lou drago

Lou Drago is a Berlin-based artist, dreamer and apocalypse survivor. Working across various mediums, they draw connections between the healing potential of sound, the necessity for collectivity during neoliberal times, queer-feminisms, and meditation and related theories. In recent years they have been hosting various ‘listening occasions’ that allow guests to practice different ways of being-together and being with oneself, with others.

Drago believes in the transformative potential of sound and the importance of deep listening, whether that is listening to each other, our needs, to the more-than-human or to the sounds all around us. In their productions and dj sets they often explore the sonic landscapes of the in-between, leaving space for the listener's perspective to imbue the experience, yet ultimately holding them in a warm embrace to invite a deep dialogue with the listening body-mind. Drago’s practice is always collective to varying degrees, and they reject the prevailing notion of the singular artist in favour of acknowledging the pluralities of experiences that contribute to any given work. This can be seen in their many collaborative projects, as well as being exemplified in their assembled texts, New Feathers and Female Copulatory Vocalisation, in which Drago transcribes and arranges fragments of conversations with comrades into prose that reveals the collective (un)conscious of the group.

Drago’s theoretical recent research is concerned with finding ways to coalesce all of those who refuse or fail to fit the neoliberal mould in an attempt to imagine a future beyond our current capitalist, patriarchal hellscape, and to bring imagination back to what we are witnessing to be an increasingly fractured Left. Aware of the role identity politics has played in dividing the Left, Drago navigates between their commitment to gender abolitionism and other xeno-feminist desires and a politics of Radical Sociability that aims to enact an intersectional affinity-based politics.

They curate and produce, t r a n s i e n c e, a regular show on Cashmere Radio, Berlin that focuses on experimental, ambient and experient music that aims to offer anxiety relief to its listeners. They host sonic seances under the name of infinity rug, with frequent collaborater, marum. infinity rug offers a moment where sound, collective learning and intimate care come together to forge a space of togetherness. The collective also host more frequent Sonic Vigils, where they hold ritual space to honour collective ancestors and make space for mourning. Drago is a founding member of XenoEntities Network, Berlin, a collective who operated from 2016 - 2020, focusing their research on queer, gender and feminist studies and their interactions with digital technologies.

They frequently collaborate with other artists and have made work together with Isabel Lewis and Dambi Kim, Yen Chun Lin, Jules Petru Fricker, Raphaël Lecoquierre and marum among others. They have also created soundscapes for others' work including for Valerie Reding, caner teker, SJ Norman and Cassils, Jules Petru Fricker, Yuri Shimaoka and Raphaël Lecoquierre. 

website by em steinberg