Ushara

This weekend I’ll be hosting an open studios . I have been researching and discovering the few remaining pipe organs left from the colonial era in Sri Lanka~ left to rot and decay with no systems of care or support. . These sounds are precious themselves in nature through a periodic lack of nurture gifting the ghost drones . As the project develops I have been cataloguing the archive built over the months in Sri Lanka consisting of binaural and spatial recording. I’m opening up Brompton this weekend for people to pop in relax, hang out and listen while I sift through the archive and continue cataloguing and live experimenting with the compositions and field recordings~ sometimes maybe using live coding to experiment with the sonics, instrumentation and voice. . A very laid back work in progress session in residence -offering an insight into the process and project which is growing x . At times you may hear beautiful organ compositions/ painful sounds of the organs dying breaths/ situated sprawls of traffic on Sri Lankan roads/ crowded markets / sonic documentation of fixing and repairing organs - I’ve got to get through cataloguing the hundreds of recordings so may as well with open doors x . Last year I was chosen as one of the composers for the In Motion project with Sound and Music UK~ allowing me to begin and take this journey ~ This work was made possible by Sound and Music’s In Motion programme. In Motion 2025 is supported by Arts Council England, PRS Foundation, Garrick Club Charitable Trust & Marchus Trust. . As always many thanks to @soundandmusicuk @prsfoundation @fobcofficial And @hot_for_eggs for poster help

Honoured and beyond excited to be chosen as one of the @soundandmusicuk In Motion Artists/ Composer for 2025!! . Honestly means so much to have the support to work on the next album/ project!!!!! Like honestly !!!!! . The organ and voice for me is a space of power, of decolonising sound and practice, my culture, voice and heritage is intrinsic to how and what I create! The ideas are big but finally I have the ability to execute them and I’m so deeply grateful for this~ it’s about to go crazy and I’m super excited to tie in elements of my practice, even coding… yeah bbbbyyyyyyy… . Ft a dump of moments from Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 and moments of organs ~ the base of the project that’s coming . Big love to all the amazing artists chosen this year! Read more about it on the @soundandmusicuk page x . FYI I can finally say ‘ big things coming ‘ in the most ironic way ever and also not teehee xx #soundandmusic #inmotion2025 #fundedbyprsf

Book out 12th May in your calendars ~ grab a ticket ~ come to Cafe Oto ~ . So beyond excited, honoured, grateful to be sharing with these amazing artists <on cello n vox> Nothing more to say ~ x . But you should 100% be there or be ▪️

We are thrilled to open 𝒯𝓇𝒾𝒶𝓃𝑔𝓁𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝓈𝒽𝒶𝓅𝑒𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒪 𝑜𝒻 𝓂𝓎 𝓂𝑜𝓊𝓉𝒽, the new exhibition by @anoushapayne , developed in close collaboration with @ushara_x . Join us tonight for the opening performance by sonic performance artist and trained soprano Ushara, a one woman opera in 4 acts, starting at 7:30 (duration approx. 25min). The exhibition includes concrete poetry by Kitty Doherty @kldwriting and is part of Various Others Munich 2026. Opening Friday, May 15, 2026, 18–21 h Performance (expanded opera by Ushara): Friday 19:30 & Saturday 15:30 Various Others Opening Weekend: Saturday, May 16, 11–18 h Sunday, May 17, 11–16 h Slide 1) exhibition view, photo by Dougal MacArthur Slide 2) Ushara, Video by Anousha Payne Slide 3) Anousha Payne, Holometabolism, 2026, ceramic, bronze, salvage metal and knit, wax, found plaster cast, paper pulp, 115 × 85 × 40 cm, photo by Dougal MacArthur @variousothersmunich House construction by @studionitsche and @schwarzundholzwerkstatt Cello by @dieklangwerkstattgeigenbau

𝒯𝓇𝒾𝒶𝓃𝑔𝓁𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝓈𝒽𝒶𝓅𝑒𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒪 𝑜𝒻 𝓂𝓎 𝓂𝑜𝓊𝓉𝒽 by @anoushapayne , in collaboration with @ushara_x concrete poetry by Kitty Doherty @kldwriting As part of @variousothersmunich 2026 Opening Friday, May 15, 2026, 18–21 h Performance (expanded opera by Ushara): Friday 19:30 & Saturday 15:30 Various Others Opening Weekend: Saturday, May 16, 11–18 h Sunday, May 17, 11–16 h Sperling presents Anousha Payne’s second exhibition in Munich, featuring a new collaboration with sound and performance artist Ushara. Expanding on Payne’s first exhibition at Sperling (at the former gallery location), the show combines sculpture, sound, and live performance to explore the ecology and psychology of the home. Inspired in part by a concrete poem by Kitty Doherty (from which the title is borrowed), various short stories, as well as personal experiences, the house is used as a representation of patriarchal boundaries as the protagonist finds strength in the power to empathise with and eventually metamorphose into a moth in order to be liberated from her domestic routines. Payne’s practice moves between personal experience, fiction, and myth, using assemblage, found objects, and cast bronze to question material hierarchies and cultural values. Ushara’s sound- and performance-based work adds poetry, field recordings, and bodily presence, intensifying the exhibition’s emotional and psychological atmosphere.

