As hosts of a segment of this year’s BupBap Festival at Balkan Cinema, we are especially excited to announce Sound Threads, an original concept by Irina Dečermić, taking place on 14 October.
Balkan Cinema, one of Belgrade’s earliest and most recognisable cultural venues, will become a meeting point for sound, the audience and inner experience. In the darkness of the cinema hall, audiences will have the opportunity to embark on a sonic journey exploring the impact of music and frequencies on the nervous system and states of consciousness.
This format, where sound is experienced in a space designed for deep focus and collective immersion, makes Balkan Cinema an ideal host for a program that brings together art, science and introspection.
Art and Therapy
Irina Dečermić works at the intersection of contemporary music, sound-based practices and the exploration of consciousness. Her original concept, Sound Threads, is not a conventional concert, but a structured sonic experience drawing on:
collective listening as a method, the audience does not simply “consume” music, but participates in a shared sonic field.
compositional techniques from contemporary art music, including work with frequencies, harmonic series and the spatial distribution of sound;
therapeutic and somatic practices, including breathwork, body awareness and different states of attention;
Her approach is not merely concert-based, but experiential: rather than listening passively, the audience is invited to sense how different frequencies, rhythms and sound textures affect their inner state. In this respect, Sound Threads continues BupBap’s broader festival interest in programmes dedicated to sound and inner development.
The Sound Threads program at Balkan Cinema takes the audience on a sonic journey through different frequencies and sound structures. International guests bring an intercultural dimension to the repertoire, helping to create a space for reflection and dialogue on the ways sound affects the nervous system and emotional states.
Sound Threads is just one part of the rich and diverse program of the BupBap Festival, taking place at multiple venues across Belgrade from 29 September to 15 October. Here are some of the other highlights:
- 29 September – Dorćol Platz: Between Worlds, a concert performance by Tijana Milošević, featuring Schoenberg, Stravinsky and the world premiere of Jugo Marković’s composition Melodies of Acceptance.
- 7 October – Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary: A Baroque Night with countertenor Vojtech Pelka and the St George Strings, dedicated to Farinelli.
- 10 October – Kolarac Salon: The Art of Encounter—a systemic constellations workshop and conversation with Dr Jelena Đorđević.
- 11 October – Belgrade Philharmonic Hall: Synergy, a concert featuring young string players from Ćuprija and the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, with soloist Strahinja Mitrović and guest Dragan Đorđević Suzuki.
- Zappa Baza: Jump—an FMU jazz octet programme dedicated to the centenary of the births of Miles Davis and John Coltrane.
- 15 October – Dim: Psychiatry of Rave: Why Do We Need Trance? with Dr Aleksandar Damjanović, followed by a closing rave party.