Andrea Mancini & Every Island: A Comparative Dialogue Act

Originally created for the Luxembourg Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024, A Comparative Dialogue Act is the result of an ongoing collaboration between artist and musician Andrea Mancini (1989, Luxembourg) and the multidisciplinary Brussels-based collective Every Island (Alessandro Cugola, Astrid Lykke Nielsen, Caterina Malavolti, Juliane Seehawer and Martina Genovesi). At the intersection of visual art, performance and sound, the exhibition turns into an experimental site in which guest artists hosted by Mancini and Every Island create new performative pieces drawing from a shared sonic library. The result is a collective artwork in which sound, space and body intertwine as the floor and glass panels on wheels act as speakers. The resonating architecture and objects contribute to an immersive experience in a shared sensory field.

In Venice in 2024, four international artists started an experimental living archive consisting of numerous sonic fragments provided by each one of them – ranging from snippets of recorded previous performances, newly made digital tunes, field recordings, and spoken word. During their short residencies, the pavilion was accessible for audiences to witness the evolution of this collective creation.

Over the course of Mudam’s exhibition, four newly invited artists expand this library by reworking it once more. During their short residencies – similarly consisting of production, experimentation and performances – each participant presents new pieces integrating material from the library assembled by all eight contributors. During the intervals between live events, recordings of the newly created pieces are played, alternating with a selection of library fragments.

A Comparative Dialogue Act brings together a line-up of positions to probe the potential of sound as a medium for creative negotiation, intervention and cross-pollination. By combining live and archival elements, a dialogue comes to life, nourished by the ever-shifting exchanges between artists who never met yet connect on this experimental platform through the shared language of music.

Guest artists at Mudam: 

Cucina Povera 

Performance: 25 September 2025, 20:30 (exhibition opening) 

Production phase: 26 September 2025, all day 

Performance: 27 September 2025, 16:30

bela 

Production phase: 6–7 November 2025, all day 

Performances: 8–9 November 2025, 16:30

Katarina Gryvul 

Production phase: 11–12 December 2025, all day 

Performances: 13–14 December 2025, 16:30

Thomas Lea Clarke 

Production phase: 15–16 January 2026, all day 

Performances: 17–18 January 2026, 16:30