Tarek Atoui. At-Tāriq | Public program

March 1 – May 10, 2025

MNTB Madrid

Tarek Atoui. At-Tāriq. Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid, 2025. Photo: Lourdes Cabrera

Upcoming

Recommended

Public Program

The public program of the exhibition Tarek Atou. At-Tāriq: A Journey Into the Rural Musical Traditions of North Africa and the Arab World offers a diverse array of events, including concerts, performative visits, sonic activations of the exhibition space, discussions, and family workshops.

All activities draw inspiration from the collaborative and pedagogical methodologies developed by artist Tarek Atoui, aimed at fostering new ways of listening, experimenting with various technologies, and deepening the understanding of traditional and ancestral practices. In alignment with Amazigh culture and Atoui's vision of the exhibition space as a welcoming environment rooted in hospitality, the program invites a diverse range of audiences to engage with the space, connect with the sound installation, and explore it from multiple perspectives through auditory, sensory, and conceptual experimentation.

The public program was developed in partnership with educaThyssen and Mondo Sonoro and is supported by cultural institutions like the Institut Français Spain, Casa Árabe, the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies and Melilla IWA Fest.

 

 

PROGRAM

WORKSHOP
ON VIBRATION AND RESONANCE, WITH THE HIVE
Every Tuesday and Saturday from March 1st to May 17th (except April 19th, Easter week). 4:30 pm
At-Tāriq Exploratorium, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Recommended age: Families with children aged 7 and up. Children must be accompanied by an adult.
Access: Registration and payment are required through this link
Price: 9€.
Collaborators: educaThyssen
Language: Spanish

This activity is designed for families or cohabiting units with children aged 7 and up, aimed at engaging with the exhibition Tarek Atoui: At-Tāriq: A Journey into the Rural Musical Traditions of North Africa and the Arab World through sound experimentation and its evocative potential.

While museums are traditionally spaces where the sense of sight is paramount, this activity takes a different approach, focusing on the rich auditory experience that can arise in the museum. The activity consists of two parts: after a brief introduction to the artist’s work, we will experiment with various elements, sources of vibration and energy, and their capacities to create sounds.
Participants will discover different types of flows and intensities and their evocative potential. Following this, we will suggest an independent visit to the exhibition, encouraging the use of auditory perception and fostering a deeper immersion in the space and the artworks. This is an invitation to understand the museum not only as a visual landscape but also as a sonic one.

Important note: We recommend wearing comfortable clothing to enjoy the activity better. Children must always be accompanied to encourage group dynamics and the intergenerational nature of the activity.


ACTIVATION 
PRELUDE TO THE AT-TĀRIQ MUSIC FESTIVAL
March 3, 2025, 7:15 pm
Exhibition space, Floor -1, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Participants: Tarek Atoui with a Musical Collective from the Atlas Region: Fatima El Habibi, Mohamed El Malyani, Mohamed El Kartaoui, Said Ait Lhaj, Fadoua Ennouri, Lahcen Amarrak, Ijja Id Haddou and Aicha Boukhris.
Registration: By invitation. Application at invitados@tba21.org, access until full capacity is reached.
Access: By invitation until full capacity is reached
Recommended age: All audiences  
Language: In English (and music)

Prior to their performance at Florida Park, the traditional ensemble from Morocco’s Atlas region will collaborate with artist Tarek Atoui to activate the exhibition space through an immersive exploration of sound, movement, and live interaction. In close alignment with Atoui’s experimental approach to sonic traditions, the ensemble will transform the space into a dynamic and resonant environment where ancestral musical practices converge with contemporary performance. This event offers audiences a distinguished opportunity to experience the intersection of heritage and innovation, providing a compelling introduction to their upcoming festival performance.


