Spellbound 26 returns to Torino with concerts, installations, talks and listening sessions at the University of Torino’s Botanical Garden and at the Magazzino sul Po.
Near Silence, a project produced and curated by Almare and performed by the Berlin-based Kenyan sound artist Kmru together with the Nairobi-based filmmaker Odede, will be presented in the Arboretum. Near Silence places so-called quiet areas - territories characterised by low levels of man-made noise - at the heart of its research: through these places, the project reflects on sound as an indicator of the health of ecosystems, on noise as a form of pollution and, conversely, on silence as a common good to be protected. The project will be presented as an audiovisual work, activated live by Kmru on the evening of Saturday 26 and available to view as an installation the following day.
The premiere will be preceded by a conversation between the artist and Gascia Ouzounian, associate professor of Musicology at the University of Oxford.
The evening will be opened by the British duo Sealionwoman. Whitelaw’s intense and spellbinding voice meets McGivern’s atmospheric and inventive approach to the double bass, giving shape to melancholic soundscapes, transgressive torch songs and moments of dramatic rapture.
This will be followed by a live performance of Takkak Takkak, a project by the Japanese producer Shigeru Ishihara - based in Berlin and also known as DJ Scotch Egg - and the Indonesian multi-instrumentalist J. Mo’ong Santoso Pribadi, based in Vilnius.
The evening will continue with a DJ set by the collective Jokkoo - a Wolof word meaning ‘connection’ - featuring Baba Sy, B4mba, Mooki6 and TNTC taking turns at the decks.
The night will be rounded off by Pho Bho, an independent, club-oriented label founded in Bergamo in 2020 and now active in Torino and Tenerife.