Resonant – Bodies, Songs, and Strings

Created on the occasion of the exhibition Corps à cordes: Vibrations and Resonances (2025), curated by Elena Sorokina and Simona Dvorák  (Initiative for Practices and Visions of Radical Care), at the Musée d'Art et de Culture Soufis MTO in Chatou, this publication explores the resonances between Sufism and contemporary artistic practices.
The setâr, an emblematic instrument of Sufism, becomes a central metaphor: it invites us to attune to the vibratory nature of emotions as well as to the social and ecological dynamics of healing, preservation, and transmission. Through rituals, oral traditions, dreams, songs, and visions, the body is approached as both a receptacle and a conduit of memories.
The publication takes the form of a poetic and visual object—at once an editorial extension of the exhibition and an autonomous space for reflection. It brings together philosophical texts, visual scores, multilingual poems, and images of artworks.Two curatorial essays offer personal reflections that move beyond conventional frameworks—embracing intuitive, at times abstract modes of thought. They trace the unfolding of ideas through the curatorial process and the lived experience of making the exhibition. 
Artist and philosopher Denise Ferreira da Silva contributes a reflection on sensing as a form of situated knowledge, shaped by deep connections to the land, non-human worlds, and spirit. This approach reflects a desire to foster dialogue between the exhibition and alternative epistemologies—those that resist rationalization and colonial frameworks of thought.