Alifiyah Imani is an artist and writer based in Berlin, originally from Karachi, Pakistan. In her artistic practice, she interrelates sonic experiences through various new media and forms, working primarily with sound installation, electroacoustic music, and experimental radio. Locating sound as lived and relational process, she explores the nuances of drones, harmonics, and overtone colourations in different instruments and voice, using these sonic nuances as compositional structures in her work. Increasingly, her work is focused on expanded instrument
design, drawing inspiration from historical instruments, craft making processes and contemporary experiments in physical sound as a form of sculptural assemblage. Mesmerising drones act as carriers of these processes, bringing the sound into circulation. Within these material and immaterial landscapes, her practice emphasises the relationship between form and ritual, modes of translation, tuning, and transduction as they unfold across spatial and performative configurations. She studies and has a special interest in the Rasa aesthetics of Bharatanatyam and Raga-based Dhrupad music. These deeply embodied ancient art forms influence her approach to listening—as a practice of attunement, presence training, and perceptual awareness.
Imani has worked on international projects and publications in Copenhagen, Montreal, London, Budapest, Berlin, and Karachi. She has exhibited and presented her work in venues such as Southbank Centre in London, Dystopia Sound Art Biennial in Berlin, Aalborg University in Copenhagen, and Commune Artist Colony in Karachi. From 2019-2021, she stayed as an in-house resident and researched on the work of the Spatial Sound Institute in Budapest and contributed to their program and publications output. In 2024, she was selected as a Weltoffenes Berlin fellow, hosted by Errant Sound e.V. (Berlin). She has recently been awarded a scholarship by HBK Braunschweig University of Fine arts and is completing a yearlong artist residency as part of Braunschweig Projects (2025/2026).
SOLO
an entropy of one’s own
Errant Sound @ MissRead
Dystopia Sound Art Biennial
Multichannel sound installation
Berlin / September 2024
Before the Rāga Comes the Drone
Errant Sound
Multichannel sound installation
Berlin / February 2024
Your Listening is a Paracosm
distant.gallery
Solo show on the artist-run platform common.garden
Hosting from Berlin / June 2023
GROUP SHOWS, RADIO WORKS & PERFORMANCES
Sonic Rituals
Radio Commons
Radio piece w/ with Ana Amorós López, Eva Isolde Balzer Cecelia Pez, Maria Heller, Stephanie Fenner
Remote / 2024
Trouble in Paradise
Cashmere Radio
Live performance with Alifiyah Imani, Teplice, and Laura Not
Curated by: Matilda Jones in collaboration with Cashmere Radio
Berlin / November 2024
Soil Sisters (contemporary 2.0* bharatanatyam)
St. Matthäus-Kirche
Electroacoustic composition and performance with Eva-Isolde Balzer, Sri Lavanya Subramaniam,
Josephine Ramya, Alifiyah Imani & Djelifily Sako
Curated by: Friederike Schinagl - Kunstplanbau in collaboration
with Humboldt University/Kulturimpuls
Berlin / September 2024
Wor(l)ding Dreamers (Haus für Poesie)
Poet’s Corner at Galerie im Turm
Quadraphonic listening session, electroacoustic composition, performance
Facilitated and curated by: Vreda Marschner and Johanna Janßen
Berlin / July 2024
Drone ~ Ether ~ Stream
Cashmere Radio Specials - Drone Day 2024
Electroacoustic composition
Berlin / May 2024
FORM(ING) MATTER (OF) SOUND
Concrete Dreams of Sound at daadgalerie
Sound sculpture
Facilitated and curated by: Samuel Perea-Díaz & Jona Wolf
Berlin / May 2024
Hypernatural Forces (ThinkHalle)
New Now Festival at Zollverein UNESCO World Heritage
Sound Installation w/ Sono Sensing Collective (Alifiyah Imani & Vladimir Razhev)
Essen / June 2023
Finissage
Pandora Art Gallery
Sound Installation w/ Sono Sensing (Alifiyah Imani & Vladimir Razhev)
Curated by Guinchi
Berlin / February 2023
Ich spüre was, was du nicht spürst
HilbertRaum
Sound Installation w/ Sono Sensing Collective (Alifiyah Imani & Vladimir Razhev)
Curated by Rhizome Laboratory (Stephanie Fenner & Miguel Canal)
Berlin / November 2022
Diasporic Listening to Berlin’s Soundscape
Cashmere Radio in collaboration with Artist Pilots
Radio Piece w/ Abeer Ali, Alifiyah Imani, Izul Kim, Anton Filatov & Falso Conejo
Curated by Yara Mekawei
Berlin / November 2022
Combs Deep
Tremella Radio
Electroacoustic ambient composition
Copenhagen / August 2021
Sonic Rituals Vol II.