CONCERT
FORGOTTEN TALES THROUGH TIME
March 3, 10:30 pm
Florida Park, Madrid
Participants: Tarek Atoui with a Musical Collective from the Atlas Region: Fatima El Habibi, Mohamed El Malyani, Mohamed El Kartaoui, Said Ait Lhaj, Fadoua Ennouri, Lahcen Amarrak, Ijja Id Haddou and Aicha Boukhris. Ziúr, Nancy Mounir, Susie Ibarra and Naghib Shanbehzadeh.
Location: Florida Park, Madrid 
Registration: Register through this link 
Access: Free activity with prior registration required. Access until full capacity is reached
Recommended age: 18+

Join us for Forgotten Tales Through Time, a night of music and sonic experimentation curated by the French-Lebanese artist and composer Tarek Atoui. Featuring an ensemble of masterful vocalists and instrumentalists from Ouarzazate and Zagora, including Fatima El Habibi, Mohamed El Malyani, Mohamed El Kartaoui, Said Ait Lhaj, Fadoua Ennouri, Lahcen Amarrak, Ijja Id Haddou, and Aicha Boukhris, the program celebrates the exceptional artistry of Amazigh music. These “singers of a thousand verses” are keepers of an unbroken tradition, weaving classical Arabic epics, folk songs, poetic cadence, and vocal ornamentation into hypnotic performances.

Conceived as an experimental and collective compositional space, Forgotten Tales Through Time proudly premieres a performance by Susie Ibarra, Nancy Mounir, Ziúr, Naghib Shanbehzadeh and Tarek Atoui. The four have collaborated since 2022, experimenting with the interplay between Arabic and Amazigh music and contemporary sonic practices. Drawing on their diverse musical backgrounds, their composition, At-Tāriq, explores the rhythms, melodies, and oral traditions of the Arab world and North Africa, invoking and transforming them through electro-acoustic experimentation, improvisation, and live performance. In this piece, elements of different musical traditions are embedded within new layers—built upon, remixed, re-recorded, and explored—to create a compositional space that not only triggers aesthetic appreciation but also mobilizes social, political, and historical connections.

A Portal into At-Tāriq: A Journey into Rural Music Traditions in North Africa and the Arab World

Forgotten Tales Through Time serves as a live sonic extension of At-Tāriq:  A Journey into the Rural Musical Traditions of North Africa and the Arab World, Tarek Atoui’s new research and exhibition project, commissioned by TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary. Opening on February 17, 2025, at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, At-Tāriq explores the intersections of sound, material, and history through resonating sonic sculptures and evolving spatial compositions drawing on Atoui’s research in the Arab world and North Africa. Throughout his practice, Atoui has redefined the relationships between sound, memory, technology, and the poetic act of listening, offering immersive experiences that invite collective enjoyment and acts of hospitality.


CONCERT AT CASA ÁRABE
March 4, 2025, 8:30 pm
Auditorium, Casa Árabe, Madrid 
Participants: Tarek Atoui with a Musical Collective from the Atlas Region: Fatima El Habibi, Mohamed El Malyani, Mohamed El Kartaoui, Said Ait Lhaj, Fadoua Ennouri, Lahcen Amarrak, Ijja Id Haddou and Aicha Boukhris
Registration: Through this link on Casa Árabe's website
Access: Registration and payment are required to attend the concert.
Ticket price: Online: 4€. Box Office: 5€.
Collaborators: Casa Árabe
Language: English, French and Spanish 

As part of the public program accompanying Tarek Atoui: At-Tāriq: A Journey into the Rural Musical Traditions of North Africa and the Arab World at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, TBA21 and the museum are thrilled to collaborate with Casa Árabe for a special event on March 4th, 2025.

The gathering at Casa Árabe will feature musicians from traditional ensembles in Ouarzazate and Zagora, alongside Atoui himself. The concert will blend the traditional acoustic sounds of the Atlas region – folk songs, poetic cadences, and vocal ornaments – in a captivating performance. This experience will offer a deep dive into the rich sonic traditions of the region, fostering a space for learning and connection between the performers and the audience.


WORKSHOP 
EN EL AULA: TAREK ATOUI
March 11, 2025, 5 pm
Exhibition space, Floor -1, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Participants: Marina Avia Estrada
Registration: Free activity with prior registration required through this link
Recommended age: Activity aimed at teachers and educators of early childhood education, primary, secondary, high school, universities, and vocational training.
Collaborators: educaThyssen
Language: Spanish

A guided discussion with Marina Avia Estrada, Head of Exhibitions and Public Programs at TBA21. This session aims to convey certain aspects and ideas of the exhibition Tarek Atoui. At-Tāriq. A Journey into the Rural Musical Traditions of North Africa and the Arab World that can help prepare a visit with students later on or be used independently in the classroom.

