Ayo

What does it mean to carry a language the body knows before the mind names it? To hold memory in a form that may not survive translation? AYO (UG/NL) is a Kampala-raised, Rotterdam-based multidisciplinary artist working across sculpture, sound, performance, and film. She approaches artist-hood as a daily process: plural, durational, built through long-term research, making, and listening — moving fluidly between conceptual inquiry and material experimentation, between what can be held and what resists form. Through time-based and collaborative works, she researches how intangible cultural heritage — language, memory, oral transmission, Indigenous knowledge systems — presses against and enters material forms, opening rooms where histories are enlivened, shared, and at times, misunderstood. Credits: 📷 1 Christijn Groeneveld 📷 4 Patty Van den Elshout 📷 5&6 Francoise Belochowski 📷 7 Nadine Stijns 📷 8 Patty van den Elshout #AYO #ArtistInResidence #Rijksakademie #ArtResidency #ResidentArtist

Sunday 29 March, 14.30 – 17.00
The Space That Listens
Presentation Sonic Acts Spatial Sound Course Rijksakademie 
Reserve your free spot via the link in bio   At the Rijksakademie, the final presentation of the Sonic Acts Spatial Sound Course unfolds as an exploration of space as a resonant instrument. Over a two-month programme led by composer, sound artist, and performer Ji Youn Kang, artists developed works that consider sound as a material force capable of shaping perception, architecture, and atmosphere.   Through installations and performances, the participants share the results of their investigations: how sound travels, reflects, and unfolds through different environments, and how architecture can respond and resonate in return. The presentation opens an evolving field of listening, where the boundaries between space, sound, and presence soften, and the rooms themselves seem to breathe.   The presentation features Ji Youn Kang and the following workshop participants/artists: Rijksakademie residents AYO, Priss Niinikoski and Chin Tsao, former Rijksakademie tech fellow Dmytro Tentiuk, and Lena Chen, Anushka Chkheidze, Anne Marie Deacy, Ildikó Horváth, Iza Koczanowska, Li Qihang, Dimitra Sofroniou, Malou van der Veld and Eunjin Yoo. @sonicacts @studio__ayo @prissui @pope_sangreta @d.tentiuk #rijksakademie

💐18:00 FRIDAY February 27th💐 Join us for the opening reception of Sustaining the Otherwise: Practicing Freedom and Refusal at Metro54. We’ll open with a performance by one of the exhibiting artists: AYO, @studio__ayo ‘A score for Atat’s homestead’ followed by a warm welcome to the space. Join us to celebrate, drinks and snacks will be provided! Christine 'AYO' is a Kampala-raised, Rotterdam-based multidisciplinary artist working across sculpture, sound, performance, and film. AYO 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, customs, indigenous knowledge, among others — can come into dialogue with material forms, shaping sites where histories are enlivened, shared, or misunderstood. Practicing Freedom and Refusal unfolds as part of Sustaining the Otherwise, a collective and ongoing inquiry into how we might live, think and create otherwise, within and against the enduring structures of coloniality. We’re delighted to present an incredible array of works from artists Ayo (@studio__ayo ), Masimba Hwati (@masimbahwati ), Christian Nyampeta (@christiannyampeta ), Adeju Thompson (@lagosspaceprogramme ), and Helena Uambembe (@uambembe ). The works are positioned as distinctly shaped by the nuances and complexities of the dual action of practicing freedom and refusal. 🔥Date: Friday 27th February 🔥Time: 18:00 - 21:00 🔥Location: Westerdoksdijk 597, 🔥Please RSVP, link in bio and website

My DIY art film made it to @iffr 🙏🏿 Many thanks to everyone who touched the project and came to witness it last week. You know who you are ❣️ Also massive appreciation to @lyse_ishimwe1 for facilitating a beautiful gathering @kunstinstituutmelly for African filmmakers 🙌🏿 If you haven’t seen SO(N)R yet there are two screenings left: 📽️ Friday 6th Feb | Pathé 3 I 20:30 📽️ Saturday 7th Feb | Podium Islemunda (filmzaal)

#Rijksakademie resident AYO @studio__ayo will be showcasing her film SO(N)R @IFFR 2026 in the following screening program: Echoes of perception 30 Jan 2026 12:00 LantarenVenster 2 30 Jan 2026 16:15 LantarenVenster 4 6 Feb 2026 20:30 Pathé 3 7 Feb 2026 10:00 Podium Islemunda - Filmzaal Short Film Marathon 7 Feb 2026 11:45 KINO 1 In SO(N)R, multidisciplinary artist AYO reimagines the voice and form of Abu —a Luo gourd instrument once used to announce death. Sounds produced with glass renditions of Abu in AYO’s studio in the Netherlands intertwine with 8mm films portraying life in 1960s East Africa, creating an enigmatic meditation of time and memory across geographies. With thanks: Yanik Soland (sonic composition), Marta Hryniuk & Nick Thomas (Camera), Gert Bullée (glass fabrication), Mondriaan Fonds & North Norwegian Art Centre.

Glass kiln casting experiments based on my ancestral Odero (winnower) 🪭🌾

Some textile research materialities for a floor piece 1. 📸 Patty van den Elshout at Textile lab Tilburg. Eternally grateful to @judithpeskens for her technical prowess! More info tba.

AYO’s work has recently been shaped by obsolete Indigenous objects, reimagining them as carriers of cultures and belonging. Led by instrumental sounds, AYO explores how they can connect us beyond the limits of language. In SO(N)R, the artist experiments with sonic scores that are transmitted through glass-blown and hand-fabricated sculptures which resemble the Abu – an ancestral wind instrument that is frequently used in commemorative functions by the Luo peoples in Uganda. SO(N)R (2025), AYO. Photographs: @aadhoogendoorn Wild Summer of Art - On view until August 24, 2025.

I finally have a studio portrait thanks to @christijngroeneveld ✨✨✨ Much appreciation to everyone who witnessed “a score for atat’s homestead” at @rijksakademie open studios last week 🙌🏿 📷 2 &4 Tomek Dersu Aaron

AYO’s work is on the 2nd floor. We are open until 21.00 today (Friday)! Discover her work, and that of the other 50 artists during Open Studios, until 25 May. #raopenstudios2025 #studioayo #ayo #rijksakademie

Traces of the Intangible ~ sun, shell and soil 22-05-2025 – 06-07-2025 | KERSGALLERY opening hours during Amsterdam Art Week: Thursday MAY 22 12.00 - 21.00 Friday MAY 23 12.00 - 18.00 Saturday May 24. 12.00 - 18.00 Sunday May 25. 12.00 - 18.00 KERSGALLERY is proud to present Traces of the Intangible ~ sun, shell and soil, a group exhibition featuring works by artists AYO, Taqwa Ali and Lotte Wieringa, in collaboration with guest-curator Jonas van Kappel. #SunShellSoil #KERSGALLERY #AmsterdamArtWeek #ContemporaryArt #ArtExhibition2025 #IntangibleArt #NatureAndArt #ArtInAmsterdam #GalleryOpening #ArtWeekAmsterdam #KunstTentoonstelling #ModernArt #ArtInspiredByNature #22MayTo6July #ArtEvent2025