Lain Iwakura first appeared on the scene in Frankfurt am Main when background noise coalesced into a persona. She honed her sensibilities at the Institute for Comparative Irrelevance, where she organised para-academic seminars, co-founded the institut de déstabilisation, and joined the Committee for the Abolition of the Arts. She studied musicology, sociology and philosophy at Goethe University Frankfurt and worked at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics. Today she works in Graz on sound experiments, critical theory and speculative practice, and is developing the Social Noise project as part of the Master’s programme in Computer Music at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. Together with Achim Szepanski, she ran the labels Force Inc., Music Works and Mille Plateaux, as well as the theory platform NON. She has presented her work at venues including Elevate, steirischer herbst, ZKM and the Milan Triennale.