Ola Zielińska, Miguel Buenrostro, Yara Mekawei
Ola Zielińska
“my body knows unheard-of songs”*
When I started practicing the traditional style of singing known in the villages of many localities, I began with many questions. The more I practiced, the fewer questions I had. I could feel that my body knows these songs, and that embodied knowledge became a guidance. As the silence was, what I felt, a complex heritage from previous generations, I earned a strong determination to work with my voice and to carry the voices of these songs further. It’s a practice of presence, that allows sounds to move freely through my body, letting my body to be sung.
*Helene Cixous, Laugh of the Medusa
Ola Zielińska is a sound artist, singer and performer. She works with ancestral songs, polyphony, poetry, breathing and grounding. Her current practice and research explore collective singing traditions from so-called Eastern Europe from the somatic perspective, focusing on the socio-political connections between sound, spaces and body memory. She is a member of the singing ensemble Otucha Collective. She is part of SAVVY Contemporary, an independent art space in Berlin, co-curating SAVVYZAAR Radio, a space for decolonising sonic practices.
Miguel Buenrostro
with the participation of Laura Robles
“Soberanía de un Ritmo”
“Soberanía de un Ritmo” is a musical lecture-performance that reflects on the insurgent and migratory condition of rhythm. Through archival fragments, percussive gestures, and live cinematic readings, it traces the transatlantic circulation of materials used in the making of musical instruments. These are approached as carriers of sonic knowledge, interwoven with histories of displacement, resistance, and planetary rhythms. The lecture unfolds as a dialogue between voice, moving image, and improvisation, inviting percussionist Laura Robles to respond to both the text and visual material through live Afro-Peruvian percussion.
Miguel Buenrostro (b. 1984) is a Tijuana-born artist and filmmaker based in Berlin. His work explores the intersections of art and territory, with a focus on aural dimensions within a situated audiovisual practice. Working across cinema and sonic interventions in public space, Buenrostro has presented his work at the Biennale Architettura di Venezia, the Bauhaus Museum, the Musée National de la RD Congo, Konsthall C (Stockholm), and Museo Casa Lago (CDMX). His films have been featured in international film festivals, exhibitions, and public screenings. Through his ongoing project Cosmoaudiciones, he engages with historical sound archives as spaces of critical listening, seeking to re-socialize and re-circulate music from ethnographic collections. The project invites musicians and artists from diverse trajectories to reflect on the migratory pathways of rhythm—its entanglement with memory, displacement, and relational knowledge rooted in listening.
Laura Robles (b. 1981, ) is a Peruvian percussionist and electric bassist whose practice is rooted in Afro-Peruvian musical traditions and expanded through a wide range of rhythmic lineages. She began playing cajón at the age of four, studying under master Amador “Chebo” Ballumbrosio, and later continued her musical education at Susana Baca’s Instituto Negro Continuo, where she was mentored by Nilo Borges. Robles deepened her knowledge of Afro-Cuban and traditional Caribbean music with musicians Laureano Rigol and Roberto Borrell, while also developing a parallel path as a bassist. She has played in numerous ensembles across genres and geographies, and is co-founder of the experimental rhythm-based project Astrocombo.
Yara Mekawei
“El-Qibla” - sonic live performance
“El-Qibla” is a sonic journey that resonates with the spiritual and sensory dimensions of sound. Rooted in Yara Mekawei’s field recordings from Sufi celebrations across Northern African regions, the performance transforms these captured moments into intricate and immersive compositions. Through the interplay of traditional African instruments and the rich textures of these recordings, Mekawei creates a dynamic soundscape that orients the listener, much like the Qibla directs spiritual focus. Each sonic layer pulses with rhythmic vitality, guiding the audience toward a deep connection with the frequencies and vibrations of the moment. This performance embodies the idea of alignment—both sonic and metaphysical. The Qibla, as a central concept, symbolizes orientation and convergence, reflected in the way the compositions bring disparate sounds into harmony. By drawing from sacred rituals and everyday life, the work bridges ancient practices with modern sonic interpretations, creating a space for contemplation and resonance.
Yara Mekawei is a Sonic Sculptor and Sound Artist exploring the intersection of sound, architecture, and urban landscapes. Her work transforms the rhythm of cities into immersive auditory experiences, where sonic narratives merge with visual form. Rooted in deep research, Mekawei bridges antiquity and modernity, drawing from Sufi philosophy and The Book of the Dead to craft compositions that resonate with memory, identity, and cultural heritage. Her practice dissolves boundaries between past, present, and sonic visions.
*
For its third edition, The Listening Biennial brings together sonic, visual and performative works by an international cohort of artists for a week-long program of collective listening. Aiming to foster experimental, restorative practices, The Listening Biennial offers a hospitable, participatory space for deep breaths and slow talk, and for listening-with the vibrant matters of our planetary world. Comprised of audio works and artistic installations presented throughout the building of Ballhaus Ost, informal talks taking place under the trees, and an evening program of live performances and experimental sounds, we invite audiences into a listening journey full of poetic voices, stories, noises and songs.
More on the full program at Ballhaus Ost.
And further details on the Listening Biennial 2025 program.