Every summer it has become somewhat a tradition for many creatures of all kinds to migrate to Ferropolis for three days of (homo-)heterotopia at Whole Festival. We couldn’t be happier to be invited again to join this beautiful chaos of bodies and minds coming together for 3 days.

With such a plethora of offerings, there’s no one way to do Whole. For the many of us whose last year has been marked by intense grief, we held our loved ones closer, danced hard, and fought for our shared values even harder. We remembered our queer and trans kin now in the ancestor realm, and vowed to continue our work in their honour. New friendships were forged, solidifying solidarity through a shared vision of liberation. On the last day we landed on a beautifully lit temple of ambient for a sonic seance that will be remembered as one where you bewitched us with poems, stories and chants, while so many proudly wore their tears, keffiyehs, fists and dreams.

We started our 6 hour sonic journey with a soothing opening vocal meditation hosted by Singen3000 choir leader George Adje tuning our collective voice to receive the frequencies and words offered after. Our sets were interspersed with powerful and personal readings organised by Thawra, with Enana, Hussein, Tayo, Nicolas Shatleh and Zaina. Mmakgosi transformed the space through their body’s language and presence, until we held a closing procession to João Carinho’s floral altar honouring our lost loved ones.

Thank you to Keira for your support and organising expertise, and to Billy Ruth and Nes for tenderly caring for the space and our guests. Thank you Whole Festival for your trust and for allowing us to hold this space for grief among celebration. We loved weaving the sonic threads that embraced us that afternoon into evening, through the warm sun and shining moon, as the festival came to a close.

love, lou and marum

emotions, ineffable we begin with a sound,

a call, a gasp, a whimper, a groan, a cry, a moan, an utterance

As we ride waves of grief that turn to sorrow, that turn to joy, that turn to laughter, that turn to tears once more, we gather again at planeta manas. on a warm summer sunday evening we will begin our next all-night sonic seance, giving space to emotions beyond words and pre-verbal longings.

How can the voice give way to new (un)doings, vocalising as a means of expressing the inarticulatable? after several years of dreaming this occasion, we're glad to be bringing our dear friend, musician and vocalist Lyra Pramuk for a unique triangulation of sharing vocal explorations, music and other sounds, words, energy and sensorial delights.

We will gather in the early evening to catch the last rays, serving a fresh meal while feasting on sonic delights before diving into a restful slumber-dream space. You're invited to bring your own rug, slippers, blankets and any other cosy things you may desire. Feel free to contribute with a photo or another offering for our altar to honour lost loved ones.

Tickets available here.

emotions, ineffable we begin with a sound,

a call, a gasp, a whimper, a groan, a cry, a moan, an utterance

As we ride waves of grief that turn to sorrow, that turn to joy, that turn to laughter, that turn to tears once more, we gather again at planeta manas. on a warm summer sunday evening we will begin our next all-night sonic seance, giving space to emotions beyond words and pre-verbal longings.

How can the voice give way to new (un)doings, vocalising as a means of expressing the inarticulatable? after several years of dreaming this occasion, we're glad to be bringing our dear friend, musician and vocalist Lyra Pramuk for a unique triangulation of sharing vocal explorations, music and other sounds, words, energy and sensorial delights.

We will gather in the early evening to catch the last rays, serving a fresh meal while feasting on sonic delights before diving into a restful slumber-dream space. You're invited to bring your own rug, slippers, blankets and any other cosy things you may desire. Feel free to contribute with a photo or another offering for our altar to honour lost loved ones.

Tickets available here.

As we ride through waves of grief, we search for solace in collective vibration and attunement.

Join us for our next infinity rug, where familial and fresh threads will be woven together over a circadian cycle, to allow for a deep dive into a myriad of sound touches. Haptic to aural ripples, from the surface of the skin to the subconscious realm of dreams.

Bring your rug from home and join our rug constellation, for a collective practice of resonance, from sunset to sunrise.

Tickets available here.

