Residencies

• 13.04 > 17.04.2026

Here Be Dragons / The Glitter Within is an artis­tic explo­ra­ti­on at the inter­sec­ti­on of sound art, wri­ting, and per­for­man­ce, cen­te­red on the figu­re of the dra­gon and sub­ter­ra­nean spa­ces. Starting with the medie­val expres­si­on ​“hic sunt dra­co­nes”, which refer­red to are­as unknown on maps, the pro­ject explo­res the sub­soil as a geo­lo­gi­cal, his­to­ri­cal, and ima­gi­na­ry spa­ce, mar­ked by extrac­ti­on, vio­len­ce, but also by forms of resis­tan­ce and pro­tec­ti­on. Informed by research con­duc­ted in 2022 on mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo — whe­re sto­ries evo­ke an under­ground dra­gon guar­ding the mines — the pro­ject exa­mi­nes the rela­ti­ons­hips bet­ween beliefs, ter­ri­to­ries, and resour­ces. The dra­gon appe­ars as an ambi­va­lent figu­re, both thre­at and pro­tec­tor, con­nec­ting mytho­lo­gy and con­tem­po­ra­ry infra­struc­tu­re. The pro­ject unfolds through immersi­ve instal­la­ti­on and per­for­man­ce, employing spa­ti­a­li­zed sound, sto­ry­tel­ling, and the body. In envi­ron­ments with limi­ted visi­bi­li­ty, it pro­po­ses acti­va­ting alter­na­ti­ve per­cep­tu­al modes, whe­re lis­te­ning, vibra­ti­on, and bodi­ly awa­re­ness beco­me tools for under­stan­ding what esca­pes the eye. Through the­se devi­ces, here be dra­gons seek to make per­cep­ti­ble the tra­ces and ima­gi­na­ries buried within ter­ri­to­ries, and to recon­fi­gu­re our rela­ti­ons­hip to con­tem­po­ra­ry extrac­ti­ve realities.