tekhnē

This year, as part of the experimental music festival "Skaņu Mežs", Christina Kubisch's "Electrical Walks" will return to Riga after 20 years. The festival will take place on October 9 and 10, and in addition to the main concert evenings, a collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Riga will present the "Electrical Walks" by the German first‑generation sound artist – these walks are an idiosyncratic form of interdisciplinary art that invites the public to explore the city while listening to the sounds revealed through special headphones. Kubisch's “Electrical Walks” turn the electromagnetic fields of urban space into an audible experience, transforming an ordinary walk into a sonic discovery.

Christina Kubisch, born in 1948 in Bremen, belongs to the first generation of sound artists. Since the early eighties, after having finished her studies in flute, composition and electronic music in Hamburg, Graz, Zürich and Milan, she has researched and developed multiple techniques for her audiovisual works such as electromagnetic induction, solar energy and special light systems.

In 2003, Kubisch started the series of her "Electrical Walks": sound walks in public spaces, through which the public can listen to the normally inaudible electromagnetic fields with custom‑made headphones.

She has been a professor of audiovisual arts in Berlin, Paris, Saarbrücken and Oxford. Her sound installations, compositions and audiovisual works have been presented worldwide. Among the numerous international awards she received are the GIGA Hertz Award for her lifetime achievement, awarded by the ZKM in 2021, and the Deutsche Musikautorenpreis for Electronic Music by the GEMA in 2025. Christina Kubisch lives and works in Berlin.

Kubisch has also collaborated with New Zealand composer Annea Lockwood and the strictly minimalist electronic music project Eleh. Her work can be experienced not only in exhibitions and contemporary art events but also through recordings – the "Electrical Walks" series, for example, is documented on the Important Records release "Five Electrical Walks". Her most recent album – and one of her most musical publications – is 2026's "Tuning".

**Tom Thiel **(born 1956) began his career as a recording engineer in Bavaria, working for mostly British bands and producers. He assists Christina Kubisch in the creation of Riga's "Electrical Walks". Together with Kubisch, Thiel developed "The Mixer Project" – a participatory sound workshop that will also be available in Riga.

Moving to Berlin in 1987, Thiel became a member of Fisherman's Friend, and in 1991, together with Max Loderbauer, he founded the electronic project Sun Electric. They released several studio and live albums and became pioneers of live electronics throughout the nineties. In 2001, together with Daniel Meteo, he created the dub music project BUS, which was joined by MC Soom‑T from Glasgow. He has also released two solo albums – "Tom Thiel" (2011) and "Album Album" (2023) – while in 2026 Sun Electric returned with "Episodes", an album based on recordings of the historic Subharchord synthesizer. Since 2021, Thiel has collaborated with Christina Kubisch on various projects, and in 2023 they launched the long‑term initiative "The Mixer Project", which so far has been realised in various countries from South Africa to Korea.