Performance Haroon Mirza × Helga Dorothea Fannon
Date: Saturday, 13 June 2026 / 15:45–16:15
Language: English
Old Botanical Garden, Pelikanstrasse 40, 8001 Zurich

“Somatic Ceremony” is a site-specific sound performance unfolding in the Botanical Garden of Zurich. Haroon Mirzas crackling sounds merge with the artist Helga Dorothea Fannon’s voice, while Syrian rue seeds respond visibly to vibration, translating sound into movement. Drawing on archaeoacoustics and the physics of sound, the performance activates principles demonstrated by Ernst Chladni, in which vibration organises loose material into geometric figures, here re-enacted through the moving seeds. Low frequency vibrations are felt through the body, influencing breath and inner awareness, inviting reflection on embodied knowledge, plants, and their contested histories.

Credit: Still from Cymatic Ceremony. Haroon Mirza with Helga Dóróthea Fannon and Juliet Fraser, 2024