Grateful to have the support of Berliner Projektfonds Urbane Praxis

There will be an opening window from 18h–20h in which you can arrive, and we will serve dinner during this time. After that, no late admissions will be accepted. We will have two spaces activated during the night. On the resonance floor, we wish to instigate a non-verbal spell as a way of exploring the myriad other ways in which we can attune with the sound and each other. Underground in the cave of murmurs, a space inhabited by playful entities throughout the night, it will be possible to speak verbally for those who wish to – sadly this lower space is not wheelchair accessible. Still, the rest of the space will be. We will have DSL interpreters during the dinner and initial welcome.

Communication and Sound The event will have a non-verbal focus. The event will have German Sign Language Interpretation. There will be a well-lit space for people to see the interpretation. We will mark a space for people to sit and feel stronger bass and low frequencies. Earplugs are available for free.

Access to Building SAVVY Contemporary is a ground floor building with a large toilet built for wheelchair use and several all-gender toilet stalls. The entrance and hallway doors on the first floor are 2,20m wide. The door to the bathroom is 95cm wide. infinity rug music will take place on the ground floor. Some elements of the performance will take place in the basement level, which is accessible only by stairs.

Transportation SAVVY Contemporary is 120 metres away from the nearest U-Bahn station, S+U Bahnhof Wedding. This station has two elevators. Check http://brokenlifts.org/stationen?station=wedding to stay up to date on their condition. The nearest bus stations are Berlin Nettelbeckplatz/S Wedding, Bus Lines 147/247. The nearest free public parking lot is 500 meters away at Pankstr. 29.

Other Information There will be wardrobes near the entrance but please be aware that it will be self-managed and leaving items there will be at your own risk.

During this sonic seance we will draw inspiration from the concept of the seance, a word derived from the French, meaning 'to sit', or 'a session', referring to occasions where spiritualists would gather to commune with the deceased. During the late 1800's - early 1900's, seances enjoyed their peak of popularity before inevitably becoming associated with fraudulent activity. Recent resurgence in interest can be linked to New Age movements where adherents are more inclined to believe in the ability to raise the consciousness of all involved, rather than only of a select few occupying the role of a medium. It is in this vein that we hold our sonic seances.

We believe that through the sharing of particular frequencies, words, gestures and engaging in collective deep listening and dream practices we can collectively arrive at new realisations, new ways of being-together and relating with ourselves and others - in this realm and beyond.

All the details about this event on this form

• click here to add your rug to this constellation

lorem ipsum sonic seance we will draw inspiration from the concept of the seance, a word derived from the French, meaning 'to sit', or 'a session', referring to occasions where spiritualists would gather to commune with the deceased. During the late 1800's - early 1900's, seances enjoyed their peak of popularity before inevitably becoming associated with fraudulent activity. Recent resurgence in interest can be linked to New Age movements where adherents are more inclined to believe in the ability to raise the consciousness of all involved, rather than only of a select few occupying the role of a medium. It is in this vein that

Bring your rugs and join part of our infinite constellation tomorrow night at Arsenic. At midnight, we will begin to apply a soothing sonic balm, offering a moment for being-listening together as we gently dive into some ongoing thoughts around shame and insecurity, the usefulness of the closet and techniques of obfuscation, and our lack of resonance with the term pride.

We will open with a screening of Serge Garcia’s short film, Grand Central Hotel, made with the transgendered icon, Terre Thaemlitz. The short film is sparse in imagery yet abundant with ideas, leaving us with much to reflect upon as we dive together into a musical soundscape made for contemplation and introspection.

How might it feel to overcome shame? Who might i become if i clung less tightly to my identity? What would it feel like to feel grateful for this life - as it is, not how i wish it to be?

Behind layered veils of secrets Lays the potency of destruction and becoming May hard shells become cocoons Vulnerable spaces for metamorphosis

“Clarity is the ability to transform fear into trust, so that the situation can become more abundant by opening to others” – Mariana Nobre Vieira

A fog of concealment and hiding can also inadvertently become an opportunity for transformation and generation. We have been thinking together, particularly of queer shame and the byproducts that come from not living one's truth. Both western scientific and mindfulness-based practices agree that the first step to overcoming shame is acceptance and self-compassion. Self-love has been commodified in an attempt to sell us something to make us feel better about our compartmentalised existences, yet the first step to caring about ourselves isn’t found in a product, but in extending to ourselves the care and patience we might have for a friend. Without the desire to transform shame, we can unwittingly create shells in which we become trapped. As Buddhist scholar Bhikkhu Anālayo points out, “guilt is not useful. Not guilt, but taking responsibility. I'm here. Let me take my responsibility.” Being imperfect is something we all have in common, and in collectively acknowledging our flaws, our secrets, or our shame (verbally or not) we might be relieved of some of the burden of carrying its weight.

