Can music make a connection through people’s busy everyday lives and change the narrative on environmental issues? That is the question Berlin-based platform zeevonk is asking.

Zeevonk is an experimental platform for music, arts, food and sustainability. Using music to connect with people, they share the wonders of the natural worlds through immersive experiences, livestreams and podcast series, as well as through growing a community of like-minded music and nature lovers.

Founders of zeevonk Gabriela Müller and Robbin Remers

Founded by creatives Gabriela Müller and Robbin Remers, zeevonk brings together artists with various backgrounds who are engaged in climate and social justice, growing a community of like-minded creatives dedicated to shaping the narrative around environmental issues. Through their work they aim to raise awareness and propose alternative ways of being on the planet, providing a community of care, support and inspiration.

To make this happen, they organise live-streams inspired by natural habitats, such as an exhibition and party inspired by the sea, to reflect on the bleaching of coral reefs and other impacts of climate change in the oceans.

Performance of ice ice baby by gnarly j.

As Gabriela and Robbin explain, “We want to create a future where everyone has a human, animal and planet-first mindset, and where humans behave and consume from a place of awareness and compassion; caring for their habitats and leaving more beauty than destruction behind.”

One of their live streams, called “ice ice baby“, invited five local artists to create a music journey inspired by the ice landscapes and their interpretation of it. The music is inspired by the outer edges of the globe, its fragility and the fast-paced changes it is experiencing. These are areas of the globe most humans don’t get to experience in their lifetime, and thus often fall out of our understanding and emotional connection. Zeevonk have also applied this approach to a livestream inspired by a forest.

Festival attendee, zeevonk.

In 2022 they produced a collaborative 3-day event inspired by underwater environments. The result was an exhibition, creative and record market, and a day-time party featuring up to 20 multi-disciplinary artists in a bunker on the banks of the Spree River, in Berlin.

Connecting with audiences through creative expression is their way of making an impact on people’s busy lives.

“Living in big cities, we feel the urge to reconnect and create pieces of storytelling that help the highly creative humans that live in these urban spaces, to remember that our life is still dependent on nature and that we have an enormous potential to create change.”

Music is central to their work, as they believe that the mind-opening experiences, the community-building and the self-healing that happen on the dancefloor can lead the way to change.