Saturday 9th May I’ll be hosting an open studios . I have been researching and discovering the few remaining pipe organs left from the colonial era in Sri Lanka~ left to rot and decay with no systems of care or support. . These sounds are precious themselves in nature through a periodic lack of nurture gifting the ghost drones . As the project develops I have been cataloguing the archive built over the months in Sri Lanka consisting of binaural and spatial recording. I’m opening up Brompton this weekend for people to pop in relax, hang out and listen while I sift through the archive and continue cataloguing. . A very laid back work in progress session in residence -offering an insight into the process and project which is growing x . At times you may hear beautiful organ compositions/ painful sounds of the organs dying breaths/ situated sprawls of traffic on Sri Lankan roads/ crowded markets / sonic documentation of fixing and repairing organs - I’ve got to get through cataloguing the hundreds of recordings so may as well with open doors x . Last year I was chosen as one of the composers for the In Motion project with Sound and Music UK~ allowing me to begin and take this journey ~ This work was made possible by Sound and Music’s In Motion programme. In Motion 2025 is supported by Arts Council England, PRS Foundation, Garrick Club Charitable Trust & Marchus Trust. . As always many thanks to @soundandmusicuk @prsfoundation @fobcofficial

CAFE OTO 12th MAY !!! @cafeotodalston . Suroor/ @paulpurgas @imranperretta @mypandashallfly . Did someone say supergroup?? . Grab a ticket and see yall there xx

LOOKING FORWARD @anoushapayne @ushara_x @kldwriting Triangle reshapes the O of my mouth. Exhibition by Anousha Payne, expanded opera by Ushara, words by Kitty Doherty. A collaborative work at Sperling @sperling_munich 🔸Here is what artist Anousha had to say on the themes of their upcoming exhibition: “This exhibition will use the structure of a house as a representation of patriarchal borders and limits, following a story of a woman accompanied by and eventually becoming a moth. The moth is a used as metaphor for liberation; a creature with freedom to pass through these boundaries with ease. Kitty’s poem has existed alongside the story of the show throughout our conversations, and stands alongside the works as well as within them. Having experienced Ushara’s perfomance and sound previous to working together, the language and intensity of her practise could not be better aligned for a collaboration within the story of the exhibition.“ 🔸Here are Kitty’s words on the collaboration: “As a concrete poet, I’m always thinking about the limits of expression. For this collaboration, I was lucky enough to join a project where artists from different disciplines confronted, played with and transformed limits; of expression and communication, creativity and the self.” 🔸And here is what Ushara shared with us: “In collaboration with Anousha Payne, the work presented at Sperling is an expanded one-woman opera in four acts, combining reinterpretations of Johann Sebastian Bach and Hildegard Von Bingen with original compositions for cello and pipe organ. It explores solitude, transformation, and hope through the shifting relationship between interior psychology and domestic space, extending into an expanded libretto informed by Fluxus and Oulipo. Maybe sometimes we need to be held by four walls to unravel and come together again fully.” * The exhibition will feature live performances by Ushara on Friday 15th at 19:30, and on Saturday 16th at 15:30. — Credits: (1) Ushara (2) Anousha Payne (3) Kitty Doherty

𝒯𝓇𝒾𝒶𝓃𝑔𝓁𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝓈𝒽𝒶𝓅𝑒𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒪 𝑜𝒻 𝓂𝓎 𝓂𝑜𝓊𝓉𝒽 By Anousha Payne, expanded opera by Ushara, words by Kitty Doherty, as part of Various Others Munich 2026 Save the date: Opening Friday, May 15, 2026, 18–21 h Performance by Ushara, Friday 19:30 and Saturday 15:30 Various Others Opening Weekend: Sat, May 16: 11–18 h, Sun, May 17: 11–16 h Sperling presents Anousha Payne’s second exhibition in Munich, featuring a new collaboration with sound and performance artist Ushara. Expanding on Payne’s earlier exhibition at Sperling’s former venue at Regerplatz, the show combines sculpture, sound, and live performance to explore the ecology and psychology of the home. Inspired in part by Kitty Doherty’s concrete poem (from which the title is borrowed), various short stories, as well as personal experiences, it unfolds a narrative of growing anxiety as a protagonist becomes trapped within her domestic space, shaped by encounters with non-human presences.
Payne’s practice moves between personal experience, fiction, and myth, using assemblage, found objects, and cast bronze to question material hierarchies and cultural values. Ushara’s sound- and performance-based work adds poetry, field recordings, and bodily presence, intensifying the exhibition’s emotional and psychological atmosphere. @anoushapayne @ushara_x @kldwriting @variousothersmunich

V&A East welcomes vocal collective NYX to present First Breath. . Experimental vocal collective @nyx.edc respond to the Why We Make Galleries with First Breath~ a series of acoustic vocal interventions unfolding across multiple levels of the building. . Responding to the powerful, collective act of making, First Breath explores the human voice as a primary technology, sounding our polyvocal museum through being and breath. Directed by @imogen__knight__moves__  @philippafiona  and Sian O’Gorman, voice and body move together through the building, tracing cycles of ascent and descent, gathering and dispersal, stillness and release. . Through an immersive sonic journey, @afromerm , @katya.barton  @rhianna_compton  @ushara_x  @bonestanjones  @rachel_oya  @akpattersonmusic  @plumm.sass  @mondogs  and Sian invite you to explore the human voice as a primary technology, one of the earliest tools through which people have told stories, passed knowledge, expressed belief, organised resistance and cared for one another. . Saturday 25th 1200-2100 . All workshops are free check out @nyx to book a space . Personal note; beyond excited, honoured and pinching myself that we get to do this and eternally grateful for @nyx and overjoyed to be a part of this!!! Come see us, hear us, be with us xxx

TWILIGHT ZONE Wednesday 15th 21pm . Hey ho I had a nice weekend and the suns out so tune in tomorrow for a fun dancey electro mix for the first hour and then a replay of my @foundation.fm Off the Records tracklist including some of my own modular and coding experiments for an hour of computer music vibes

Swipe for upcoming dates you can catch me in some capacity or sonic form of being and presence . Come watch @celldeletion for @nonclsscl Thursday 26th at the Victoria in Dalston . Noise opera>>>>