Ulrike Sowodniok

Ulrike Sowodniok is a Lecturer at the Career College of the University of the Arts Berlin (UdK Berlin) and collaborates with HZT (University Center for Dance). She has been teaching her innovative format Applied Anthropology of the Voice since 2011, bridging academic research with artistic practice. Her work spans voice studies, sound anthropology, and the relationship between voice and movement.

Her educational background includes studies in medicine, philosophy, Lichtenberger® applied physiology of the voice, Slavic Belcanto, contemporary interpretation, and sound studies. In 2008, she completed a Master's degree in anthropology of sound.

Sowodniok's research focuses on voice as a scientific and artistic phenomenon, examining how vocal sound functions as an analog storage of embodied experience. She investigates the intersection of voice physiology, somatic practices, and cultural contexts, developing methodologies for understanding voice as both physical phenomenon and cultural expression. Her work challenges traditional boundaries between scientific and artistic approaches to voice.

Her scholarly output demonstrates a consistent trajectory from vocal physiology toward a comprehensive anthropology of voice, with increasing attention to interdisciplinary connections between voice, movement, and meaning construction. Her publications reveal strong connections between practical voice work and theoretical frameworks from anthropology, sound studies, and performance theory.

• Active collaboration with Sound Studies scholars like Holger Schulze
• Membership in DTKV and GEDOK artistic associations
• Extensive artistic network including composers, dancers, and sound artists

Sowodniok teaches in her own Berlin studio and at UdK Berlin, focusing on practical applications of voice anthropology. She founded the a cappella vocal quintet Ensemble Medulla for post-somatic and feminist performance, creating works that explore voice in relation to urban environments and bodily experience. Her artistic research includes soundwalks, vocal improvisation in public spaces, and interdisciplinary collaborations that investigate the voice's relationship to movement and meaning.