Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean is honoured to present A Comparative Dialogue Act, a new iteration of the sound and performance installation originally created for the Luxembourg Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024.
Combining spatial, performative and sonic composition, A Comparative Dialogue Act is the result of an ongoing collaboration between Luxembourg artist and musician Andrea Mancini and Brussels-based collective Every Island. An enhanced, reactivated version of Venice Biennale’s project will be on display at the Henry J. and Erna D. Leir Pavilion starting 26 September 2025.
As a platform for sound transmission, A Comparative Dialogue Act invites visitors to immerse themselves in a resonant space, elevated on an aluminium floor and inhabited by mobile glass panels and a central light structure. The sleek installation surrounded by heavy curtains triggers a sense of anticipation and intimacy. The glass ‘Sound Walls’, mounted on wheels and equipped with transducers, emit a wide range of amplified frequencies that cause their surfaces to vibrate, producing a distinctive sound. Beneath the aluminium tiles, a network of bass shakers channels low-end vibrations through the whole structure. This resonating surface – on which artists and audiences can walk, sit and perform – symbolises a shared sensory field where sound, space and body intertwine.
At the heart of this installation is a living sonic archive composed of performance excerpts, digital compositions, field recordings and spoken word, continuously activated by guest artists to create new works. Started in Venice in 2024 by Bella Báguena, Célin Jiang, Selin Davasse and Stina Fors, the upcoming iteration at Mudam will present four new contributions. Cucina Povera, bela, Katarina Gryvul and Thomas Lea Clarke will expand the archive through short residencies and live performances. A Comparative Dialogue Act is at once a creative platform, a dynamic database and an experimental stage offering an ambitious reflection on sound as a vehicle for storytelling, exchange and collective creation. By bringing diverse artists together around a constantly evolving work, the project embodies a resolutely collaborative, cross-disciplinary approach to contemporary creation, where experimentation is the foundation of a shared dialogue.
Curator: Léon Kruijswijk
Programme
Cucina Povera
Opening performance: September 25, 2025, 8:30pm
Production phase: September 26, 2025, all day
Performance: September 27, 2025, 4:30pm
bela
Production phase: November 6–7, 2025, all day
Performances: November 8–9, 2025, 4:30pm
Katarina Gryvul
Production phase: December 11–12, 2025, all day
Performances: December 13–14, 2025, 4:30pm
Thomas Lea Clarke
Production phase: January 15–16, 2026, all day
Performances: January 17–18, 2026, 4:30pm