Info

Jonáš Balcar’s artistic practice is mainly focused on music and sound production, which he embeds in gallery installations, performative situations and permanent forms. He is interested in exploring the bounds and edges of listening. The way sound carries ideas of space, a shared sense of presence and how we can learn from it. He is concerned with sonifying narratives, nonhierarchical artistic approaches and a better future for all.

Jonáš Balcar performing live, close shot

Self-initiated projects

played at Národní zemědělské muzeum, AVU Veletržní
shown at GAMU

Osseus’ Labyrinth

2025

performance/installation

  • Štěpán Plicka
  • Matyáš Dvořák
  • Oliver Torr
  • Petr Mlích
  • Savka Marenić
  • Nika Datiashvili
  • Šimon Vlasák
  • Ata Mahin
  • Lucie Pavlíková
  • Anna Balcarová
  • Aleksandar Columby-Micić
  • David Kostner
  • Tamara Kroupová
  • Georgy Bagdasarov
  • Ella Ozuna
  • 1 text
  • 15 people
  • 10 objects
  • 4 players
  • 1 stage
  • 4.1 channels
  • 3 microphones
  • a place to sit
  • the stage
  • the recording
  • listeners

A musical installation, based on a performance stemming from a text. Listen to a world under the moonlight, to her, born inside the mountain, lost in time, to the water flowing through the valley, and the people of the town of the lawmaker, to him, who got lost in reflections, to her, that found her way through the labyrinth. A world of listening, empathy, solicitude, unboundedness and interconnectedness.

shot in London
shown at Libeňská synagoga

Ascension

2025

video

  • 1 poem
  • 1 journey
  • a place you're in
  • 3 people
  • many photos
  • empathy, attention
  • listeners, viewers

An audiovisual exploration of experiencing a new, unfamiliar space. Of movement and discovery. Of experiencing through another. Of leaving a trace in places many have traced through before.

shown at INI Project

Rezonanz

2024

installation

  • a moment of resonance
  • play
  • 2 people, players, listeners
  • 1 iPad
  • a max gui
  • a loop database

A musical installation, based on a graphical interface and a musical loop library. Built from the ashes of the club a new way of life emerges, a way of resonance. Built upon a world where this principle guides all life, this interface strives to channel resonant moments between participating parties. To make the shared act of playing music available, to translate the specificities to all.

shot in IIM
shown at FAMU

The Chronicle of Loud Silences

2024

video

  • 10 memories of silences
  • sounds of those memories
  • me, too many times
  • listeners, viewers

An audiovisual exploration of silences. Based on the dichotomy of the personal and shared. A reliving of past experiences. A reflection of moments of wordlessness.

shown at GAMU

An Altar for the Club

2024

installation

  • a text
  • 3d animation
  • the fate of a space
  • those who come seeking
  • enveloped in blue light
  • respect
  • viewers

A visual tribute to the architectural and conceptual temporality of the club. Based on the interaction of light, graphics and text. Giving thanks to a space of refuge, a space of connection, a space of reflection, a space of imagination. Thinking about the club as a fertile ground where utopian political visions have the potential to manifest and that invites new ways of life. Dedicated to those who share this sacred space.

shown at GAMU

Li

2023

installation

  • 10 channels
  • 10 tapes
  • 10 fragments
  • 1 sheet of plywood

A process based sound installation stemming from the mutual interactions between musical ideas carried by tape loops of varying lengths. Grew from a fascination for a moment of true listening and observing, which leaves space for reflecting on the mutual relationships of each component and the meanings they carry. Listening as empathy. A web of feelings, thoughts and moments that the viewer/listener is encouraged to discover and be a part of. To analyze constituting parts or float with the whole. To feel the ephemerality of each interaction. To feel that each one is filled with boundless love.

