Searching the Sonic Swamp
An artist talk at GRANER, Barcelona.
Searching the Sonic Swamp, is an artist talk on Ecological Grief, Neuroqueer Kinship with the more-than-human and the idea of Sacred Decay.
How do we hold space for emotional, ecological, and cultural breakdown—and what can the swamp teach us about surviving and transforming in times of decay?
"In this hybrid artist talk and embodied reflection, Amsterdam-based artist Venus Jasper shares research developed during their residency at Graner (Barcelona), where they are preparing a new solo performance for the Following the Sun cycle at Museu Tàpies, curated by Gabriel Virgilio Luciani. This work will emerge from their long-term project Wetlands Worship, a transdisciplinary exploration of swamps, grief, queerness, and sacred ecologies.
At Graner, Venus is developing a raw, stripped-back performance based on their upcoming music record Bzz Bzz—a dark industrial-gothic soundwork shaped by personal and planetary grief. Built from insect drones, water, metal, storms, and chainsaws, Bzz Bzz takes listeners across a rotting sea to a mythic swamp-island where decay is sacred, and rage becomes ritual.
This artist talk dives into previous work of the maker, and explores the the emotional and conceptual terrain behind Bzz Bzz and Wetlands Worship—offering reflections on swamps as spaces of sacred decay, queer ancestry, and neuroqueer kinship.
Venus invites us to consider what it means to relinquish control, to unlearn mastery, and to compost cultural myths of purity, progress, and separation. What if decay is not an end—but a threshold?"
Art Residency at GRANER, Barcelona.
My plan at Graner is to work on a simplified solo-performance for Museu Tapies called Pantà plorant (Weeping Swamp), which is based on live noise-music, voice, and embodiment, which can channel elements of my record Bzz Bzz and set up a sonic mood of personal and planetary lamenting. For me, it will be the first time to perform this music by myself, in a deconstructed way, without backing musicians.
Practical informations ARTIST TALK:
- Wednesday 15th October
- At 6pm
- At Graner (c/Jane Addams 14-16 Barcelona: location)
- Free entrance with registration FORM
- https://granerbcn.cat/en/programes/searching-the-sonic-swamp/
Practical informations MUSEU TAPIES Performance:
- Saturday 18th October
- At 1pm
- At Museu Tapies (Carrer d'Aragó, 255, L'Eixample, 08007 Barcelona, Spain)
- https://museutapies.org/en/event/venus-jasper-weeping-swamp/
- Tickets (5€) here.
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Travel + stay sponsored by Mondrian Fund.