You are warmly invited to bring a rug and join Lou Drago and marum for our next sonic-seance where we can lay down and get cosy together.

Accessibility: The sonic seance will be hosted in English. Understanding English is not necessary to participate. The venue is wheelchair accessible There will be loud music, with low frequencies. Earplugs will be freely available. There won’t be strobe lights. There will be a smoke machine. The event will last about 2,5 hours If you bring your own carpet, please make sure that it is not too dusty and free of animal hair.

Riding the Pegasus clouds at Bone Festival, under the sky-high ceilings of Gross Halle Reitschule in Bern where sonic dreams brought the festival to an end.

Thank you Mma Kgosi for channeling our archive and other soporific spells, Jules Petrus Fricker for tenderizing the space and nursing the guests, marum for hosting with a feather-like poise and music.

Thank you to all the team for their efforts in making everyone feel welcome into this magnificent space, valuing accessibility and care, while tying together a beautiful program of music, dance and other delights.

Relax your eyelids, imagine you’re floating weary yet gently attuning with the vibrations resting, recharging, dreaming As sunlight fades, we take this time to slow down and repair, mending broken branches and severed tethers we practice care and mutuality embracing the deepest doings of friendship.

Allowing our bodies to rest, Weselle and Zu Ferreira guided an exchange of angelic harmonies and channts, followed by the hybrid live set of Ukrainian soundscape artist que, sharing sonic material recorded while dwelling in Lisbon, where he has been displaced since the start of the full-scale invasion. Chima Hiro soulful and moody sets are known to embrace an expansive and surprising taste, whuich have cheekily awakened us as the sun rose. Hosts Lou Drago and marum have wooven fragments of poetry and collected writings through one another’s music, whilst focusing on setting the mood for deep-rest and collective dreaming.

Grateful to everyone who laid down with us last week for what was an 11h journey through a myriad of soundscapes attuned with a desire to mend the body and the heart, rest the mind and strengthen friendships and kin.

Together with friends we managed to transform Planeta Manas into an oneiric den filled with rugs and stars. ✨

Thank you Mariana, Mar, Bruno, Inês, David, Miguel, Marco and everyone that offered their hands and help, who cooked delicious meals, warm brews and helped spooning everyone (in its multiple meanings) comfy and make this moment possible and smooth.

Thanks to Chima Hiro, Weselle, Zu Ferreira and que for joining our hosts marum and Lou Drago on the dream booth and together tether the sounds and other vibrations that tucked us and and everyone that came through the night. 🌙

May we feel lighter these days, on the surface tension of the river waters. May we learn from the old boats, undulating as sonic waves softly rock their bodies.

Never in our collective memory can we remember a time of such catastrophic climate events, and paired with a loss of faith in much (if not all) of political leadership, it is hard to know where to gather strength to continue working for the protection and preservation of all life. For us, being in community, listening and sharing music and knowledge has always been that source of perseverance.

In recent years self-care has been co-opted (like everything else) toward an individualist, neoliberal agenda. We still acknowledge the radical root of how important it is for queer, black and brown, and differently abled folks to care for themselves in systems that are designed with other subjectivities in mind.

We wish to host a moment for caring for ourselves, with others, as we believe that both self-care and caring for one another is integral to healing. We will not shy away from difficult subjects, but hope to be able to face these together to go through, what is a vital process of acknowledgement and mourning, so that we can persevere in the face of collapse.

This sonic seance will be split across two days at Hosek Contemporary, Berlin. You’re invited to bring your rug from home and get cosy with us on the boat, majestically adorned in original textile artworks by Jonathan James.

