Berno Odo Polzer is a researcher, curator and dramaturg with a background in experimental music, sound-related art and performance.

In his practice he combines interdisciplinary research and theory with artistic, curatorial and dramaturgical approaches to create communal spaces of listening and (un)learning.

He has worked consistently on questions pertaining to the politics of time and the ethics and politics of listening.

As a curator he has developed formats and projects on the intersection between sound and political theory, dance and performance, visual arts, architecture, media history and neuroscience. Based on his studies in classical archaeology, musicology, philosophy and German literature, and an unfinished PhD project in politics/ international relations, he translates research into public experiential space.

He has initiated and (co-)developed formats of artistic research and knowledge transfer such as Thinking Together (Berlin, 2014–2022), Open Space (Darmstadt, 2010–ongoing), Music and the Brain (Vienna & Salzburg, 2008–2009), and artistic environments such as The Long Now (Kraftwerk Berlin, 2015–2020), TIMEPIECE (2021) and A Garden of Forking Paths (Gropius Bau Berlin, 2022).

Artistic and dramaturgical collaborations connect him with Daniela Bershan, Myriam Van Imschoot, Bojana Cvejić, Jérôme Bel, Xavier Le Roy, Jan Ritsema, Philipp Gehmacher, Frank Scheffer, Pierre Leguillon, Eszter Salamon, Sarah Vanhee and many others.

Collaborations with institutions include Berliner Festspiele, SAVVY Contemporary, Gropius Bau Berlin, Kaaitheater Brussels, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Gulbenkian Foundation Lisbon, Festival d'Automne à Paris, Tanzquartier Wien, World Venice Forum, steirischer herbst, Wiener Konzerthaus, Darmstädter Ferienkurse für Neue Musik, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Mozarteum Salzburg, and Adolf Wölfli-Stiftung/Kunstmuseum Bern.

From 2000 to 2009, he was curator and Artistic Director of the international contemporary music festival Wien Modern. From 2015 to 2022, he was Artistic Director of Berliner Festspiele's MaerzMusik festival, which he transformed into a research platform on the Politics of Time under the subtitle Festival for Time Issues.

His current work is focussed on the bio-psycho-social, ethical and political dimensions of Listening.