Exhibition: Islands of Time by Niccolò Masini – Opening feat. Pole, JakoJako & Rubén Nsue, Sunroof, Nicolas Bougaïeff

silent green & Miller-Zillmer Foundation present

Founded in 2019, the Miller-Zillmer Foundation initiates and supports international projects at the intersection of art, society and education. Through acoustic, visual and audiovisual formats, it brings together artists, cultural practitioners and those engaged in social causes. At its heart lies the integration of artistic practice with socio-cultural needs, alongside a focus on education and cultural exchange. Shaped by Daniel Miller’s lifelong expertise in music and Diáne Zillmer’s experience in the arts and education, the foundation creates platforms for creative work, learning and social dialogue.

Exhibition: Islands of Time by Niccolò Masini
Developed through a collaboration between the Miller-Zillmer Foundation and silent green, Islands of Time by Niccolò Masini comprises an interconnected body of work created as part of the Miller-Zillmer Foundation’s Vision into the Future program (2019–2022). Situated between territories, communities, and perspectives, Islands of Time explores the relationship between the formation of intangible senses of belonging and the construction of geographic identity. Seeking to move beyond linear notions of time, the exhibition approaches themes of memory and movement by understanding past, present, and future as deeply intertwined within a global geopolitical context.

Shifting between Western Sahara, the Italian-French border region of Ventimiglia/Menton, Argentina, and the Aeolian Archipelago, the exhibited works emerge through the interplay of different modes of expression. In doing so, they raise questions about individual and collective responses to the complex realities of various forms of geographic belonging. In this sense, Islands of Time proposes spatial inquiries and analytical discourses that extend beyond territorial references alone, tracing the shifting boundaries that consolidate states of “imagined” deterritorialization through different forms of written and oral knowledge.

Niccolò Masini
Niccolò Masini is an artist, researcher, and PhD candidate in New Media and Critical–Curatorial Practices of Contemporary Creation at the Albertina Academy of Fine Arts in Turin. His practice explores the inheritances embedded within the politics of time, space, and memory, engaging with the possibilities that arise between spatial modalities and socio-cultural frameworks. His works and research have been exhibited extensively, including the Boghossian Foundation (Brussels), the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Republic of Srpska (MSURS), the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA-Skopje), the Watermill Center (New York), and the Bali Purnati Center for the Arts, Indonesia. 

On 6 August, we will celebrate the official opening of Islands of Time in the Ateliers. As part of the programme, the following artists will perform in the Kuppelhalle. Admission to the exhibition is free of charge; tickets for the concerts are available via the ticket link below. Islands of Time will then be on view until 16 August.

Pole
Since the 1990s, Berlin-based producer and mastering wizard Stefan Betke, alias POLE, has been exploring the realms of minimal techno, ambient and dub. His latest releases sound both focused and open, deeply rooted in the bass yet characterised by a remarkable lightness. Here, dub is no longer a genre but a way of thinking: echo as memory, space as an instrument, silence as a secret co-producer. His most recent release features remixes of his latest album Tempus, with contributions from Sleaford Mods, Alessandro Cortini and Rrose

JakoJako & Rubén Nsue
The Berlin-based modular synthesiser specialist, producer and DJ Sibel Koçer, known as JakoJako, is dedicated to exploring the spaces that open up between the technical and emotional aspects of electronic music, fostering a relationship to sound that implements both rigorous knowledge and unrestrained intuition. She recently released a series of remixes from her latest album Tết 41.

Today she performs with Rubén Nsue Mbese. The Madrid-born dancer began his career in his hometown, where he studied jazz and modern dance. He furthered his artistic training in Barcelona, London and New York, where he honed his skills in dance theatre, contemporary dance and hip-hop. Nsue has appeared in several musicals, including high-profile productions such as Hair and The Wedding Singer.

Sunroof
Originally founded as a remix project by Mute founder Daniel Miller and producer Gareth Jones, Sunroof have released three albums of free improvisations over the past years, rooted in their shared love of Eurorack modular synthesizers. On record as in their rare live performances, most recently as support for Yann Tiersen, the guiding principle is that nothing may be planned or rehearsed in advance, and that each piece must be performed or recorded live using a maximum of 2x2 channels, without overdubs.

Nicolas Bougaïeff
French-Canadian Nicolas “Dr. Techno” Bougaïeff has long celebrated that rare kind of electronic music that sounds like the future while taking measure of the present in all its asymmetries and complex structures. On his more recent releases, Bougaïeff has not left the club behind, but rather mapped it with greater precision: as a space for thought, as a pressure chamber, as a site of controlled ecstasy. Where others still speak of “atmosphere,” he is already working on architecture. Recent tracks include Sunday Morning at Panorama Bar When Things Go Sideways and Summer Beach Bar Where Jodie Foster Goes in the Movie Contact.

Thursday, 6 August
Start / opening of the exhibition: 6 pm, Ateliers 2+3, free admission
Music & performance: 7:15 pm, Kuppelhalle, Tickets
 

*The net proceeds from the event will support the foundation’s projects.