Refuge Worldwide
Radio Piece w/ Ana Amorós López, Alifiyah Imani, Eva Isolde Balzer,
Cornelia Turner, Rahema Zaheer, Izul Kim & Stephanie Fenner
Berlin / December 2022
Sonic Rituals Vol I.
Refuge Worldwide
Radio Piece w/ Ana Amorós López, Alifiyah Imani, Andrée Burelli,
Cecelia Pez, Rahema Zaheer, Cornelia & Maria Heller.
Berlin / August 2022
The Space Between Voice and Gesture
ACUD, Berlin School of Sound
Performance w/ Maria Heller, Rozenn Lièvre, Luisa Spina, Alifiyah Imani,
Alba Fieira & Andrea W
Curated by Alessandra Eramo
Berlin / May 2022
For Pannonian Skies
Tremella Radio
Radio Piece w/ Sono Sensing Collective (Alifiyah Imani & Vladimir Razhev)
Copenhagen / August 2021
On Amager Fælled
Tremella Radio
Radio Piece w/ Sono Sensing Collective (Alifiyah Imani & Vladimir Razhev)
Copenhagen / June 2021
Faculty of Senses
Ilutron
Performance w/ Martin Bollerup, Jens Erik Larsen, Eduardo Abrantes, Alifiyah Imani, Knulp,
Rittmeyer, Jørgen Teller, Sixten Elliot Teller Kallmoes, Maria Nadia Nielsen, Matt Choboter & Alexandra Carlgren
Curated by Faculty of Senses and Yuri Landman
Copenhagen / October 2020
When Wor(l)ds Collide
Machine Dialects: Speculating the Imaginary
Aalborg University Copenhagen
Audiovisual Installation w/ Magda Hamdy & Uğur Kaya
Curated by Morten Søndergaard and Media AC 2017 Cohort
Copenhagen/ May 2018
Journey through sound
Platform 4
Musique concrète composition
Curated by Palle Dahlstedt
Aalborg / March 2018
Dil Phaink
Alchemy Festival at Southbank Centre
Audiovisual Installation
Curated by PeaceNiche (T2F)
London / May 2015
WORKSHOPS & RESIDENCIES
Braunschweig Projects Sound Art Residency
Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig
Braunschweig, Germany /April 2025- March 2026
Dhrupad Seminar / Workshop
Dhrupad w/ Pelva Naik
Drǒme, France / 2025
Errant Sound
Weltoffenes Residency
Jan 2024 - December 2024
Bharatnatyam Training
w/Eva Isolde Balzer
Berlin / ongoing
Labyrinth Catalunya
Dhrupad Singing and Indian Classical Music w/ Pelva Naik
Cardedeau, Spain / April 2024
Dhrupad
Dhrupad w/ Pelva Naik
Berlin/India (ongoing)
Lab of Intelligence Culture
Bassano Romano, Pianamola
Exploration of Being - lab residency
Rome / July 2023
NAVARASA - Rasa Training (2 & 3)
Baerwaldstudio
Rasa aesthetics of Bharatanatyam w/ Eva Isolde Balzer
Berlin / April - December 2023
Carnatic Singing
Global Music Academy
Karnatische Musik w/ Manickam Yogeswaran
Berlin / November 2022 - July 2023
NAVARASA - Rasa Training (1)
Baerwaldstudio
Rasa aesthetics of Bharatanatyam w/ Eva Isolde Balzer
Berlin / September - December 2022
(A) TEMPORAL MOVEMENT
Savvy Contemporary
Movement Workshop w/ Regina Lomio, Amna Mawaz,
and Venuri Perera
Berlin / October 2022
Artist Pilots
Radio workshop
w/ Yara Mekawei and Cashmere Radio
Berlin / October 2022
Creative Studios Berlin
Radio workshop
w/ Refuge Worldwide
Berlin / June - July 2022
The Space Between Voice and Gesture
Voice workshop at ACUD, Berlin School of Sound
w/ Alessandra Eramo
Berlin / May 2022
Faculty of Senses - Instrument Building Workshop
Refshaleøen, København
w/ Yuri Landman
Copenhagen / October 2020
Spatial Sound Institute, 4DSOUND
