demo station: Zariel – Zarièl – the dusty roads

Zariel presenta Zarièl – the dusty roads.

In 2017, Zarièl – Le strade di polvere was founded in Milan, a project that brings together musicians from diverse backgrounds and experiences. Conceived as an ideal journey starting from the Mediterranean, it winds its way along the roads of the world. Some stages of this journey tell the stories of peoples forced to leave their homeland, carrying with them, as their only wealth, their cultural heritage. From these migrations, complex, layered, and constantly evolving realities have emerged, redefining traditional ideas of borders and belonging.
Through the female voice, Zarièl’s music explores sounds that engage in dialogue with different and only seemingly distant musical languages. From this encounter arise new expressive possibilities, nourished by influences ranging from jazz to rock, up to world music.

Text curated by Zariel.

The event takes place on Rirkrit Tiravanija’s installation untitled 2026 (demo station no. 9). The stage-like structure invites people to “demonstrate” something. The combination of the words demo and station in the work’s title refers respectively to the abbreviation of demonstration—understood both as a protest and as a presentation of someone’s talent or hobby —and to station, that is, an accessible place where such “demonstrations” can occur. For the duration of the exhibition, the installation provides a space for daily public activations.