OPEN CALL: Noisy Wor(l)ds

Noisy Wor(l)ds is a hands-on electronic music workshop in collaboration with The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, addressed to local and international artists based in Athens and London. Having completed the first phase of the workshop in the Guildhall School in May 2026, artists-facilitators Jo Wills (UK), Guy Wood (NL) and evi nakou (GR) are moving into the second iteration and they make together with local and international artists noise music works to be shared with the audience of Noisy Words Festival.

The workshop is a noise-lab, a space for sonic collaboration, bringing together artists from London with local practitioners from Athens to work across a diversity of formats—score-making, collective listening, live performance, and installation. It is an invitation to an encounter with noise, a workshop that delves directly into the politics of noise—examining how sonic disruption operates not merely as an acoustic phenomenon, but as an expression of resistance, memory, and multiplicity. Participating artists, either with a music, sound or text-based practice, are invited to explore how the abrasive, the glitched, and the dissonant can function as tools for interrogating dominant narratives, unravelling linguistic and musical norms, and carving out counter public spaces of collective expression. Through collective experimentation with scores, field recordings, and hybrid electronic-acoustic performance, the workshop explores ways of listening and making noise as a disturbance and a vibrant political language—one that speaks through the fragmented, the unspoken, and the hidden, creating a polyphonic echo against control and coherence.

The workshop is open to anyone who has a background in composing music and electronics and shares a curiosity to explore different ways and expand their practice in making and performing sound in a way that reflects the realities we live in. All participating artists should be over 18 years of age and will be performing/sharing their work in a live event at Goethe Institut Athen on the 16th of October 2026. The participating artists, based in Athens for the days and times of the workshop, will be selected via the process of an open call. Local artists with limited access to similar learning opportunities will be prioritised, travel and accommodation for the period of the workshop will not be covered by the hosting organisation. All selected artists will be contacted via email by mid-September 2026 and are expected to attend all days and hours of the workshop and the final public performance.

The language of the workshop will be English with the possibility of peer-to-peer translation, if the participating artists of the workshop are willing to support a multilingual process.

During all events of Noisy Words we will uphold the following zero-tolerance policy against any form of discrimination, harassment, sexist and racist language; no act is considered too small to be addressed.

Number of participants:

15 local music, sound and/or spoken word, text-based artists and invited artists from London, UK

Dates:

12-15th October 2026

Public presentation date: Friday 16th of October

In partnership with The Guildhall School, Electronic Music Department

Hours:

5 – 9pm

If you wish to apply:

Please send your application by the 25st of September 2026, under the title Noisy Wor(l)ds; noise music and text workshop via email to the following address:
kultur.athen@goethe.de


Your application should be submitted in english and include all the following:

• A short note/text on how you describe the current state of your sound and performance. (max 300 words)

• A short note/text on what you wish to learn, explore, improve and take away from this workshop and learning experience.

• Two samples of your work (maximum duration 5 minutes, in one of the following formats .mp3, .wav, .mp4, .mov)