Who hasn’t heard of them? The dog or rabbit filters on Instagram, face-swap, or granny filters. In no time at all and with just a mobile phone, faces can be changed or mixed and matched at will. The zoom background filter suddenly makes people sitting in a meeting appear to be seated on a Caribbean island or else simply blurs the background. The technical-aesthetic possibilities for playfully transforming one’s own identity are endless. Viewing habits are constantly and fundamentally changing as a result of filters. They influence our aesthetic perception, self-image, and body ideals. The visual filters we use daily on social media platforms not only determine how we see ourselves but also contribute to the widespread acceptance and manifestation of beauty ideals and social stereotypes. #nofilter has long since been a countermovement. Posts tagged with this hashtag are intended to make ‘authentic,’ unedited content visible. But how ‘real’ can digital content be? Meanwhile, the filter function is moving on to the next stage: AI filters are now used to generate avatars and deep fakes from the material in uncurated photo databases, reproducing body norms and the discrimination they embody. Audio filters are also present in our everyday lives. They optimize conversations and suppress background noise. However, something is inevitably lost with every suppression, be it background noise, quiet sounds, or frequency ranges that are less relevant for certain functions. Filters limit and constrict. They focus on something specific, in most cases, the loud and distinctive. For many technical applications, this can be a useful tool—but what are the social and political implications of this mode of functioning, read as a metaphor?

#FILTER brings this phenomenon, which now significantly shapes our every day lives, to the center of the creative process. The composers Nicolas Berge, Lucia Kilger, Jessie Marino, Alex Paxton, and Clemens K. Thomas, all accomplished in intermedial and performative practices, explore utopian potential and dive into its multitude of identities. The composition process takes place in close collaboration with Ensemble Musikfabrik, dancer Ria Rehfuß, conductor Friederike Scheunchen, and the Ensemble Scope tech team.