For the seventh session of our series on poetry and sound, curator and co-host Pia Chakraverti-Würthwein invites Tanka Fonta for an evening of invocation in the form of spiritual texts, storytelling, and music that touches the soul.

Drawing from diverse spiritual and musical traditions, Tanka and Pia will approach sound as both a physical phenomenon and a symbolic language that threads, interweaves and interconnects human consciousness, cultural memory, and transcendental awakening. Musically, we will travel between the ragas and ballads of virtuosos like Zakir Hussain, Parvathy Baul, and Salif Keita and the folk songs of traveling bards and mystics. Poetically, we are excited to share works from the Therigatha written by the first Buddhist nuns over 2000 years ago; as well as modern and contemporary poets such as Gabriel Okara and Sarojini Naidu.

Tanka Fonta is a multifaceted artist whose expansive oeuvre spans composition, visual arts, philosophy, radio production, and research. Drawing deeply from the rich sonic practices and knowledge systems of African musical heritages and a broad spectrum of global cultural knowledge, Fonta’s compositions and visual narratives probe cosmogenic interconnectedness, sonic memory, and expanded consciousness. Living and working in Berlin, Fonta continues to push the limits of artistic exploration, seamlessly merging traditional and contemporary modes of expression.

Pia Chakraverti-Würthwein is a curator and writer based in Berlin. She previously worked at Esther Schipper as an Artist Liaison, and before that was a freelance curator on projects with Fondazione Prada, Slavs and Tatars, and SAVVY Contemporary, among others.

Image: The Cosmogenic Transformation I, Tanka Fonta, Watercolour and ink on paper, 40x30cm (2025)