Fig

2022

video

  • feelings of doubt
  • not knowing where to go
  • find solace in it

Projects initiated by others

shown at Libeňská
Synagoga

Pláž u Palmy

2026

performance

  • Savka Marenić
  • Billion Palms
  • Krajina Přílivu
  • JB
  • a sunny afternoon
  • a couple of towels on the grass
  • 1 stream
  • listeners

Zavřete oči. Cítíte to? Žádný písek mezi prsty, a přesto máte pocit, že jste na pláži a čas tu plyne o něco pomaleji. Tráva pod nohama je vlhká jako po přílivu, vzduchem se nese vůně čerstvé zeleně a odněkud se ozývá tiché šumění. Je to potok Rokytka? Nebo jen řeka, která teče o pár ulic dál a jejíž hlas sem občas dolehne? Šustění v křoví? Nad vámi nestíní palmy, ale lípy – i přesto vám to připomíná dovolenou…

Zveme vás na zvukovou intervenci, kterou připravil umělec Jonáš Balcar, který společně s umělkyní a architektkou Savkou Marenić zkoumal okolí Palmovky a z terénních nahrávek vytvořil novou hudební kompozici. Součástí intervence je také sochařský mobiliář od billionpalms – sochařky Terezy Tecl Brussmannové a architekta Vojtěcha Tecla.

shown at UMPRUM
ETC Galerie

Whispers of the Valley

2026

book

  • Savka Marenić
  • Pamela
  • Bára Růžičková
  • Nika Datiashvili
  • JB
  • a text
  • 5 locations
  • location recordings
  • 5 compositions
  • readers, listeners, viewers

Whispers of the Valley (Šepoty údolí) is an urban speculative (eco)fiction book created as a chapter of the artistic doctoral research of architect and artist Savka Marenić, set in the Prague district of Nusle. In the shadow of the highway overpass, between planned functionality and the alienation of urban space, Savka opens up possibilities for new ways of imagining and perceiving the city. A collage of different perspectives, recordings, letters, essays, diaries, reportages, and illustrations forms a narrative about the valley’s overlooked as well as familiar places.

shown at UMPRUM
sound by JB

Flower Petal Sisters

2026

diploma project song

  • Jasmína Lustigová
  • Mariana Chavikova
  • Kristyna
  • Canelanisipeanu
  • JB
  • lyrics
  • a few petals
  • 2 singers
  • listeners, viewers

Maintain to Maintain explores how maintenance can be integrated as a constitutive part of the very process of designing public space architecture. Historical analysis shows that since the mid-19th century, the care of the city was institutionalized and shifted from users to organized groups of workers, leading to the separation of individual responsibility and the temporal displacement of maintenance outside the main daily rhythm of urban life. Modernist architecture reinforced the perception of architecture as a finished, iconic object, while processes of wear and upkeep became marginalized. The current legislative definition of cleanliness in Czech public spaces functions as a tool of control, restricting access for vulnerable groups. The analytical section focuses on the practical mechanisms and working conditions of Prague 7’s system of manual street sweepers.

shown at Venice Biennale,
KodlContemporary,
CAMP
sound recording by JB

Sound recordings

2026

multiple projects

  • Oliver Torr,
  • Magdalena Jetelová,
  • Lenka Tyrpeklová,
  • Jakub Jansa
  • JB
  • 3 projects
  • multiple days of recording
  • 2 videos, 1 performance
  • listeners, viewers

shown at City Surfer Office
sound by JB

Honestly, It's Not Just a Room

2025

installation

  • Savka Marenić
  • Nika Datiashvili
  • Max Dvořák
  • JB
  • 4 channels
  • 4 location sound compositions
  • 3 videos
  • slowing down
  • listeners, viewers

The exhibition Honestly, It’s Not Just a Room shifts attention to the gallery space itself. Rather than functioning as a neutral backdrop, the space becomes the central focus — through its sounds, rhythms, light, and subtle phenomena that often escape our attention yet shape our experience. The gallery’s storage areas, utility rooms, and backstage zones move into the foreground, while the main exhibition hall is intentionally left empty. Grounded in reflections on the ecology of attention, acoustics, and the aesthetics of care. The exhibition invites gentleness and an awareness of relationships that are fragile, interrupted, ambiguous, and multi-voiced. Nothing spectacular is imposed on the space.