On the second day we will pivot inward, taking with us the rich lessons of the day prior to focus on our relationships with our inner selves, as well as our relationships to each other. We consider building resilient communities to be crucial and believe in the lifelong ongoing work of practicing care in order to co-exist in all the messiness our current era confronts us with.

We will begin the day with a consent workshop facilitated by Em Steinberg, where she invites us to experientially recognise our desires as well as our boundaries. Hosts, marum and Lou Drago will be joined behind the decks by deep-mind explorer, Sybil and future-facing, Rroxymore, while Jules Petru Fricker (aka LEGZ) serves from the jug of plenty and MmaKgosi hosts, shares readings, and all a necessary ingredient in the magical brew for intimacy on the infinity rug.

Accessibility: Free entrance The venue is located a 5 minute walk away from an U-Bahn Station and is not wheelchair accessible due to stairs. There is no bathrooms on site but we are allowed to use the bathroom at Cafe Re. There will be a room with loud music and a room for workshops with a bar. In the music room, we ask that you keep talking to a minimum. All events will be in English and some with International Sign Language. We have a host-awareness team providing care and help.

This even was funded by the Berlin initiative Draussenstadt.

May we feel lighter these days, on the surface tension of the river waters. May we learn from the old boats, undulating as sonic waves softly rock their bodies.

Never in our collective memory can we remember a time of such catastrophic climate events, and paired with a loss of faith in much (if not all) of political leadership, it is hard to know where to gather strength to continue working for the protection and preservation of all life. For us, being in community, listening and sharing music and knowledge has always been that source of perseverance. In recent years self-care has been co-opted (like everything else) toward an individualist, neoliberal agenda. We still acknowledge the radical root of how important it is for queer, black and brown, and differently abled folks to care for themselves in systems that are designed with other subjectivities in mind.

We wish to host a moment for caring for ourselves, with others, as we believe that both self-care and caring for one another is integral to healing. We will not shy away from difficult subjects, but hope to be able to face these together to go through, what is a vital process of acknowledgement and mourning, so that we can persevere in the face of collapse.

This sonic seance will be split across two days at Hosek Contemporary, Berlin. You’re invited to bring your rug from home and get cosy with us on the boat, majestically adorned in original textile artworks by Jonathan James.

On the first day we will focus on our relationship to the environment, centering questions of climate change, environmental precarity and the grief that all that entails. Together with Marc Lohr, Mar, Dorota and Aaron Lang we will have the opportunity to create herbariums, distilling, discussing medicinal and psychoactive properties and cultural histories, exchanging seeds for self-reliance and mono-crop divestment, and tasting locally foraged delights.

We will be practicing the idea of plants as co-regulatory companions, and somatically exploring the relationship between plant bodies and our human bodies, as Marylou, Perila, and Lou Drago share sonic murmurings. Melanie J Kalay (aka Yes Mel) will lead us in a collective mourning ritual, and Steph Holl-trieu will share a new oral and sonic work interrogating the character of the Doomsday Clock. In addition to your rugs, for this day, you’re invited to bring seeds to exchange, fresh plant cuttings to try distill or dried plants for the herbarium.

Accessibility: Free entrance The venue is located a 5 minute walk away from an U-Bahn Station and is not wheelchair accessible due to stairs. There is no bathrooms on site but we are allowed to use the bathroom at Cafe Re. There will be a room with loud music and a room for workshops with a bar. In the music room, we ask that you keep talking to a minimum. All events will be in English and some with International Sign Language. We have a host-awareness team providing care and help.

After three days raving through lights, smoke and rain, along dozens of queer party collectives and thousands of ravers from all over the world, infinity rug emerges amidst the trees and bushes of the ambient stage, for a deep and lush after-care sonic-seance cushioning the closing of Whole Festival 2022.

infinity rug offers a moment where sound, collective learning and intimate care come together to forge a space of togetherness. You are invited to bring your own rug to contribute to a rug-constellation. Lay down and get cosy with us, drift off with us.

