About

Silencer-Sensory impairment soundwalking suit
Photo by Karolina Bachanek

Maja Zećo [maya zecho], born in 1987 in Sarajevo, is a sound and visual artist based in Scotland. In her research-oriented work, she explores themes of identities, decoloniality and Balkan futurisms.  This critical exploration has led Maja to self-burials, diving into water to recall memories, sensory impairment experiments, and endurance practice. She completed a practice-based PhD in 2019 and presented her works across the UK and internationally, including London, Corby, Leicester, Lincoln, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth, Aberdeen, Zürich, Sarajevo and Zagreb.

PEER REVIEWED ARTICLES:

ZECO, M., 2021. Listening and Recording In Situ: Entanglement in the Socio-political Context of Place. Organised Sound. Cambridge University Press, 26(2).

ZECO, M., 2022. Contextualities of Listening to Soundscapes: The Past and The Present Converging in Sarajevo. Journal of Sonic Studies. Leiden University Press.

SELECTED PERFORMANCES & EXHIBITIONS:

  • 2024
  • Discomfited Futures, solo exhibition, Institute for Contemporary Art, Zagreb
  • Acoustic Siege (live sonic performance), SonADA, Arkade Studios, Aberdeen
  • Soundwalk series in St. Fittick’s Park, London School of Economics, Aberdeen
  • 2023
  • For the Time Being, Sarajevo Soundwalk, Kuma International, Sarajevo
  • Soundwalk series in St. Fittick’s Park, London School of Economics, Aberdeen
  • Staff Outing (Group exhibition of staff from Gray’s School of Art), Look Again, Aberdeen
  • 2022
  • Nothing’s Guaranteed (Group Exhibition of Bosnian contemporary artists), Summerhall, Edinburgh
  • Silencer (performance), Fermynwoods Contemporary Art, Corby
  • Sonic Xylophobia & Forest Xylophones Soundwalk, Fermynwoods Contemporary Art, Corby
  • Staff Outing (Group exhibition of staff from Gray’s School of Art), Look Again, Aberdeen
  • Silencer (performance), UKNA City Takeover, Leicester
  • In Search of the Sun (performance), Reihe Neu-Oerlikon, Zurich
  • Royal Scottish Academy (Annual Group Exhibition), Edinburgh
  • 2021
  • In Search of the Sun, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Duthie park, Aberdeen
  • 2020
  • Streaming to the Sea Soundwalk– Exploring the acoustic environment during the pandemic, Look Again, Aberdeen
  • 2019
  • Placing Sound (PhD exhibition), Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen
  • Staff Outing (group exhibition) at Look Again project space, Aberdeen
  • Huntly Edge Lands, a soundwalk accompanied by a score, Sound, Image and Place symposium, Deveron Projects, Huntly
  • 2018
  • Silencer (performance) at Elephant & Castle, London, as part of CitySonic Places: experiencing the urban soundscape symposium, CRISAP, UAL, London
  • Silencer (performance), WorM Open programme of Peacock Visual Arts, Aberdeen
  • 2017
  • One Thousand Pomegranate Seeds (performance & installation) at Horsecross, Perth 2016
  • Grains of Sound (performance & installation), Sound Festival, The Barn, Banchory
  • Hold In/Breathe Out (performance), Sonada festival, Anatomy Rooms, Aberdeen
  • Sound and Body, Slow Cooker Workshop series, Peacock Gallery, Aberdeen
  • 2015
  • Audio-Visual piece with Dr. Suk-Jun Kim, Rediscoveries concert series, Peacock Gallery, Aberdeen
  • 2014
  • Thaas, Timur Sijarić (saxophone), Maja Zećo (visual score), International University of Sarajevo
  • Thaas, Timur Sijarić (saxophone), Alireza Toghiyani Rizi (piano), Maja Zećo (visual score), Das Muth, Vienna
  • Liminalit Ensemble (live video performance and installation), Duplex Gallery, Sarajevo
  • 2013
  • Group exhibition “Voli me/ne voli me” (Loves Me/Loves Me Not), Art Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina, followed by the exhibition in Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Cyprus, Turkey, Austria, and Germany
  • 2012
  • Liminalit Ensemble at Zelenkovac Jazz Festival (live video performance), Zelenkovac
  • Liminalit Ensemble at Art House Cinema Kriterion (live video performance), Sarajevo
  • Opening of educational centre HMKD Sunce-Jadran Film (live video performance), Zagreb
  • 2011
  • Live video performance at MAF- Multimedia art festival, Sarajevo
  • Liminalit Ensemble (live video performance), Amsterdam
  • Liminalit Ensemble (live video performance) in CeKa Charlama Gallery, Sarajevo
  • Halali (performance art piece with Cultural Association Ambrosia), 10m2/Duplex Gallery, Sarajevo
  • 2010
  • Liminalit Ensemble (live video performance), Duplex/10m2 Gallery, Sarajevo
  • Body Claustrophobia (Solo Exhibition), Duplex/10m2 Gallery, Sarajevo
  • 2009
  • Group exhibition of Bosnian contemporary artists, Vienna


