Sara Sassanelli

Sara Sassanelli is Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, as well as an associate of CONDITIONS, a London-based studio program and creative laboratory. They have previously worked at Tate, Goldsmiths, and the Royal Academy of Arts and have programmed events at Somerset House Studios, Southwark Platform, Guest Projects, Arts Admin, Fierce Festival and Block Universe. They are interested in work at the intersections of sound and choreographic practices and their research focuses on the aesthetics and politics of contemporary live practice. At ICA, they work across exhibitions, talks, and live events. Their recent programming at ICA includes Dykegeist by Eve Stainton (2021), Inferno Summit by Lewis G. Burton (2020), and The Tender Interval: Studies in Sound and Motion (2020), a convening exploring the transformational qualities of sound and dance practices.

Lithic Alliance

Lives and works in Brussels, Belgium. 2020 MFA, Goldsmith's, University of London, UK. 2012 BFA, Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

"Lithic Alliance is a project initiated by artist Daniel V. Keller. It contains Keller’s expansive practice and deals with the ontological significance of geological environments. Their work has transformed my understanding of the lithosphere, as he positions it as an active agent, pulling apart the problematic idea of single human agency as ‘supreme.’ Through an exploration of animism and the rights of nature, Lithic Alliance engages with the polyphonic agencies of the planet, abstracting and contrasting them to the accelerated power relations of ‘cheap nature’ and mining. I appreciate Lithic Alliance for its interest in collaboration and its commitment to knowledge production through the visual, the sonic, and the performative."

Artwork Image: Counting Backwards - Notes on Erasure, 2020. 2-channel video, 4-channel sound, steel

Rebecca Bellantoni

Born 1981, lives and works in London, UK.

"Rebecca Bellantoni’s expansive practice includes writing, sound, video, performance, photography, textiles, printmaking, and sculpture. Threaded through is the investigation of the everyday and meditations on the self. Her work feels rooted in a sense of abstraction as she extracts the materials of daily experiences and reforms them in a process of reorientation. Experiencing her work feels like a process of collective thinking and I deeply appreciate her layered research into the psyche, selfhood, and the materials of the city. Through her research project C.R.Y Concrete Regenerative Yearnings, she presents the sounds and materials of the city such as metal, concrete, sirens, greenery, and stones as abstracted spaces of reflection."

Artwork Image: Per Nanny (I sit, I pray, I dream, I make), 2021. Mixed media.

Shenece Oretha

Born, lives and works in London, UK. 2018 BA, Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, UK.

"Shenece Oretha’s work reminds me of the importance of listening, and that listening is not only aural but also an experience felt in/by the body. Their work explores the polyvocal, and through writing, installation, sonic composition, and sculpture they create spaces to explore listening as a collective practice. Experiencing their work has solidified that sound is a conduit to the emotional conditions for processing and that it can mobilize a kind of temporal deprogramming, rejecting oppressive linear time constructs, and opening up spaces for healing and communing."

Artwork Image: Dearly Beloved, 2019 (detail view)