This time we take inspiration from our co-conspirator caner teker’s Karadeniz (which will be performed directly before IR), to enquire about the role of the wedding, a communal celebration of a bond, legal or romantic, between two people, often accompanied by gifting, lavish feasts, social ostentation, music and dance, poetry and conversations.

Across cultures, weddings are regarded as one of the highest expressions of love, and although seen by most as a celebration, weddings are also a signifier of a legal institution that has historically, and in much of the world still is, hostile to women and LGBTQ+ folks.

With roots in organised religion, state sanctioned marriage has a normalising function in society, where those who conform reap tax, social security, legal decision-making, health and paternity benefits. We stand with a politics that seeks to dismantle systems of power rather than extend the access of such powers (i.e. same-sex marriage).

For this sonic-seance we deliberately rescue some of the elements of the wedding for a celebration of the polycule, desacralizing the history of cishetero coupledome and it’s legal institution. Instead we embrace friendship, intimacy and camaraderie as the highest celebration of love as we guide you through a sensorial feast of field recordings, ambient, experient and deep-mind music, interwoven with soft, somatic and ceremonial performances and hosting, texts and poetry, scents, textiles, teas and other treats.

Realised in two phases, the first in 1904 – 1906 and the second in 1910 – 1912, the Postal Savings Bank, Vienna, was Otto Wagner’s first major building commission and allowed him to realise his “functional” principles of architecture for the first time. Tomorrow we’re grateful to have the opportunity to transform the former Post Office to host a sonic-seance as part of Angewandte Festival.

marum and lou drago invite you to bring a rug and join the rug constellation, to lay down and get intimate with us, as we take guests on a journey through ambient, deep-mind, experient and droney soundscapes offering a space for introspection and collectivity.

A gentle soundscape, diving into memories of architecture and it’s becomings, queer repurposing and collective care practices. We‘ll bathe in refreshing treats and tunes until the last rays of summer sun fade under this glass sky.

This infinity rug explored the realm of intimacy, in particular touch and being touched, sensuality, consent, friendship and community.

em steinberg did a wonderful job of setting this intention for the night, hosting a 2 hr consent workshop where participants practiced feeling into and voicing their desires.

Thank you infinitely to all those named here, and all those who attended and helped in other ways to make this night so magical. It was really a heartwarming display of community love to pull this off together.

♥️♥️♥️

Tales of an intimate rite

As we gathered for a delicious jewelled rice dinner made by glabra, before lou drago and marum officiated the sonic seance.

daniel pizamiglio shared with us an affecting poetic performance dedicated to ‘M’, demonstrating the true love of friendship. jules petrus fricker offered guests a special home made lemonade from the now infamous ‘jug of plenty’ while usof played a brilliant ambient and experimental sonorities as the listeners sunk into their rugs. marum followed with gorgeous trippy and low-frequencies drones creating a soporiferous spell, and then as the sun rose, raw forest treated us to a gorgeous synthy choral trip and whimsical lulling vocals.

We snacked on mar's (now traditional) succulent and oh-so-appropriate rice pudding and lush tropical fruit platters. lou drago finished the morning with a deep mind and experient set, and orion took us on a sensuous, dark-room journey in a stunning poetic form.

Under the invitation of 'Hold my hand, let's meet them by the speaker', this will be a special hybrid session where we will talk about our artistic and curatorial practices, the history behind our collaborations and discuss the context in which infinity rug was developed. As the sharings unfold, we'll dive into a soundscape of field recordings, ambient, experient and deep-mind music, interwoven with various offerings and elements from our research: texts, scents, performances, projections and special brews.

Thank you Lucía Vives for the kind invitation.

Organised by lou drago and marum, infinity rug is a series of sonic-seances where sound, collective learning and intimate care create a space of togetherness. You are invited to bring your own rug to contribute to a rug-constellation. Lay down and get cosy with us, drift off with us. Borrowing many teachings from our queer raver community and by emulating the comfort of domesticity in the public realm, we tentatively explore new ways of being-together, explore histories of collective listening and queer-feminist care practices while offering a space for reflection, rejuvenation and introspection.

infinity rug will close Tanztage Festival amidst a tanzverbot - a dance prohibition that has paralyzed the dancefloors of Berlin. Throughout the past two years various dance ordinances have been enforced, shutting down clubs, raves and dance classes, a bit all over the world. Gathering and dancing together has been criminalised, due to the fear of contagion. Dancing has become dangerous. The dance is dangerous! - it has always been throughout the history. Where there is dance, there is danger - but that, we already knew... The question is: can the dance ever be stopped?

