Deva Schubert is a choreographer and interdisciplinary artist whose work centers on the voice as a medium of physical and emotional expression.
She studied dance in Salzburg, Kassel, Copenhagen, and at HZT Berlin, as well as fine arts at the Art Academy in Kassel. Her artistic practice explores the voice as a vessel of memory, emotion, and collective resonance, and as a tool for intimacy and resistance.
Her works, situated at the intersection of choreography, installation, and digital media, have been presented at renowned institutions including Haus der Kunst Munich, Kunsthalle Zürich and Gessnerallee Zürich, Uppsala Art Museum in Sweden, Radialsystem and Sophiensaele in Berlin, and the Transart Festival in Bolzano, Italy. In 2024, she was awarded the Young Choreographers’ Award at the ImPulsTanz Festival for her piece “Glitch Choir”.
During her residency in Kyoto, Schubert will focus on traditional and contemporary vocal practices by women. Her research will involve collaboration with vocalists, choirs, and oral historians to explore collective and solo vocal forms. She is particularly interested in the emotional encoding of the voice, microtonal techniques, and practices such as “Rekukkara” (Ainu throat singing) and female “Gidayū-bushi”, which she approaches as gendered forms of vocal memory and resistance.