COMMISSIONS

  • 2023 – Sounds of the Overground: Why Train Journeys are Audio Odysseys (Sonic art piece), The Times newspaper for LNER
  • 2022 – Who is listening? Who is Performing? (Sonic art piece), Fermynwoods podcast
  • 2019 – Text- Response to SUPERLUX Screening and Discussion High Entropy by Alexander Storey Gordon, LUX (online)
  • 2018 (ongoing) – Silencer (sensory impairment soundwalking suit), CRiSAP (Creative Research into Sound Arts Practice), University of the Arts London. Commissioned as part of City Sonic Places: Experiencing the Urban Soundscape symposium.
  • 2017 – One Thousand Pomegranate Seeds (performance), Horsecross, Perth (the piece was bought for the collection).
  • 2016 – Grains of Sound (performance), The Barn, Banchory

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS AND SELECTED ARTIST TALKS

  • 2023
  • Art, Technology and Social Change: Perspectives from The Digital Art and Activism Network, ISEA- International Symposium on Electronic Art, Paris
  • Sonic Perspectives: Sites of Memory in Sarajevo, Why Remember? Tracing the Past, UAL, Sarajevo
  • Using Play for Work, UK New Artists, Lincoln Museum
  • Reflexive Practice of Sound and Performance art, SGSAH Prospectives- Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities, Online
  • Intangible Work, Tangible Consequences: Listening and Recording in Place, WorCK: Worlds of related coercions in Work, and COST: European Cooperation in Science and Technology, Iceland
  • Unfolding Contexts: Listening and Recording in Place, CRiSAP: Critical Research into Sound Art Practice, UAL, London
  • 2022
  • One Work, One Artist: In Search of the Sun, LUX, Scotland
  • 2021
  • Demodernising a Museum Collection Through Contemporary Art Practice: Meditation by Barbara Hepworth, Aberdeen Art Gallery
  • Demodernising a Museum Collection Through Contemporary Art Practice: Eastre by JD Fergusson, Aberdeen Art Gallery
  • 2020
  • Sarajevo’s Memory Sites, Oral Testimonies Symposium, Bournemouth University and CRISAP, UAL, Online
  • 2019
  • Geographical and Disciplinary Peripheries: Sound art, Soundscape and Performance Art Practice, Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen
  • The Role of Personal Identities in Experiencing Soundscapes, as part of Sound, Image and Place symposium, Deveron Projects, Huntly
  • 2017
  • Sarajevo-Encountering the Past by Listening Today, Sound of Memory Symposium, Goldsmiths, London
  • 2016
  • Placing Sonic Dialogues (lecture-performance), Sound Thought Conference, CCA, Glasgow
  • 2013 – Music Visualization Through Digital Media, International Conference on Education, Culture and Identity at International University of Sarajevo