bio

ph by Matej Grgić

CV english

CV srpsko-hrvatski

Manja Ristić, born in Belgrade in 1979, is a violinist, sound artist, published poet, curator, and researcher whose work bridges classical training with radical sonic exploration. A graduate of the Belgrade Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music in London, she has performed widely across Europe and North America, collaborating with conductors, multimedia artists, poets, and theatre and film directors. Over the past decade, her focus has shifted toward interdisciplinary sound research, field recording, and experimental radio arts, with commissions from ORF musikprotokoll, INA GRM, Radiophrenia, Radio Art Zone, Kunstradio—Radiokunst, Radio Belgrade, Semi-Silent, and others. Her work is published internationally on labels including LINE, Rekem, Erstwhile, Sawyer Editions, Unfathomless, tsss tapes, Wabi‑Sabi Tapes, DASA tapes, Flung, Kamizdat, Inexhaustible Editions, Skupina, Flag Day, Okla, and Naviar Records. She is also a founding member of CENSE — Central European Network for Sonic Ecologies.

Ristić’s practice unfolds at the intersection of artistic research, ecological awareness, and embodied listening. She approaches sound as a living field of relations, a dynamic interplay between biophony, geophony, and anthropophony in which each sonic occurrence remains inseparable from the microenvironment that shapes it. Central to her methodology is the principle of listening‑with, a relational mode of attention that reframes field recording as a reciprocal encounter rather than an extractive act. Through this ethic of co-creation and co‑presence, sonic events become shared processes of meaning‑making.

Within the framework she terms mnemosonic topography, Ristić examines how sound, space, and memory form interdependent structures. She traces the ways vibrational phenomena imprint themselves on both the body’s sensory archive and the spatial memory of place. Her works, whether capturing the infrasonic pulse of marine life through hydrophones, mapping the resonant behaviour of architectural environments, or reinterpreting narratives through layered soundscapes, invite audiences into a slowed and heightened perceptual state. In doing so, she re‑sensitises listening as a practice grounded in the politics of care, strengthens bonds with the beyond‑human world, and positions sound research as an artistic, ecological, and ethical undertaking.

Ristić has received numerous awards, including recognition for solo and chamber classical music, a shortlist for the Académie Charles Cros Sélection Musiques Expérimentales 2024, an honourable mention from the Phonurgia Nova Awards, and a Golden Award for extended media from the Association of Fine Artists of Serbia.

She has curated events for institutions such as Ars Electronica (Linz), Cona Zavod (Ljubljana), Balkan Snapshot Film Festival (Amsterdam), BELEF (Belgrade), and CIFRA World (Dubai). From 2004 to 2024, as a founding member of the Association of Multimedia Artists “Auropolis” (Belgrade), Ristić developed a distinctive body of cultural events, international projects, conferences, and educational platforms in the fields of experimental sound, multimedia arts, and scene-based practices.

Manja has contributed to several independent dance, theatre, and movie productions as an author, composer, and performer, including "The Deserters" by D. Markovina, "Mašina" by B. Robinson, "Prekrasna" by Collective Fourhanded, "The Tempest of Neptune" by K. Stanković, "Munje" by R. Andrić, "Between Dream and Dream" by M. Stojnić, "Life of Lenka Reinerova Mnemosyne the Theatre of Memories" by M. Ristić / S. Leboš, "Penumbra" by G. Hudson, "Tale of the Forbidden Flower" by B. Lyregaard, "Red Coats" by D. J. Duncan, "Some Alaska" by H. Pinter, "Judith" by H. Barker, "Nose" by N. Gogol, "Midsummer Night Dream" by W. Shakespeare, "Mansion Beckett" by S. Beckett, and "Oxygen" by I. Viripaev.

She currently works and lives on the island of Korčula, Croatia.