AYO presents SO(N)R (2026)
she/her
May 22–June 20 | de Brakke Grond
SO(N)R (2026) by AYO is an evolving work spanning film and instrument-making, in which sound becomes a means of engaging with and reactivating historical memory. At its core is a 1960s archive of amateur 8mm footage from Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, originally filmed by a former Shell employee. While the images offer a fragmentary record of life within a colonial context, their silence points to a deeper absence, which AYO approaches as an opening.
Central to the work is the Abu, a traditional Luo wind instrument historically used to announce death within the community. As no recordings of its original sound are known to exist, AYO collaborated with master glassblower Gert Bullee to create a series of mouth-blown glass interpretations of the instrument. In dialogue with musician Yanik Soland, these instruments form the basis of a newly composed soundscape. Through careful sonic experimentation, SO(N)R bridges temporal and cultural gaps, proposing sound as a speculative and situated act of listening across histories.
About the artist
AYO is a Kampala-raised, Rotterdam-based multidisciplinary artist working across sculpture, sound, performance, and film. She approaches artist-hood as a daily process of plural world-building. Through time-based and collaborative works, AYO researches how intangible cultural heritage – including language and Indigenous knowledge systems – comes into dialogue with material forms, shaping sites where histories are enlivened, shared, and, at times, misunderstood.
All artist portraits shot by Christijn Groeneveld.