In this exhibition, Atoui presents a space inhabited by structures and sounds that evoke the geography and culture of North Africa. These are places inhabited by the Amazigh, the origin and crossroads of musical, artistic, craft, and intellectual traditions. The visit is an experience that invites engagement with a soundscape rich in emotions and textured psychogeographical landscapes.


IN PRAISE OF THE BROKEN. NOCTURNAL WALKTHROUGH WITH MARINA HERVÁS
March 15, 2025, 9 and 10 pm (two sessions)
Exhibition space, Floor -1, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Registration: Through this link on Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza´s website
Access: Free activity with prior registration required
Recommended age: All audiences. Groups of 20 people.
Language: Spanish

Marina Hervás’s nocturnal walkthrough, Elogio de lo roto (In Praise of the Broken), offers a guided listening experience that explores the power of the fragmentary, the wounded, and the incomplete in shaping our relationship with tradition and rurality. Challenging the dominance of grand narratives and polished knowledge, she invites visitors to consider the informal, ephemeral, and ungraspable forms of knowing that disrupt conventional ways of perceiving and understanding. Through this lens, her tour engages with the sonic work of Tarek Atoui, delving into notions of imagined traditions and utopian geographies.


CONVERSATION
REFLECTIONS ON AMAZIGH CULTURE
March 20, 2025, 7 pm
Salón de Embajadores, Casa Árabe, Madrid
Participants: Karim Hauser, Borja Ramón, Hassan Laaguir y Karima Ziali
Registration: Through Casa Árabe´s website
Access: Free activity with prior registration required.
Collaborators: Casa Árabe, Fundación Euroárabe de Altos Estudios, Melilla Iwa Fest
Language: Spanish

This event at Casa Árabe brings together voices from different disciplines to explore the diverse expressions of Amazigh identity and its significance today. Rooted in centuries of history, artistic expression, and musical traditions, Amazigh culture has continually evolved, adapting to new influences while preserving its distinct character.

Through conversation and reflection moderated by Karim Hauser, invited speakers Hassan Laaguir (Fundación Euroárabe de Altos Estudios), Borja Ramon (Melilla Iwa Fest), and researcher and writer Karima Ziali will delve into key aspects of Amazigh artistic traditions, from visual storytelling to musical heritage. The discussion will consider how these elements have developed over time, how they interact with contemporary creative movements, and what they reveal about the intersections of identity, memory, and resistance. This gathering is an opportunity to engage with the deep-rooted nature of Amazigh cultural forms, examining their place within broader historical narratives and modern artistic landscapes.


AMAZIGH POETRY READING BY HIND HAIK WALD-GHZALA AND HASSAN LAAGUIR
March 21, 2025, 5 pm
Exhibition space, Floor -1, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Registration: Through this link on Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza´s website
Access: Free activity with prior registration required. 60 people approx. 
Recommended age: All audiences
Collaborators: Fundación Euroárabe de Altos Estudios
Language: Spanish & Tamazight

To celebrate International Poetry Day, we are pleased to invite Hind Haik Wald-Ghzala and Hassan Laaguir (Fundación Euroárabe de Altos Estudios) to recite Amazigh poetry in both its original language, Tamazight, and its Spanish translation. The recital will take place within the exhibition space, serving as a tribute to the cultural traditions of the Amazigh communities and highlighting the power of language, translation and cultural exchange.


EL PRIMER TACTO (THE FIRST TOUCH). NOCTURNAL WALKTHROUGH WITH PABLO ZAMORANO
March 22, 2025, 9 and 10 pm (two sessions)
Exhibition space, Floor -1, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Registration: Through this link on Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza´s website
Access: Free activity with prior registration required
Recommended age: All audiences.  Groups of 20 people.
Language: Spanish

What is the sonic emanation of the body? What is the bodily emanation of sound?

