Season 4, Episode 2 — Chromatic Wednesdays
Bioglitch (Giorgio Alloatti, Alexandra Maciá, Xristina Sarli)
Swantje Lichtenstein
Augustė Vickunaitė
Wednesday, 25.02.2026 — 19:00
@TOP e.V.
Industriestraße 38, 12099 Berlin
Free entry
Theme: Unlearning and Reimagining
in collaboration with TOP e.V.
Program
19:00 — Doors open
19:30 — Bioglitch: Plastivorous Futures
20:30 — Swantje Lichtenstein: sound of undead words + regenerative poems. rules rhymes rhythm
21:30 — Augustė Vickunaitė: Live performance
About the Evening
In our second event under the theme Unlearning and Reimagining, we descend into the basement of TOP Lab — Berlin’s first DIY BioLab and a transdisciplinary community space — to encounter three different approaches to sound and image generation.
The idea of decomposition and material decay, as well as the deconstruction of language as a way to gain new perspectives on knowledge, draws a direct line to the core of unlearning. This setting opens space for the artists to reinterpret their materials: through literal feedback loops between organism, signal, and found matter, or by transforming the sound of words through feminist, non-canonical knowledge practices — a performative attempt to cast a kind of magical spell.
Bioglitch — Plastivorous Futures
Bioglitch is an ongoing series of experiments by Giorgio Alloatti, Alexandra Maciá, and Xristina Sarli, where sound, data, mycelium, and obsolete media collapse into one more-than-human circuit.
In Plastivorous Futures, the plastic-eating fungus Pestalotiopsis microspora meets the synthetic afterlife of ancient dead trees in polyurethane tapes, fossil-fuel plastics, and magnetic relics of human memory — and decomposes them into unstable, noisy scores that rehearse life after the age of plastic.
Bioglitch sonified the genome of Pestalotiopsis microspora (a fungus that can feed on polyurethane), recorded that sound onto polyurethane-based reel-to-reel tape, and then returned the tape itself to the fungus as food. The work stages a literal feedback loop between organism, signal, and matter. In performance, lab instruments, oscilloscopes, XR perspectives, humans, and fungi are wired into an unstable system where signals de-compose and co-compose through fungal decay.
The result is a shifting landscape that treats decay as resistance: fungi metabolizing both the materials and metaphors of oppressive systems — a multispecies resistance against speciesism and extractivism, and a slow unlearning of architectures of harm.
Swantje Lichtenstein — Live performances
In sound of undead words, Swantje Lichtenstein explores the transformation of language through feminist, non-canonical forms of knowledge — as spell, curse, and performative practice. The work reveals unruly family relationships through rhyming connections in a language marked by destruction, violence, and trauma.
Her second work, regenerative poems. rules rhymes rhythm, is a regenerative sound-poem performance based on collaborative voice work. It continues an ongoing research into sound-generated words, texts, and the sound of knowledge. The term “algorithm” traces back to the Persian polymath Muhammad Ibn Mūsā al-Khwārazmī (محمد بن موسى الخوارزمي), whose work on calculation is foundational — a genealogy often ignored in Western narratives of knowledge. Sound-based knowledge foregrounds another mode of orality and wisdom that is frequently forgotten in Europe, even as it continues to shape it.
Augustė Vickunaitė — Live performance
In the closing act of the night, Augustė Vickunaitė uses vintage reel-to-reel tape recorders to create a live soundscape. Her sources include found material, field recordings, voice, instruments, objects — and the full spectrum of malfunctions produced by decaying technology. Glitches, distortions, and looping failures open sonic hints toward unlearning and reimagining: where breakdown becomes method, and error becomes composition.
About Chromatic Wednesdays
Chromatic Wednesdays is a monthly interdisciplinary event series based in Berlin, organized by visual artist and filmmaker Emre Birişmen and sound artist Melih Sarıgöl. The series brings together diverse artistic practices — including performance, sound, moving image, and panel discussions — in thematically structured programs hosted at different venues across the city.
About >top
top (Association for the Promotion of Cultural Practice) has been active in Berlin since June 2002. The collective brings together artists, researchers, architects, and activists working across individual research, collective curating, and transnational collaboration.
Its shared and open infrastructure supports projects that embrace interdisciplinary approaches, encourage international exchange, and experiment with new formats and attitudes. This includes TOP Lab — Berlin’s first DIY biolab and a transdisciplinary community space — alongside a project space and a web server.
Links
Giorgio Alloatti — Instagram
Alexandra Maciá — Instagram
Xristina Sarli — Instagram
Swantje Lichtenstein — Website
Augustė Vickunaitė — Archive.org · Bandcamp · YouTube