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Camp Nocturno: the sleep festival in the Botanical Garden

06 September 2022

Post originally written in: Deutsch

From celebration and rest

A gentle melody comes from the glass house, in the garden the last workers are still scurrying, getting glamping tents and hammocks ready for bed for the guests. Anyone who thinks of Camp Nocturno as a festival in the conventional sense must now, at the latest, throw their thoughts overboard. And then take a breath for it, get a cup of tea and give body and mind a break

2022: A summer like the old days, or perhaps one that is even better? The density of festivals and musical events has grown noticeably this summer in Innsbruck, there is no longer a trace of summer calm in August. The Botanica made the beginning, followed by the Alles Gut Festival at the side square of the Landestheater in the middle of the city. And on the last weekend of August, the harbingers of the Gans Anders Festival at the Upstream Surfing Spot near the Red House on the Inn. If you take a look at the next calendar month September you will even notice: Innsbruck's festival summer is going into extension! Bonanza and Gans Anders at the Baggersee stir the advertising drums. With so much Remmidemmi, loud sound and party mood it needs only one: Rest phases. The sleep festival Camp Nocturno in the Botanical Garden offered just that: a gently musical time-out in the midst of wonderful nature

Do you actually sleep at a sleep festival?

Georg Demmer is co-organizer of Tyrol's first sleep festival and as such exactly the right contact person for all the questions that such an unusual event raises.

Georg, how did you come up with the idea of organizing a sleep festival?

We had the idea a few years ago. But we didn't invent the concept, we know sleep concerts from Rome or Berlin, for example. But our Camp Nocturno goes a bit further, because we consciously integrate nature and produce as ecologically as possible, or include literature and a holistic sensory experience in addition to music.

Do you sleep at a sleep festival? Or what should you expect at such an event?

For everyone, a sleep concert can proceed differently, there is no default here. In any case, the exciting thing is the intermediate state of being asleep and being awake. We know with ourselves the falling asleep phase, the light sleep or also the deep sleep and the dreaming. The alternation of these phases and the frequencies of the music make the whole thing a special experience.

What was the highlight of the event for you?

Everyone who attended was enchanted and was able to take away a special experience. The circumstances of the production were challenging due to rain (which was an acoustic enrichment) and the logistics from Vienna to Innsbruck, where we learned something. Musically, every single act was a highlight, but for us it was a great honor to listen to 88-year-old Hans Joachim Roedelius, a legend of ambient jazz.

How did the collaboration with the Botanical Garden work out?

A wonderful place and a wonderful team. Big thanks to the Institute of Botany and the Botanical Garden of the University of Innsbruck, in particular to the horticultural-technical director Dipl. Ing. Maria Holoubek.

Is there a moment that will remain especially in your memory?

The place. The people. We recorded the 16 hours professionally. I'm already looking forward to the sound recordings so that I can listen to everything again in "peace".

Will there be another sleep festival in the Botanical Garden?

We can't say at the moment; if they want us, we will be happy to come again. Otherwise, other places in Austria are planned.

Thank you Georg for the exciting insights!

The Botanical Garden Innsbruck

Who now also feel like a little rest, can consume this - even without sleep festival - at any time in the Botanical Garden Innsbruck. However, not at night... that is reserved for special occasions

Opening hours in summer: April - October
Monday - Friday: 7:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, Sunday and public holidays: 8:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m

All other opening hours, info (and one plant of the month each!) can be found on the website of the University of Innsbruck.

My blogger colleague Susanne has also visited the Botanical Garden and reported about it