El Primer Tacto (The First Touch), led by Pablo Zamorano, is an immersive activity that weaves together body, movement, and ritual to explore the liminal space between night and day, the living and the dead. Through guided exercises and creative research, participants will engage with ancestral poetics, sensing the unseen and embodying the transitions that shape our perception of time and existence. This experience invites participants to explore evidential mediumship, a practice where movement becomes a bridge to ancestral connections, unveiling the subtle relationships that link us to those who came before.


NOCTURNAL WALKTHROUGH WITH MARÍA GÓMEZ LÓPEZ
March 29, 2025, 9 and 10 pm (two sessions)
Exhibition space, Floor -1, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Registration: Through this link on Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza´s website
Access: Free activity with prior registration required
Recommended age: All audiences.  Groups of 20 people.
Language: Spanish

Through this nocturnal walkthrough, María Gómez López proposes an exploration about how we construct a sense of belonging to the places we inhabit, examining the role of the soundscape in shaping our connection to space. Through a combination of selected works, personal experience, and research, she invites visitors to engage deeply with the sonic dimensions of place and memory.


NOCTURNAL WALKTHROUGH WITH ÓSCAR BUENO
April 5, 2025, 9 and 10 pm (two sessions)
Exhibition space, Floor-1, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Registration: Through this link on Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza´s website
Access: Free activity with prior registration required
Recommended age: All audiences.  Groups of 20 people.
Language: Spanish 

Through a blend of questions, encounters, concerts, scores, and performances, Óscar Bueno explores our relationship with territory and nature. In his latest research, he has focused on the concept of 'the excitement of the landscape'—a space for reflection and experimentation that has become central to his artistic practice, recurring throughout his work. In this performative visit to Tarek Atoui's exhibition, Óscar will engage with participants in exploring how to excite the landscape—and, in turn, how to deepen our observation and listening.


MUTUAL RESONANCES. NOCTURNAL WALKTHROUGH WITH JOHAN POSADA
April 12, 2025, 9 and 10 pm (two sessions)
Exhibition space, Floor -1, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Registration: Through this link on Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza´s website
Access: Free activity with prior registration required
Recommended age: All audiences. Groups of 20 people.
Language: Spanish

Led by Johan Posada, this nocturnal walkthrough delves into the sonic memory of Madrid, tracing the echoes of communities who have passed through, settled, migrated, and shaped the city over time. Weaving together the Andean melodies of Ecuador, the Caribbean salsa of Panama, the rhythms of Cuba, flamenco, and the sounds of Madrid’s vibrant 1980s music scene, the tour unfolds as a rich tapestry of cultural resonances. Through vinyl records, cassette tapes, visual archives on acetate, historic concert recordings, and interview fragments, participants are invited into a shared space of listening—one that bridges the city's migratory past with its present, revealing the layers of history that still hum beneath its streets.

 

 

QUE SEÑALA UN SONIDO (THAT WHICH SIGNALS A SOUND) WITH LUZ PRADO
April 13, 2025, 12, 12:20 and 12:40 pm
Exhibition space, Floor -1, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Registration: Through this link on Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza´s website
Access: Free activity with prior registration required
Recommended age: All audiences. 
Program co-designed with: MondoSonoro

 

The performer and violinist Luz Prado invites listeners to attune themselves to the most subtle sonic phenomena of Tarek Atoui's installation: a concert where the violin notes merge with and become indistinguishable from the room's soundscape. Sounds at the threshold of audibility draw attention to the friction of a small pendulum sliding along the contour of an amphora, the vibration of a goat horn on a doun-doun, or the sound of a drop from another place and another time, that comes back to life resonating in the materials of the work itself.

 

 

CLARA BREA

April 27, 2025, 12 pm
Exhibition space, Floor -1, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Registration: Through this link on Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza´s website
Access: Free activity with prior registration required
Recommended age: All audiences. 
Program co-designed with: MondoSonoro

 

Electronic musician Clara Brea presents a sound intervention that draws on recordings from Tarek Atoui's concerts, treating them as her own field recordings, creating a new composition closely tied to the themes and context of the exhibition. Seeking to establish a dialogue between her distinct sonic language and the Amazigh musical traditions explored by Atoui, Brea manipulates and reconfigures these recordings to create an original piece, which will be performed live within the exhibition space.

