Soundscapes of Intersectional Encounters: Exploring Identity Through Sound

Popular and artistic sounds, music and narratives in particular are often representative of an imagined sense of togetherness. This encompasses far more than regional and mostly fictionalized particularities and contexts, – even though these sounds stand as binding and as self-understanding-generating for a larger group, a group that defines itself purely through media experiences rather than through real, verifiable biographical dependencies. Sound moments and soundscapes can often be perceived as an image of diaspora belonging and emancipation. These collaborative auto-ethnographic media forms, the independent categorization and description of group histories, differs greatly from the expected image of diaspora as a closed, regionally bound group of experiences. This exhibition project therefore aims to present narratives through digital media contributions that reflect the language of auto-ethnography and ultimately make it usable and understandable for a larger public. The aim is to create a pidginized exhibition space that will enlarge and grow audibly and visibly during the exhibition through the program and educational events.

with contributions by: Brishty Alam, Salah Ammo, Zehra Baraçkılıç, Luiza Furtado, Studio Hassan, Ursula Hemetek, Hopscotch Reading Room, Simon Inou, Janine Jembere, Roshini Kempadoo, Stephanie Misa, Hosam Omran, Ruby Sircar, Deniz Sözen, Sakina Teyna, Sinthujan Varatharajah

Curators: Ruby Sircar and Zehra Baraçkılıç

Opening Performance by Luiza Furtado and Seba Kayan

The exhibition will be opened by Seba Kayan, a visionary Viennese DJ and artist, transforming the music landscape with an unparalleled fusion of sound and culture. Growing up between two worlds and musical influences, Seba decided to combine both her European and Kurdish roots in her unique sound. Her signature blend includes Orientalfuturistic electro, techno and acid, expertly weaving the unmistakable sound of Oriental music into ironclad techno frameworks. Seba has played at major national and international festivals and venues such as the Donaufestival, Sonic Territories, Wiener Festwochen, Impusltanz, wellenklaenge Lunz am See, Popfest, Lungomare Bozen, Unsafe+Sounds, Kastel Istanbul, Grelle Forelle, and others. Showcasing her ability to captivate diverse audiences with her groundbreaking approach to music and culture.

Breaking free from binary visions, Seba Kayan’s art embodies a harmonious fusion of Western and Eastern cultures; rather than creating divisions, she skillfully intertwines both worlds. By seeking the past in archives, an imagination of tomorrow is being shaped into hybrid music – acquiring ascriptions and deconstructing them in the musical process, as a collective improvisation process is an ongoing process for her. This method of relating to the ancestors, to a collective memory also tells an a-linear historical narrative.

Seba Kayan’s DJ set is mirrored by Luiza Furtado’s Tymball Cavities performance, which is an ongoing performance set with various allies telling stories through dance, sound and movement. Narrating the need to navigate and mediate between migration-caused emotional requirements and the sickening socio-political crisis our society at large is facing at the end of the Anthropocene, Luiza Furtado consciously and meticulously questions the need for movement and sustainability in art and uses performance to actively demonstrate queer belongings and changes of storytelling.