Climate stories like you’ve never heard before.
Audio Flux is a home for short-form, innovative audio. We invite people far and wide to create short “fluxworks” in response to a theme and set of prompts. For each “circuit” we work with a creative partner who inspires these prompts.
For Circuit 07 we’ve linked arms with an organizational partner — the Capetown-based audio storytelling program, Radio Workshop, who helped us connect with our creative partner for Circuit 07, the Kenyan-based visual artist and sculptor, Cyrus Kabiru.
Cyrus’s art transforms trash and other discarded items into stunning objects – spectacles, radios, bicycles and more – that grapple with issues of consumerism, waste, and our ailing environment. We thought Cyrus would be a perfect collaborator to help inspire three-minute stories about climate change for Circuit 07.
THE PROMPTS:
FOR Circuit 07 each fluxwork must:
Respond to the theme “Trash or Treasure”
Run exactly three minutes
Tell a climate story that is meaningful to you
Incorporate a discarded object you’ve found
(or will find)Include at least one sound recorded in Cyrus’s
studio (downloadable from this folder)
THE PROCESS:
Twelve submissions will be selected as finalists.
From this slate, four will be chosen as Circuit Selects. Each Circuit Select will:
Receive $750
Receive an Artist Badge for the Tribeca Festival (June 3 -14, Brooklyn, NY)
Premiere as a winner as part of the Tribeca Audio program
Be featured on this website and in the Audio Flux Podcast
All prompts may be interpreted widely, but should be audible in submissions. The theme Trash or Treasure is specifically inspired by Cyrus’s practice and materials, and our desire to tackle climate stories of all stripes in new ways.
MORE DETAILS:
All formats and genres are welcome, as long as your submission follows the prompts listed above. We recommend listening to Fluxworks from Circuits 01 through 06 to get a sense for the range of style and approach these may take.
Your submission should include:
Mp3 audio file (if we select your work we’ll request a higher resolution audio format)
Title for your fluxwork
Picture of the found object featured in your submission
One sentence description
Brief bio
If your submission is chosen as a Circuit Select we’ll request a headshot and additional information about your fluxwork.
(No) Fee: There’s no cost to participate in Audio Flux. But as part of the entry process, we’ll ask you to acknowledge reading our official rules, which include relevant terms for if/when your fluxwork is chosen as a Circuit Select.
Finalists opps: All twelve finalists will be shared at the first-ever Audiophile Conference (April 16-17 in Chicago, IL) where attendees will be invited to vote for their top four fluxworks. The collective Audiophile votes will be incorporated into the ultimate Circuit Selects decisions. Th finalists will also be shared for a limited time as a playlist on XMTR.fm, in May 2026.
Fab opportunity: Big thanks to AIR for offering free one-year memberships to all four Circuit Selects, and free three-month trial memberships to everyone who submits a fluxwork.
Questions? Check out our FAQ, and if you don’t find your answer, shoot us an email: info@audioflux.org.
About our partners:
Cyrus Kabiru is a Kenyan visual artist and designer best known for his sculptural eyewear series C-Stunners, created from found materials such as scrap metal, electronics, and everyday debris. Born in Nairobi in 1984, Kabiru is largely self-taught and draws inspiration from urban life, Afrofuturism, and questions of identity, transformation, and resilience. His wearable pieces function as both sculpture and portraiture, challenging perceptions of beauty, innovation, and resourcefulness in contemporary Africa, and foregrounding sustainability. Kabiru’s work has been exhibited internationally in galleries and museums across Africa, Europe, and the United States, and he has collaborated with global brands and cultural institutions.
Radio Workshop trains youth across Africa as radio reporters, empowering them to research, interview, and broadcast stories from their communities. For nearly 20 years, we've trained over 6,000 young reporters at more than 100 stations across 17 countries, reaching up to 9 million listeners weekly. Our award-winning podcast, launched in 2021, has brought stories from 12+ African countries to over 20 million global listeners—including NPR audiences—transforming headlines into emotional, surprising documentaries that reveal new perspectives on the continent through the people and places that shape it.
