Take a moment. Put on your headphones and, for a change, just listen.

And although we cannot simply conserve a person or a performance through documentation, we can perhaps begin to summon up, through the auspices of memory, the acts and gestures that meant so much to us. José Esteban Muñoz - Cruising Utopia. The sound work Broke Dance summons up the memory of the performance of Broke Dance in the context of "Permanent Collection - Tøyen", performed at Øyafestivalen 2023 in Oslo. Where does the dance go when it is over? During the performance, a sound artist recorded the auditive aspect of the performance, which includes the vibrancy of the festival, crowds, live concerts, and small hints of an ongoing physical performance. The sound work functions as a self-portrait of the dancer. Like the painter painting a self-portrait, the dancer depicts a self-portrait through the auditive element of the performance, personal memories from the performance, and the composition of those elements as a sound piece. Idea: Manuel Pelmuș in collaboration with Anton Skaaning Thomsen / Performed by: Anton Skaaning Thomsen / Text and editing: Anton Skaaning Thomsen / Field recording: Alexander Rishaug

Even if you are a non-believer, there is a class of images: rare sightings forever burned into your retina, that bear a special importance and charismatic power. A few years ago, during a psychedelic excursion that took place in the Pyrenees, together with close friends Naïmé Perrette and Sam Samiee, we witnessed such an appearance: on a meadow, some 50 meters below us, a horse with two heads was observing us with 4 pairs of eyes. It was not a sad case of polycephaly, as both heads were positioned on opposite sides of the animal’s body, as if it was ready to gallop in two opposite directions. Instead of galloping, the miraculous animal was calmly reflecting our collective gaze, which at the time felt as if our unity seemed as miraculous to it as its unity did to us. Unlike some rare sightings that can never be successfully recorded, we made a video of what we had seen, and look at it every now and then. Agnieszka Polska, Two Headed Horse / Music and lyrics: Agnieszka Polska / Performed by: Sarah McInerney

Crafted with two different voices by artists Lauren Huret and Maria Guță, the sound piece Tiny Manifesto for Two Brains and Two Bodies comprises a collection of "tiny poems" that offer insights into their perceptions of the world, their identities, and their ideas. Originally conceived as the soundtrack for a short video exploring their obsession with images drawn from pop culture, Hollywood cinema, and social media, the text seeks to describe the potential for individuals to be consumed or entirely absorbed by these ubiquitous images.

Some years ago, I found myself at 8:00 AM sitting on the floor of a yoga studio with a circle of strangers, sighing for an hour and a half; a practice of release, aiming to connect the participants with their true voices. Ever since that workshop, my "singing-voice" has started to find ways to sneak itself out into my daily life; a kind of “stream-of-consciousness-singing” that appears mostly during banal life-chores, while for example feeding my cats or doing dishes.

I started recording this singing, which has evolved into a kind of study of my own consciousness; my way of making associations, calling up memories, inventing images, responding to – and transforming actions into thought. It reveals how my environment, body and mind, are constantly integrated with some kind of subconscious, ongoing digestion. For this "assignment" I cut together a medley of mini-samples from these recordings. These unstructured, unpredictable, mysterious, and sometimes grotesque melodies form subverted musical-scenes that have made me wonder whose voices actually live inside of me, and what human creativity really is? Whatever it is, I am slowly trying to harness this curious stream, this private household musical, in order to embody these questions more deeply. Dafna Maimon, A Household Musical Study

In 2023, Maria Guță and Lauren Huret created Baby's Dilemma, a video installation for the Swiss Art Awards exhibition during Art Basel. The artwork features a small child's bust, animated by the artists' voices using deep fake software to deliver a monologue. This sculpture has become a cherished symbol for Guță and Huret, appearing in all their works like a ghostly presence or a fetish amulet. The Baby's Speech is an audio-only adaptation of the installation. The baby, as the artists refer to it, candidly discusses its aspirations, ideas, and status with a somewhat annoying voice. It embodies the potential for motherhood left unexplored, opting instead to channel creative fervor into art. It contemplates life choices, frustrations, notions of regret, the wistful “what ifs”, and the intricate tapestry of existence, non-existence, and creation.