Dana Borić

Dana Borić is a Zurich-based composer, improviser, and sound artist studying composition at the University of the Arths (ZHdK). Working accross acoustic, electronic, and interdisciplinary contexts, she explores sound as a medium for engaging with space, memory, and embodied experience. Drawing on themes of displacement and identity, her practices often reflects on personal and collective narratives of belonging.

Reflections on Zahn der Zeit and Art Dock, Zürich:

How does context shape your artistic process?

I believe sound-making is always relational: it exists in dialogue with the space I perform in, the audience I perform to, and the subjectivities that emerge through the act of listening. It is important for me to activate the qualities of a space, both through its acoustic characteristics and through its spatial and performative dimensions.
Free improvisation is central to my process and performances. It allows me to engage with the specific conditions of a place in real time, using my own agency to uncover sonic possibilities that are unique to that moment and context. I try to listen closely to what the environment, the audience, and the unfolding performance invite. It is all entangled with each other, and develops simultaneously.
The most important part in my process is this act of discovery through listening. As I uncover the possibilities of sound within a space, I am equally interested in bringing awareness to the ways we listen to those possibilities. That shared experience of listening, is what drives my artistic practice and remains my deepest curiosity while improvising.

How did Art Under Dock shape your performance?

Performing at Art Under Dock was extremely interesting and thought provoking. The old cellar architecture created a long natural reverberation that amplified acoustic instruments as well as other sounds and noises. This immersive quality became an important part of my performance.
I wanted to work with the space rather than simply perform in it. The acoustics allowed me to explore the sense of vastness in the space, while also creating moments of contrast through quieter and more isolated musical gestures. I also invited the audience to move through the space with me as I changed positions while playing. This act activated the entire exhibition space, allowing the architecture, the artworks, and the audience's movement to become part of the performance itself. These shifts in position and proximity would not have been possible in the same way in a traditional white-cube gallery. The history and material presence of the space became an active part of the listening experience.