Artists

A prolific artist and scholar, Mekawei’s sonic bricolages draw inspiration from the dynamic flow of urban centres and the key infrastructure of cities. Interested in the philosophy of architecture, social history, and philosophical literature, Mekawei implements the optical transaction from the musical conversation and transfers the sound waves to visual forms. Her work is based on sound as an essential tool of vision; her philosophy of composition is shaped by sophisticated practices that convey messages of a conceptual dimension to the public. Mekawei follows a research-based practice humbly proposed in history, intimately connecting the ideology of the mythic past to the developed technology of the eternal present. Her work shows an intangible aspect of her cultural and feminine identity in an East African society.

Ulla Rauter works as a media artist and musician at the interface between sound and fine art – her works include performative sculptures, music performances and self-built instruments. Her sensor-based electronic music instruments have been shown internationally in solo performances or as objects in exhibitions. Two recurring themes in her artistic work are silence as a material and place of longing and the human voice as a basic material for visual and acoustic translation and transformation processes. She is co-founder of the annual sound-art show Sound Manifestos. Since 2013 she has held a lectureship at the University of Applied Arts, Department of Digital Art. Since 2022 she has been an artist researcher in the artistic-scientific research project Semiotic Symbiosis for the Posthuman Commons of the Austrian Science Fund FWF (PEEK).

Vienna-based composer, electroacoustic musician, and media artist Hui Ye's work includes numerous instrumental and electroacoustic compositions, multimedia installations, and electroacoustic improvisations. In her recent projects, the artist began exploring socio-political aspects of sound and music culture to open up new perspectives on the diverse connections between sound and contemporary societies. Her works have been shown at Kunsthalle Wien, Kunstraum Niederösterreich, Ohrenhoch Sound Gallery, Times Art Center Berlin, Art Space (Shanghai, China), and Times Museum (Guangzhou, China), among others. Since 2017, Hui Ye has been working as a guest lecturer at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (GAFA) in South China.