Social Sound Art

The work of Joshua Weitzel (*1989 in Kassel) is rooted in a social understanding of art and encompasses Improvisation, electro-acoustic and experimental composition, installation art, jazz, inter-media projects, curating and art mediation.

Joshua works accross different visual and auditory media and instruments, mainly as guitarist, shamisen player, composer, field recordist and conceptual artist. All of Joshua Weitzel's works share a common aesthetic based on social process, contrast of materials and attention social settings, communities and political circumstances. Most of his works are based on collaboration and co-operation with other artists, researchers and activists. Besides being a member the group Takatsuki Trio Quartett and the sound art collective Tan Bone he works in several duo projects and smaller groups and has collaborated with over 200 artists, mainly from the field of experimental music.

In 2022 he co-curated the CD-Compilation "Sounds of Absence" with Wingel Mendoza which was released on the label gruenrekorder and nominated for the prize of the German record critique. For his curatorial work with the project "Chamäleon Konzerte" he received the Kulturförderpreis (culture prize) of the city of Kassel in 2020. In 2021, he received a grant from the Academy of the Arts Berlin for Tan Bone, and a working stipend from Musikfonds for his work as a shamisen player in 2022/2023.

From 2020-2022 he was artistic research associate for Sound Art and Sound Research at the group art research sound at the University of Mainz, and 2022-2024 he had a teaching assignment in the department of art at the University of Paderborn. Since 2019, he is working on a PhD at the Edinburgh College of Art about the history of sound art at documenta.