6 months research residency
MA Thesis - Auditory Subcultures and Sonic Flights: In Between Sound and Space
Budapest / February - August 2019
Refshaleøen - Teaterøen (Theatre Island)
MediaAC research residency for the exhibition “Machine Dialects: Speculating the Imaginary”
Copenhagen / May 2018
RESEARCH & CURATORIAL WORKS
Berlin Art Prize | Berlin, July - October 2022
Curator of Suppose that Rome is not a human habitation by Bassem Saad,
Peles Empire NightVision by artist duo Mazenett Quiroga, LAGE EGAL [Kimgo]
Spatial Sound Institute | Budapest, 2019 - 2021
Interdisciplinary Approaches to Sound Pedagogy and Sound-based Education
Artist Residency Curatorial Framework w/ Paul Oomen
Borders of (im)materiality | Łódź , Poland, 2019
Co-curator of Listening through the noise in collaboration with Adrienn Lestyán & Magda Hamdy
Studio Tomás Saraceno | Berlin, 2018
Research and curatorial support for ON AIR Carte Blanche to Tomás Saraceno for Palais De Tokyo (Paris)
RETRACE | Austria, 2018
RETRACE: 7th International Conference for Histories of Media Art, Science
Documentation and Dissemination team in collaboration with Danube University
Lahore Music Meet | Lahore, 2017
Co-curator of audiovisual exhibition Rang Saazi,
Al-Hamra Arts Council in collaboration with Azka Shahid
The School of Writing | Karachi, 2016
Co-curator of film and photography exhibition Yeh Hai Karachi Al-Hamra,
Arts Council in collaboration with PeaceNiche (T2F) Collective
Alchemy Festival, Southbank Centre | London, 2015
Research and co-curation of audiovisual exhibition Dil Phaink
in collaboration with PeaceNiche (T2F) Collective
EDUCATION
Master of Arts in Media Arts Cultures (2019)
Erasmus Excellence Joint Masters Degree with three European
Consortium Partners - Danube University, Aalborg University & University of Łódź
Austria, Denmark & Poland
Bachelor of Design (2010)
Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture
Karachi, Pakistan
AWARDS & GRANTS
Braunschweig Projects Scholarship
Artist Fellowship
Braunschweig University of Art (HBK)
Funded by the Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur
State of Lower Saxony
(April 2025- March 2026)
Asian Cultural Council Grantee
Individual Fellowship
Asian Cultural Council, Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020
(January 2024 - December 2026)
Weltoffenes Berlin Fellow
Artist Fellowship hosted by Errant Sound
Funded by Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion
Berlin (January 2024 - December 2024)
Composing Sonic Futures
Publishing Grant
Stitchting Human Expo Foundation
Netherlands (2020)
MA Media Arts Cultures
Scholarship for Master studies
Cowasjee Foundation, Khatija Adamjee Foundation,
Nusserwanjee Foundation, Feroze & Shernaz Bhandara Trust
Karachi (2017-2019)
Prince Claus Award
PeaceNiche (T2F) is a laureate for Prince Claus Award
Part of the core creative team
Netherlands (2016)
PRESS
https://www.hbk-bs.de/stipendiatinnen/
https://errantsound.net/2024/05/alifiyah-imani-weltoffenes-berlin/
https://www.kunstplanbau.com/lnr24
https://clotmag.com/audio-visual/clotmix/clot-magazine-presents-alifiyah-imani-your-listening-is-a-paracosm