NOCTURNAL WALKTHROUGH WITH LA LIMINAL 
May 10, 2025, 9 and 10 pm (two sessions)
Exhibition space, Floor -1, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Registration: Through this link on Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza´s website
Access: Free activity with prior registration required
Recommended age: All audiences. Groups of 20 people.
Language: Spanish

La Liminal collective presents a journey that crosses the threshold between movement and stop, between action and inactivity, opening us to contemplation and listening. A reflection on the meaning and the need for welcome and shelter at a time marked by mobility and displacement.

 

 

DJ SET BY AZU TIWALINE & CINNA PEYGHAMY

May 17, 2025, 12 pm
Exhibition space, Floor -1, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Registration: Through this link on Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza´s website
Access: Free activity with prior registration required
Recommended age: All audiences. 
Program co-designed with: MondoSonoro

 

In their collaborative DJ set, Azu Tiwaline and Cinna Peyghamy will create a polyrhythmic and hypnotic soundscape, drawing on their shared interest in trance-inducing rhythms and textural experimentation. This performance will interact with Tarek Atoui's exhibition by blending their deep sonic language with the installation's ambient sounds, offering an immersive experience that bridges individual practice and collective resonance.


GUIDED TOURS 
On-demand
Exhibtiion space, Floor -1, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Registration: people interested can send an e-mail to public.programs@tba21.org
Access: Free activity with prior registration required 
Recommended age: All audiences
Language: Spanish and English (On demand)

We’re excited to announce that, for the first time, we are offering guided tours based on demand! Groups from public institutions are invited to reach out to us at public.programs@tba21.org to express their interest in a tour. TBA21’sOn-demand team will review requests and coordinate a schedule tailored to your group's needs.
 

ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS

TAREK ATOUI. A renowned Franco-Lebanese artist and composer celebrated for his innovative approach to sound art. His work explores the intersections of sound, technology, memory, and perception, often through immersive installations and collaborative performances. Atoui delves into musical traditions and acoustic landscapes from the Arab world and North Africa, reinterpreting them through contemporary techniques, improvisation, and electroacoustic experimentation.
He has exhibited internationally at prestigious institutions and events such as the Venice Biennale, Documenta 13, and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. His practice, which blends technological innovation with collective creation, positions him as a leading figure in redefining the boundaries of sound art and experimental composition.

MARINA AVIA ESTRADA. Art Historian and Curator and currently serves as Head of Exhibitions and Public Programs at TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary. She holds a Master's in Critical and Curatorial Studies from Columbia University and a Master's in Contemporary Art History and Visual Culture from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. She has previously worked at institutions such as IPCNY New York, Wallach Art Gallery, Tabacalera Promoción del Arte, and AECID. She is a regular contributor to the Spanish art magazine Exit Express.

 

CLARA BREA. Her practice unfolds at the crossroads of electronic music, phonography, and sound art. Her creative practice thrives on the friction between opposing forces—the external and the internal, the acoustic and the electronic, the analog and the digital, the deliberate and the accidental—where these tensions become fertile ground for exploration. On both a conceptual and emotional level, the environment offers the artist an endless reservoir of sonic elements. These not only connect her practice to specific places and events but also serve as a wordless means of expressing her concerns and affections for the world that surrounds us.

She has presented her work in spaces and festivals such as Eufonic, CALMA, Festival Arte y Ciencia (UPNA, Pamplona), DC Listening Lounge (Smithsonian Museum), CAAMSonora (Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, Gran Canaria), Sense (London), La Casa Encendida, LEV Festival, Festival FLAMA (Colegio de Arquitectos de Málaga) and the Paisaje Sonoro cycle of the Auditorio de Caja Navarra (Pamplona).

