman Signer, Albert Oehlen, Dimitri de Perrot, Svetlana Maraṧ, Nika Schmitt, Jacob Kirkegaard, Rie Nakajima, Alvo Noto, Cathy Eck, Cod.Act, Ryoichi Kurokawa, Jan Vorisek and Zimoun were inspired by the idea and performed in one of the bogs with a specially created sound installation. With five editions to date, KLANG MOOR SCHOPFE has successfully established itself as a biennial festival for audiovisual art in the Swiss cultural scene. In 2025, despite rather poor weather conditions, around 3,300 interested visitors attended the festival in Gais.
To the edition 2023
To the edition 2021
To the edition 2019
To the edition 2017
