Performance, 18.30 pm
Howlround Arsenal of Blooming Liturgies 
Valentina Demicheli Jitsattayakul
Durchgang Kasernenareal (Zeughausareal, portico), Zürich

For the first intervention of the OTO Sound Museum 2026 annual program at Kaserneareal, artist Valentina Demicheli Jitsattayakul engages the Muay Thai tradition of Wai Khru through an anti-patriarchal feminist perspective. Performed before a fight, Wai Khru is a ceremonial practice of musical invocation known as sarama. Traditionally played on an oboe, the Pi Java, this prelude pays homage to ancestors, teachers, and deities and invokes their protection.
In this work, ritual and resistance converge. Against the backdrop of contemporary genocide, military oppression, and patriarchal violence, Valentina appropriates the ceremonial melody as an act of feminist reclamation. Uprooting a tradition historically performed by men, she summons the strength of women and witches, transforming the invocation into a collective call for protection and liberation. The former military arsenal becomes a ritual ground where flute, pendulum microphones, and voice summon strength and solidarity for ongoing struggles. 

The intervention is curated by Zaira Oram [Francesca Brusa]

bio

Valentina Demicheli Jitsattayakul is a Zurich based artist working mainly with sound and found material across various forms. Her experimental approach plays a central role in her practice, giving space to an intuitive and improvisational process and leaving ways of interpretation relative. She is interested in cultural translation, origin, memory, non-western ontologies, and sociocultural identity through her work. 
Before completing her Work.Master in Fine Arts at the HEAD in Geneva, she studied Sociology and Social anthropology at the University of Bern. Her works have been shown at the Binz39 Foundation (2024, 2019); Mikro Offspace, Zurich (2024); Wallriss, Freiburg (2022), Weiss Falk Galerie, Basel (2020) and Art Geneva (2020). She has performed at Gessnerallee, Zurich; Kaai Theater, Brussels; Les Urbaines, Lausanne; twentyalpha, Hong Kong; among many others and has released two albums including J.O.Y.Y.Y. - Journey of our Yesterday’s Yearnings (2025) and Pillars Of The Apex (2023).