Park-Platz-Sound: OAKestra - Concert with Oak Trees and Andrea Crescenzi, Peter Hinz & Yolanda Diefenbach

What happens when oak trees become part of an orchestra? Italian bassist and psychologist Andrea Crescenzi, Mannheim percussionist Peter Hinz, and saxophonist and singer Yolanda Diefenbach explore this question together with an "Oakestra" of young oak trees. A specially developed technique translates the plants' bioelectric signals into sounds, to which the musicians respond with live improvisation - a dialogue between human and more-than-human perspectives.

The idea grew out of the project "Alte Feuerwache neu gestalten", developed in collaboration with the University of Mannheim and the MARCIE course "Cultural Intrapreneurship", in which students worked on innovative approaches to more participatory and community-oriented cultural work. Supported by the "Wissen bewegen" programme of the Educational Innovation department (ZLBI), this became the "Park-Platz-Sound" project, which concludes with this concert.

The ensemble's starting point was a small acorn planted exactly one year earlier during a greening initiative in the courtyard of the Alte Feuerwache. After the concert, the young oaks of the "Oakestra" will continue to grow and become part of new tree islands and raised beds - an artistic experiment and a concrete transformation of the space, all at once.

All proceeds go towards further greening of the Alte Feuerwache courtyard in Mannheim.

In collaboration with the University of Mannheim / Wissen bewegen / MARCIE