ÓSCAR BUENO. Graduated in Music with a specialization in Piano and earned a degree in Dramatic Arts with a focus on Textual Interpretation from ESAD Asturias. He later completed a Master's in Scenic Practice and Visual Culture at the University of Castilla-La Mancha and the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid. His artistic practice unfolds at the intersection of music, choreography, and visual arts. In addition to developing his own creative projects, he collaborates with other artists, creating broad frameworks that allow him to approach questions from multiple perspectives. Currently, his research focuses on Los paisajes ajenos (Foreign Landscapes), a project exploring how music, imagery, and action can generate new landscapes or reveal hidden ones within those we already know.

MARÍA GÓMEZ LÓPEZ. She holds a PhD in art history and is a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral researcher at the Autonomous University of Madrid, where she combines research with teaching. Her work focuses on the convergence of art and cartography in contemporary production from the Arab world, with a particular interest in the power of art to construct narratives and spatial belongings rooted in personal experiences of place. Currently, her research examines how fiction, utopia, and myth shape mobilities and the creation of narratives, images, and imaginaries between Spain and Morocco, as well as within the broader context of Atlantic and Mediterranean spaces. The results of her work have been showcased in the exhibition “Un mundo de retales” at Casa Árabe, as well as in various publications and academic and outreach events both nationally and internationally.

HIND HAIK WALD-GHZALA. Holds a degree in translation and interpreting from the University of Granada and a diploma in tourism business and activities from the UNED. She has a Master’s degree in Arab and Hebrew Cultures: al-Andalus, and the contemporary Arab world from the University of Granada. She is currently working at the Fundación Euroárabe de Altos Estudios in Granada, in the Department of Cooperation and Projects.

KARIM HAUSER. Born in Mexico to a Mexican father and an Egyptian mother, Hauser pursued International Relations and Theater studies in Mexico City before obtaining a master’s degree in journalism from the University of London. He worked for the BBC in the United Kingdom and as a correspondent in the Middle East before relocating to Madrid, where he managed socio-political affairs at Casa Árabe. He currently serves as the Head of Culture and International Relations at Casa Árabe. His expertise encompasses socio-political transformations and international relations in the Arab world, as well as literature, poetry, cinema, and the performing arts.

MARINA HERVÁS. Holds a degree in philosophy from the University of La Laguna, with degrees in history and music sciences from the University of La Rioja. She holds a Master’s degree in art theory and a PhD in philosophy from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. She has carried out research at institutions, including the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt, the Berlin Academy of Arts, and the Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt. She was the principal investigator of the project Abgrundlab: Technological Emancipation through Sound Experimentation at Medialab-UGR. As a freelance musicologist, she has collaborated with festivals such as Ensems, Memmix, FASE, and NAK, and with ensembles including OCAZ Enigma, Sigma, and Ciklus. She co-edited Terremotos Musicales. Denarrations of Music in the 21st Century (2020) and is the author of Listening to the Eye (2022). She is currently a full professor in the Department of History and Science of Music at the University of Granada and deputy director of the Centro de Cultura Contemporánea La Madraza.

SUSIE IBARRA. A Filipino composer, percussionist, and sound artist, and has worked with jazz, classical, and indigenous musicians. Her practice includes performance, multi-channel audio installations, documentary, and mobile sound-mapping applications. Many of her projects focus on preserving the environment and traditional music cultures, which she does by collaborating with Indigenous communities, researching environmental issues, and working with initiatives and organizations that share her values. As a composer, her work is influenced by Philippine Kulintang (a traditional instrumental form of music), jazz, classical music, poetry, opera, and electronic music.

HASSAN LAAGUIR. Originally from southern Morocco, he is a researcher specializing in Amazigh culture. He coordinates the International Chair of Amazigh Culture, created in 2014 by the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies under the patronage of the Dr. Leila Mezian Foundation of Morocco. In 2021, he edited the collective book The Berbers in the Iberian Peninsula. The contribution of the Amazigh to the history of al-Andalus. A poet in his mother tongue, Tamazight, he has published the poetry book ⵜⴰⵍⴰⵍⵜ.

