Madelyn Byrd (they/them, b. 1992) is a Berlin-based educator, musician, DJ, and worldbuilding practitioner. Their creative and educational work implements decolonial and eco-critical frameworks to investigate possibilia and promote synergistic social transformation beyond human-centred perspectives. In each project, they foster a deeply collaborative, interdisciplinary spirit to deconstruct and reconstruct the perceptual realm and develop the “sympoietics” of co-becoming. Madelyn holds a Masters in Neuroaesthetics from Goldsmiths, where they researched the impact of collaborative imagination on measures of connection and hope in social praxis art. They teach sonic worldbuilding theory + music production courses with Soundial and are a current resident in Zurich University of the Art’s School of Commons (SoC) developing their project, Chimera, with collaborator Lou Croff Blake. Madelyn co-founded Gravity Pleasure alongside Ashlynn White, a newly established label and event series that highlights the intersection of hydrofeminism, queer ecology, and sound to uplift the work of women, trans, and non-binary artists.
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Slowfoam is Byrd’s all-encompassing, genre-defying music moniker. They create speculative post-human dialogues and para-worlds, sculpting a/biotic textures from electroacoustics, field recording, feedback, granulated synthesis, drones, somatics, and spoken word. Their playful sonic tapestries are spatially triggered and adapted to deep-listening environments, clubs, and everything in between. They have performed and toured extensively, including recent performances at Subbacultcha (NL), Cafe Oto (London), The Lab (San Francisco), Morse (Tokyo), and Morphine Raum (Berlin). Their discography has been published with Somewhere Press, Mappa, Lillerne Tapes, and Jungle Gym Records. Their work has yielded features on Bandcamp, Electronic Sound Mag, DJ Mag, First Impressions, Pitchfork, Boomkat, The Wire Magazine, and Futurism Restated. Slowfoam is a former resident at Internet Public Radio, where they curated their monthly show, Our Tomorrow, which featured artists around the globe exploring utopia with sound.
