Mala Herba & Agata Sokół
White Goat Ritual
Mala Herba is a solo project of Zosia Hołubowska, a Polish musician and producer, sound artist, and queer activist living in Vienna. Their latest project „Community of Grieving“, recorded together with Julia Giertz, was presented at the Unsound Festival in 2020 and again live in 2021.
Agata Sokół is a multidisciplinary artist, performer, and alternative photo model. She explores the art of butoh and shibari and is an academic hatha yoga instructor.
The performance of both artists is based on Mala Herb’s debut album „Demonologia“ from 2021, which received wide coverage in both foreign and Austrian press. Nick Roseblad of the Quietus called the album „a witch ritual disco“. This statement perfectly reflects the nature of the album and the show co-created by Mala Herba and Agata Sokół.
The meeting of the artists during the Fala Occult Festival in 2021 resulted in an improvised performance. Although their practice draws from different inspirations, the starting point is common. Both singing and dancing contact can have a physical, somatic effect on the audience’s bodies. It creates collective knowledge through resonance in bones and muscles and provokes emotional reactions through encounters and exchange. The joint performance of the artists is a ritual dedicated to the White Goat, a symbol of overcoming one’s insecurities. The intention is to heal and cleanse. The artists mix Slavic singing with butoh dancing and redefine powerful symbols like the white lily to create a magical force on their own terms.
Mala Herba’s confident voice, combined with the heavy sounds of electronic music, is weaved with Agata Sokół’s ecstatic, powerful movements. This combination creates a sense of sacral suspension as their performance itself leads to trance and bewilderment.