2018 - 2024
Amarus
AMARUS was a curatorial platform for experimental music and critical thinking. Founded in 2018 by Chinese musician Shuyue Zhao and Peruvian musician Luis Sanz, it supported artistic practices that challenged dominant cultural narratives and fostered translocal collaboration. The platform created a space for sonic experimentation intersecting with questions of identity, migration, and decolonial practice, bringing together artists from Asia, Latin America, and Europe in dialogue with the Swiss experimental scene.
AMARUS presented work across a broad spectrum of sound-based practices, including free improvisation, noise, free jazz, contemporary music, electroacoustic performance, and interdisciplinary audio research. It encouraged process-driven and collaborative approaches, centering artists whose work existed at the margins of mainstream cultural production.
Between 2018 and 2024, AMARUS organized a series of events and collaborations featuring 62 artists and 34 projects in venues across Bern and Zurich. These included: Manongo Mujica (Peru), Vito Willems (Netherlands), Ban Lei (China), Li Jianhong (China), Wang Ziheng (China), Mei Zhiyong (China), Heimatlos (China, France), Christophe Clébard (Belgium, Italy), Carrageenan (Belgium), Luis Alvarado (Peru), Ensemble Kran (Switzerland), Emile Van Helleputte (Belgium), Manuel Troller (Switzerland), Donna Molinari (United States, Switzerland), MM+TT (China, Switzerland), White Pulse (Switzerland), Le Pot (Switzerland), Hans-Peter Pfammatter (Switzerland), Pablo Lienhard (Switzerland), Scree Fucking Junk (Germany), Naked in the Zoo (Germany, France), Kazehito Seki (Japan), ... (Switzerland), Tokar Krzysztof (Poland, Switzerland), Tonto (Italy), White Pulse (Switzerland), Vestas (Netherlands), Del_F64.0 (Germany), Zustand D (Germany), Abraham Wurstkessel (Austria), Emre Sarigöl (Turkey, Switzerland), Maxime Hänsenberger (Switzerland), Radek Rudnicki (Poland, New Zealand), Al Fraser (New Zealand), Manuel Mengis (Switzerland), Lionel Friedli (Switzerland), F.S.P (Ukraine), Tapiwa Svosve (Switzerland), Kay Zhang (Switzerland, Hong Kong), Patrycja Pakiela (Switzerland), Titilayo Adebayo (Switzerland), SitbQ (Netherlands), Wat Takleaw (Switzerland, Thailand), Unprofessional (Germany), Jonatan Uranes (Denmark), Florian Schlessmann (Switzerland), Concepcion Huerta (Mexico), Violeta Garcia (Argentina), Andrea Nucamendi (Mexico), Camilo Angeles (Mexico), Javier Bustos (Argentina), Carlos Quebrada (Colombia), Lara Alarcon (Argentina), Jason Kahn (Switzerland), Caterina de Nicola (Switzerland), Lua Jungck (Switzerland), Melody Chua (Switzerland), and Anton Ponomarev (Russia).