Katharina Pelosi

The sound designer Katharina Pelosi studied at the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies in Gießen and works as an audio artist in the fields of theatre, performance, choreography, film, radio plays and installations. She is a co-founder of the performance and media arts collective Swoosh Lieu, whose work has been presented at venues and festivals including the Stückemarkt at the Berlin Theatertreffen, the Impulse Festival and the Tanzplattform Deutschland.

As a theatre musician, she understands music and sound as equally important narrative and creative tools, and performs live in numerous productions. Her sound designs have featured in productions at venues including the Sophiensæle in Berlin, the Kampnagel in Hamburg, the Schauspiel and the Mousonturm in Frankfurt and the Schauspielhaus Graz.

She explores sound-based forms of remembrance and the transformation of visual phenomena into the acoustic medium. Research from queer-feminist and anti-racist perspectives, as well as the involvement of civil society actors, often forms the starting point for her projects. She has created soundwalks, installations and radio plays for venues and ensembles including the Heidelberg Theatre and Orchestra, the Oldenburg State Theatre, the CCA Tel Aviv-Yafo and as part of the Urbane Künste Ruhr.

She has produced radio plays for NDR, WDR, HR and the Deutschlandfunk. Her artistic feature Call to Listen was awarded the Leipzig Radio Play Summer Prize in 2019.

Katharina Pelosi has been a fellow of the Goethe-Institut Villa Kamogawa in Kyoto, the Casa Baldi in Rome (Deutsche Akademie Villa Massimo) and the Tarabya Cultural Academy in Istanbul. She gives regular workshops and has taught at universities and art schools such as the HafenCity University (HCM) in Hamburg, the Zurich University of the Arts and her alma mater.

She holds a doctorate in sound as a medium of cultural memory. Her thesis Aufnehmen, Arrangieren, Zuhören. Formen akustischen Erinnerns im post_kolonialen Hamburg will be published in autumn 2026.