Still Noise: Ways to Occupy a Performance Space

Still Noise at Cambridge Junction’s DISRUPT Festival

A new lecture-performance exploring sound, power, and the politics of listening

Still Noise: Ways to Occupy a Performance Space is a new 50-minute lecture-performance by sound and performance artist Zhuo Mengting, premiering at Cambridge Junction (J1) at 7.30 pm on 19 May 2026 as part of the DISRUPT Festival.

Treating the theatre as a live sonic apparatus rather than a neutral container, the work uses PA systems, feedback loops, and room acoustics to expose how sound is structured and what can be heard. Through a series of live experiments, Still Noise explores how amplification operates as a system of power – interrogating which bodies are granted amplification, and what it costs a marginalised body to be heard. This is a site-specific inquiry where the performance itself acts as a glitch in the system. An unpredictable dialogue with the venue’s own reverberation, shaped entirely by the contingency of the moment.

The work is informed by a creative team from the Asian diaspora, anchoring its exploration of marginalised voices in collective experience. It is led by Zhuo Mengting, a China-born, London-based artist working across live art, experimental music and installation. She studied Performance Making at Goldsmiths and has presented work across Europe and East Asia, including Tai Kwun (Hong Kong) and the Prague Quadrennial.

Press Reviews on Zhuo’s previous productions:

‘Every decision affects the listener’s life. In this way, the boundary between producer and consumer is softened and every walk becomes a unique and intimate experience.’ – Rhein Neckar Zeitung (on 1000 Ears)
‘An interesting production which certainly provides food for thought for those willing to open their minds to it.’ – LondonTheatre1 (on TOGETHER)
Presented as part of Cambridge Junction’s DISRUPT Festival, a programme dedicated to experimental and live art practices, Still Noise offers a unique opportunity to encounter sound-based live art in Cambridge.

This is a relaxed performance. The audience stays seated throughout, and latecomers are welcome. There are occasional moments of loud sound.