Giovanni Lami is an Italian sound artist, musician and curator active since 2009. His practice moves across electroacoustic composition, live electronics, sound ecology and site-responsive listening, exploring how sound materials change through instability, interference and technological mediation.
For several years, his research focused on magnetic tape, resonant surfaces, degradation processes and the technical limits of recording and playback devices. Working with partially controllable errors allowed him to approach composition as a process of discovery, balancing prepared structures with transformations emerging during performance.
In recent years, this research has expanded into hybrid systems combining modular synthesis, layered MIDI structures, environmental recordings, acoustic fragments, real-time processing and open-source sound devices. These elements interact through different timings and degrees of autonomy, generating temporary forms of coordination, rhythmic accumulations and continuously changing relationships between density, clarity and spatial perception.
The relationship between sound and context is central to Lami’s practice. Each presentation is understood as a specific listening situation shaped by the acoustic response of a space and its social conditions, the position and movement of the audience, and the ways in which people gather. The same body of sound can move across concentrated listening environments, spatially dispersed situations and more rhythmically driven contexts, changing its pacing and internal proportions while preserving its integrity.
This approach has also developed through long-term curatorial and relational work. In 2016, together with Enrico Malatesta and Glauco Salvo, Lami founded MU, an independent platform dedicated to performances, workshops, listening sessions and research around sound. Since 2022, he has been part of the MAGMA collective, where he co-curates Elementi series. Elementi develops encounters between artistic practices and highly specific locations, including natural environments, disused buildings, transitional spaces and sites carrying distinct acoustic, social and historical qualities. Working in dialogue with artists, places and local communities has progressively connected Lami’s artistic and curatorial practices, making hosting, spatial organisation and the construction of listening conditions active parts of his work.
In 2023, together with Carolina Martines, he founded Manticora Editions.
Artist in Residence at: Hotel Pupik (Austria, 2015), Khora /Syros Film Festival (Greece, 2015), Forte Marghera /Venice (Italy, 2015), Apache4 /Milan (Italy, 2017), Tempo Reale /Florence (Italy, 2018), GMEA /Albi (France, 2019), Hangar /Barcelona (Spain, 2020), Q-O2 /Bruxelles (Belgium, 2021), EMS /Stockholm (Sweden, 2022), Marosi /Stromboli (Italy, 2022), CAMP/Aulus-les-Bains (France, 2023), Imagea /Riva del Garda (Italy, 2025).
Since 2009, he played in venues including: Conservatorio B. Maderna (Cesena), DalVerme (Roma), Mu.Vi.Ment.S. Festival 2010 (Itri), Fondazione Giorgio Cini (Venezia), Festival C/off (Faenza), Kernel Festival (Desio), Tagofest VI (Massa), Flussi2011 (Avellino), Barbur Gallery (Jerusalem), Rogatka (Tel Aviv), The Zimmer (Tel Aviv), Kreuzberg Pavillon (Berlin), Homework Festival (Bologna), Ravenna Festival (Ravenna), Teatro Fondamenta Nuove (Venezia), KNOT Gallery (Athens), Les Yper Yper (Thessaloniki), The Bee’s Mouth (Brighton), CafeOTO (London), HanaBi (Ravenna), O’ (Milan), Störung Festival (Barcelona), Quiet Cue (Berlin), Area Sismica (Forlì), Macao (Milan), Sonnenstube (Lugano), Apollo Theatre (Hermoupolis), Museo Medioevale (Bologna), Signal Festival (Cagliari), Istituto Francese (Firenze), Standards (Milano), Euphorbia (Bologna), Spektrum (Berlin), StudioAcht (Berlin), Confine Aperto (Ljubljana), CafeOTO Project Room (London), Cafe Kino (Bristol), OOR (Zurich), Klappfon (Basel), NODE Festival (Modena), Transmissions IX Festival (Ravenna), Teatro Palamostre (Udine), Centro Del Carmen (Valencia), MTM Teatro (Milano), Blah Blah (Torino), Santarcangelo Festival (Santarcangelo), Opera Estate Festival (Bassano del Grappa), Forma Festival (Udine), Path Festival (Verona), Spazio Boat (Venezia), Detritus Festival (Athens), Narkissos Gallery (Bologna), La Digestion Festival (Napoli), Auditorium Fausto Melotti (Rovereto), Living Room (Torino), 0riente (Lecce), Innesta (Taranto), Cave12 (Geneve), Futura (Milano), ViaBuonfanti (Pistoia), Periferico Festival (Modena), Spettro (Brescia), IUAV (Venezia), Klang (Roma), A L’ARME! Festival (Berlin), Chiasmo Festival (Taranto), GMEA (Albi – F), Cripta747 (Torino), Tempo Reale (Firenze), Hangar (Barcelona), Angelica Festival (Bologna), Biennale d’Architettura (Venezia), Lugo Contemporanea (Lugo), Soundscreen Film Festival (Ravenna), Lost Festival (Parma), Marosi Festival (Stromboli), Fanfulla (Rome), C3 (Milan), Desterro (Lisbon), VIC (Aveiro), AOK (Bologna), Ateliersì (Bologna), Signal Reload (Cagliari).