LA LIMINAL. A collective that investigates the city and its histories through activities that seek to analyze public space collectively. Their actions are activated through strategies of cultural mediation and take the form of urban tours, walking investigations, drifts, visits to exhibition spaces, workshops and training projects. They have organized tours and programs independently as well as for institutions such as the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, the Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo (CA2M), the Centro de Cultura Contemporánea Condeduque, Tabacalera Promoción del Arte, and Medialab Prado.

NANCY MOUNIR. A key member of Egypt’s independent music scene, she is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and arranger. She plays various instruments, such as violin, bass, piano, Theremin, and the traditional Egyptian bamboo flute kawala. She fuses the harmonies of Western music with Arabic microtonal and melodic modes, and her sound features influences of heavy metal, electronic music, and traditional Arabic music. She became known for her debut album Nozhet El Nofous (نزهة النفوس – Promenade of the Souls), released in 2022, which was a result of extensive research on the lives and music of popular female Egyptian singers in the 1920s, and their musical toning systems. 

MUSICAL COLLECTIVE FROM THE ATLAS REGION. Together, these musicians form a collective that represents the rich diversity and profound depth of the musical heritage of the Atlas region. By blending ancient traditions with new sonic possibilities, they create a truly unique and evocative musical experience. Each of them brings their own style and expertise, not only to preserve the traditional musical forms of their homeland but also to explore and expand these sounds in dialogue with contemporary trends. This collaboration with international artists adds a layer of innovation, taking the music of the Atlas beyond its roots into a realm of experimentation and sonic transformation. The result is a sonic journey that transcends boundaries, uniting the past and the future, the traditional and the modern, inviting deep reflection and connection across cultures.

 

CINNA PEYGHAMY. Composer and sound artist who started exploring the relationship between the Persian goblet drum and modular synths and quickly realized how much his new hybrid setup mirrored his identity. As the French-born son of Iranian immigrants who speaks Farsi with his parents but has never visited the country, the composer and sound artist found himself asking what to do with the 'weight of this culture which is mine and not mine at the same time'. Peyghamy's mastery of the tombak provides a rhythmic foundation that resonates with cultural depth, while the modular synthesizer adds an ethereal, futuristic layer, creating a harmonious blend that defies genre boundaries.

JOHAN POSADA. The founder of the Asociación Cultural La Parcería and the artistic director of the Centro de Experimentación y Documentación Artística (CEDA) at La Parcería. Holding a master's degree in Film and Television Production from the Instituto de Cine de Madrid, he has worked on Ibero-American film co-productions and projects that combine music, community, and memory. He has led programs such as Relaciones Sonoras and has been a resident researcher in the Intersticios project at the Museo Reina Sofía. Additionally, he has created festivals like Nuestra Cosa Fest and events such as Salsódromo Madrid, and the concert series Berlín Is Tropical. His work has been featured in major cultural events, including Madrid Navidad de Encuentro by the Madrid City Council, 1969, La Parcería at the Museo Reina Sofía, Reggaetón Manifiesto at Matadero Madrid, and Imaginarios Polirrítmicos at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Through La Parcería, he continues to promote projects that foster cultural re-existence, using art and music as tools for reclaiming identity and memory. Johan is also the director of the festival Sonidos Diaspóricos, whose first edition will take place in 2025.

 

LUZ PRADO. Violinist, musician, and performer whose work begins with sound and unfolds on stage. Her practice is rooted in an ongoing dialogue with the violin and shaped by encounters with people who explore ways of being through folklore, DIY culture, dance, and noise. She develops her language alongside improvisers like Wade Matthews and Julián Sánchez, expands her sonic universe with artists such as Nilo Gallego, Elsa Paricio, and Silvia Zayas, and shares creative processes with dancers and choreographers including Elena Córdoba, La Chachi, and Carlota Mantecón. Graduated at the Conservatory of Malaga and Master of Scenic Practice in Visual Culture at Artea. Granted a grant for a stay at BANFF Centre for the Art (Canada) in 2017, PANC Program for New Creators of the Electroacoustic Music Association of Spain 2016, INJUVE 2015 production grants and in the XIII Encuentros de Genalguacil, among others. He has presented works in spaces such as Matadero Madrid, Encuentros de Cultura y Ciudadanía, Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla, Teatro Español, GetxoArte, Museo Picasso de Málaga or Colección del Museo Ruso de Sanpetersburgo/Málaga.