shown at Muzeum Novojičínská
sound by JB

Threads of Care

2025

installation

  • Savka Marenić
  • Petra Lustigová
  • JB
  • an important story
  • musical background
  • a textile piece
  • thinking of care
  • listeners, viewers

For the group exhibition Whispers of the wall Between 1964 and 2016, Nová Horka Castle served as a social care institution for women with disabilities, where its architecture, capacity, and isolation from the outside world suppressed individuality and freedom. The work reflects on a period of transformation, revealing how relationships and gestures shape the meaning of care. Through fictional stories inspired by real testimonies, it traces the invisible threads of care — the unseen work, gentle gestures, and shared learning of women rediscovering what care and home can mean.

shown at Perplx, LaFabrika
sound by JB, Oliver Torr

Orbiting Zero

2025

performance

  • Aleš Hrdlička
  • Hannah Lennox
  • Karlos Šimek
  • Oliver Torr
  • JB
  • a story of creation
  • a very skilled performer
  • musical background
  • many rings
  • listeners, viewers

Orbiting Zero is a contemporary circus take on magical realism, using juggling as the main means of expression and elements of new magic to blur the boundaries between realities. The performance explores the physical (im)possibilities of plastic juggling rings, immersing performer and audience in an endless spiral of absurd visual chapters that deconstruct the ring as a shape and juggling as an art form.

heard at Underdogs', Feluka in Cairo
sound by JB

The Palace - Etchings on our Bodies

2025

EP

  • Hadži Aleksandar Columby-Micić
  • JB
  • 5 tracks
  • 2 friends
  • an angelic vocal
  • mosaic productions, a myriad of sounds
  • listeners

The Palace starts to echo with stories of nostalgia. You close your eyes and let your imagination paint what you no longer seemed to remember. Who are you? Why are you here? Who am I?

You are the Divine. I am here before you. We are one. We are the all-knowing. We are all Love. Truth is certain.

The whole Palace quakes as electronic dance beats fill the ballroom. Have you heard the news?! The main act is arriving soon! Who is it that the guests can’t seem to get enough of? Disorientated by the flashing lights of the stroboscope you try to reach the dancefloor in time to sip the vibe.

The drums of destiny make lovers’ bodies vibrate, ages old incantations pierce their crystal souls as they dance in a colorful embrace. For a moment anything is possible. Doubts violently break and fears shatter. The cathartic screams and moans make you question what love is.

seen in cinema distribution
additional sound by Oliver Torr, JB

Tony's Plan

2025

movie

  • Barbora Kočičková
  • Martin Douba
  • Tomáš Živor
  • Jiří Gráf, Martin Tauber
  • a car boot
  • a plan
  • viewers, listeners

Another naive plan traps a carefree hustler Tony in the rotten trunk of an old wreck, messing up every local criminal's life and jeopardizing his most honest plan he's ever had.

seen in GAMU
music by JB

It's Vacation Time

2025

video game

  • Adam Kácha
  • a not so chill vacation
  • frustration turned peace and quiet
  • entering pictures
  • players

Imagine the following: You have arrived on vacation, expecting ocean views, peace and sunshine. Instead, you are sitting nervously in a stuffy hotel room overlooking a courtyard, leafing through brochures to choose... a better vacation. This absurd situation is the basis for the concept of the game. The video game deals with the breakdown and loss of unused time—that is, time that is not used as efficiently as possible. It is a space for free flow, mental wanderings, boredom, and simple presence.

sound by JB, Oliver Torr

Zoefull - Live Fully

2025

ad

  • Aris Katsigiannis
  • Aris Ziotopoulos
  • Evangelos Makris
  • greece
  • people enjoying themselves
  • viewers

A cinematic tribute to Mediterranean living, where sun-soaked moments, connection, and life’s simple pleasures take center stage.

seen at KVIFF, PAF,
edit by JB, Nika Datiashvili

N3G

2025

short movie

  • Oliver Torr
  • Natalie Mariko
  • Robert Carrithers
  • stuck outside time
  • in a future
  • hacks
  • Athens
  • viewers

A blank screen. The calming sound of birds chirping. A door opening and closing. Voices far off talking in hushed tones. A sudden voiceover.