Tonight we are here with marum, Lou Drago, Yhdessa, Maria Scaroni and Auro Orso. We will be your hosts for the next 6 hours here at the Festsaal of Sophiensaele for a sonic seance, gliding through soundscapes and threading vibes with you.

Thank you Mateusz for curating this beautiful program. Thank you Sophiensaele for welcoming us in your house. Thank you to all those here who keep hacking the system and dancing. Thank you for being here tonight.

Seances were birthed from a period of exciting scientific and technological developments but also a period of heightened desire to connect with the occult and spiritual world. Lucid dreams, hallucinations, ancestor ghosts, hysteric or trance states, natural catastrophes. New questions fed the thirst for new answers, alternative practices, changes in the epistemological paradigms. We believe we are going through a similar period. We have experiences the collapse of the health systems, isolation and solitude, death and grief. This new reality demands new caring systems, new forms of communions, experimentation and new dances.

In a city where cheer dances have spearheaded a migrant protest for housing rights, where ravers from across all scenes have swarmed the streets against fascism, where radicalised people, despite the relentless violence felt on their skin and kin, kept dancing for their pulse of life. If dancing is a queer protest, a city where people can’t dance is a lost city.

infinity rug offers a moment where sound, collective learning and intimate care come together to forge a space of togetherness. You are invited to bring your own rug to contribute to a rug-constellation. Lay down and get cosy with us, drift off with us. Bringing the domestic to the public realm, we will tentatively explore new ways of being-together and offer a space for reflection, rejuvenation and introspection. Through the night until the morning, we will gently guide you through a soundscape of field recordings, ambient, experient and deep-mind music, interwoven with ceremonial performances, texts and poetry, scents, textiles and food.

For this iteration of Infinity Rug we will be exploring grief and collective mourning, drawing from the experiences, skills and resources that have been collected over the past year and a half.

Please arrive at 19h sharp to be welcomed with a live ambient set from mina resident, Violet, and get a rug and get cosy with us. Doors will be open to arrive until 22h, so please arrive within this time window. If you don’t wish to sleep with us, you’re welcome to leave during the night and come back to join us for breakfast from 7h.

For any reason during the event you’re feeling (too much) discomfort, we will have a caring-awareness team who will be there to help.

Weaving sonic and sensorial threads, infinity rug provides a moment for tentatively exploring new ways of being-together.

The rug invites us to take off our shoes and enter a domestic, familiar and intimate space. The rugs, provided or brought by the participants, delimitate a space that suggests the comfort and intimacy of home, a place for resting, loving, grieving, playing, meditating, sleeping. Their portability allows us to bring the domestic space into the public and to weave them with other rugs, creating a wider surface, an intertwined network of safety pods that can accommodate sanitary and hygienic demands while still forging hypothetically infinite connections with our rugs.

Closeness across distance. Domesticity in public.

Initiated during the quarantine in the form of small home listening gatherings, where sound, collective learning and intimate care come together to forge a space of togetherness within queer and trans communities during the period of the pandemic, in these sonic-seances lou drago and marum gently accompanying the guests through a soundscape of field recordings, ambient, experient and deep-mind music, interspersed with fragments of texts, poetry or films, scents, textiles and textures. The artists offering a space for relaxed reflection, rejuvenation and introspection, reminiscent of the collective care generated in their usual queer-feminist clubs — but at home. Guests are encouraged to bring their own rugs to contribute to building a larger constellation.

In this seance we're screening the essay film ‘Politics of Ecstasy’ by Chiara Baldini and Rafael Kozdron.

A special thanks to Mariana Nobre Vieira, Isabel Lewis, Maria Scaroni, Wanda Gaimes, and all our queer kin and comrades who have been endlessly inspiring and supportive.