BORJA RAMÓN VEGA. Director and audiovisual producer from Melilla. His travels shaped his connection to Amazigh culture and his stay in the Moroccan Rif. He studied Film and Television in Madrid and has worked as a filmmaker in television and advertising. At the Institute of Cultures of Melilla, he created iwatamazight, a web project promoting the Amazigh language and traditions. He has also collaborated with the Melilla administration in organizing the Amazigh New Year (Yennayer) celebrations. Currently, he serves as the director of Melilla Iwa Fest, a festival that fosters dialogue between Amazigh heritage and contemporary artistic expression.

NAGHIB SHANBEHZADEH. A young, skilled percussionist, Shanbehzadeh began playing music in Boushehr and Kish with his father at the age of 3. He has learned traditional percussion from the south of Iran (Dammâm, Doholgap, Pipè, Kesser, Tempo) and classical ones (Zarb). Since the age of 10, he has played concerts with famous musicians such as Billy Cobham, Manu Codja, and Matthieu Donarier.

 

AZU TIWALINE. An artist creating new worlds for us all to hear and see each other within. Conjuring a sense of cosmic belonging within life’s maelstrom, her music is an extension of her being transformed into abundant rhythmical energy - beloved for her wonderful ability to channel vast inner realms into the outward joys of dance & movement. With an extraordinary musical vision firmly rooted in the freeing kinetics of soundsystem psychedelia, her vibrations bring vivid influence from the El Djerid desert & her Tunisian heritage into communication with the transcendent spatial awareness of dub and the grooving, dynamic exuberance of techno. Uniting these spellbinding elements into an alchemic synthesis, she conducts Saharan frequencies into eclectic, entrancing rhythms. Tiwaline's hybrid live/DJ sets have been staged in esteemed festivals like Dimensions, Freerotation, Unsound, Boom, Modem, etc, and clubs like Berghain, Tresor, Fabric London..., as well as contributing podcasts to venerated mix series Dekmantel, Illian Tape, Resident Advisor or Crack Magazine. At its core, her music celebrates the beauty of nature & the potential to see understanding & connection in all aspects of life - transmuting the mystique & possibilities inherent to our existence, always urging us to find knowledge & insight within ourselves & the world around us.

PABLO ZAMORANO. A Chilean researcher, creator, and performer living in Spain. His work is driven by approaches that connect new contexts between body and thought, such as creative research, theoretical-practical conceptualization in live arts, and contemporary choreography. His practice explores the knowledge and worldviews of ancestral cultures, such as intuition, embodiment, and transcendence, their means of transmission and contemporary interpretation in various contexts. It seeks to create reflective work shaped by concepts of identity, memory, culture, biography, and territories, looking at notions such as the invisible, the intangible, the impermanent.

KARIMA ZIALI ITAHRIOUAN. Born in Beni Sidel, Morocco, in 1986. At a young age, she moved with her family to Catalonia, where she grew up in a multilingual environment, mastering Riffian, Catalan, and Spanish. She holds a degree in Philosophy from the University of Barcelona and later moved to Valencia, where she obtained a Master's in Teacher Training. After completing a Master's in Anthropological Research at the UNED, she settled in Granada, where she pursued a Ph.D. in the Migration Studies program at the University of Granada, focusing on sexuality and Muslim youth. She has participated in various national and international literary events and regularly publishes in different media outlets. Una oración sin dios (Esdrújula, 2023) is her first novel.

ZIÚR. A key member of Berlin’s experimental club scene, she started her musical career by playing and singing for hardcore and punk bands but later developed a passion for electronic music. She is a solo artist but frequently collaborates with musicians, artists and dancers. She co-founded Boo Hoo, a series of events known for its inclusive atmosphere and diverse line-ups, and is currently co-hosting other event nights throughout Europe. She is participating in a residency program at the international radio station Refuge, where she releases tracks in collaboration with other musicians.

 

RELATED PROGRAM

Tarek Atoui. At-Tāriq. Exhibition at Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum - Madrid