In the beginning…

seen at Klub zastupitelů, Artwife v Terénu
sound by JB

When No One is Around

2025

performative sound walk

  • Savka Marenić
  • Adina Voldrábová
  • Gabriela Veselá
  • Nika Datiashvili
  • 1 dancer
  • listening to the unheard
  • walking through space
  • listeners, viewers

The Old Town Hall in Brno once served as the seat of municipal administration — housing offices, an archive, a court, and even a prison. Today, the building accommodates the TIC Gallery, the tourist information centre, and the Club of Brno City Councillors, a space visited daily by hundreds of people for a wide range of activities.

But what happens in the building after the daytime noise fades? What sounds linger in the empty halls, and who moves through them when the rooms fall silent?

seen at under Nuselák, Y: Once upon a time at X10
sound by JB

Dreaming Under the Bridge

2025

public space intervention

  • Savka Marenić
  • Nika Datiashvili
  • Milena Raičević
  • Adina Voldrábová
  • Aneta Bočková
  • Jasmína Lustigová
  • Tereza Melková
  • 1 bed
  • 1 parking lot
  • collective listening and imagining
  • randomized ableton live stream session
  • listeners, dreamers

What if a neglected public space — a parking lot — became a place for daydreaming?

For one day, a parking lot hidden beneath the Nusle Bridge was transformed into a public space for collective dreaming and listening. A textile installation, accompanied by a subtle soundscape, invited passersby and residents to slow down, lie down, and attune to the space—and to the voices that are usually unheard.

Listening became both an act of care and a quiet gesture of resistance: a way of noticing what neglected, in-between places can offer when we pause long enough to encounter them. After the shared dreaming, participants engaged in creative tasks — workshops, sewing sessions, and collective letter-writing in a shared diary. Together, we imagined how this specific site might be reshaped through our own needs, desires, and practices of care.

seen at Festival pro cestující diváctvo
sound by JB

Whisper in the Valley

2024

performative sound walk

  • Savka Marenić
  • Nika Datiashvili
  • Jonáš Richter
  • Niklas Janković
  • Gabriela Veselá
  • Milena Raičević
  • 1 date
  • 1 fairy
  • reimagining the overseen
  • nuselák
  • listeners, walkers

A performative intervention unfolds around the Vyšehrad metro station and the Nusle Bridge, gradually revealing the valley’s hidden non-places while rediscovering its presence. Nusle Valley becomes the setting for an immersive audio walk — a space for listening and re-perceiving the environment. The Nusle Bridge, together with its unseen in-between spaces, transforms into a site of shared imagination.

Whisper in the Valley explores the performative qualities of public transit non-spaces, offering an alternative perspective on space. Through speculative narrative, the project highlights gestures of care and fosters new connections to a place deeply shaped by the physical and urban impact of the Nusle Bridge, as well as by its psychological and social implications. While the bridge connects the city, it is also associated with personal loss and ongoing transformation; its history is linked to numerous suicides and broader social changes that have left a lasting imprint on the valley.

seen at INI Project
music by JB

Walk in the Haze

2024

video game

  • Adam Kácha
  • beginning to lose yourself
  • in your own home
  • in your own mind
  • in your own memories

Fragmented memory, the theme of human consciousness, through 3D scans and cinematic scenery, to interactive elements that explore Adam's interpretation of the world of Alzheimer’s—a world of disrupted cognition. What is it like to be in a place from which there is no escape?