Spatial Sound Platform
Concerts & Talks
At the crossroads of art, technology, and innovation, Spatial Sound Platform aims to engage listeners in redefining their perception of spatial sound. Throughout the Biennial, the platform will be situated at Zone2Source, a glass pavilion in the heart of Amstelpark. There, we will reflect on Sonic Acts’ rich history with spatial sound through the Listening Room – a programme of multi-channel listening sessions – but also live performances, workshops, and installations that invite us to share the embodied experience of listening.
The continuous two-month programme encourages visitors to return and re-visit the various sound pieces and concerts. It is envisioned as a living exhibition that challenges the ways we exhibit, present, and experience spatial sound. Whether standing, lying down or putting your body in motion, the exhibition invites you to come into contact with an ever-evolving landscape where every aural engagement is entirely unique.
Performances & Talks
Each Thursday evening, live performances and talks will contextualise various aspects of the programme.
From Friday to Sunday, the Listening Room will host newly commissioned works by artists such as Felicity Mangan, KMRU, Slikback, Galen Tipton, Hugo Esquinca and Russell Haswell, and Mint Park. Additionally, iconic recordings by Annea Lockwood, Hildegard Westerkamp, BJ Nilsen, and more will be unearthed from the Sonic Acts archive and diffused through the octophonic sound installation. Sonic Acts is delighted to announce the sound installation Embedded/Embodied by Farzané and Arash Akbari, which explores sonic knowledge as a dynamic and evolving process. The installation will also be a part of the Listening Room experience.
Located in Zone2Source, the Listening Room is a contemplative sound exhibition – a place to listen to spatial sound pieces on a proper spatial setup. On the impressive, 8.2-channel sound system, a series of works from the Sonic Acts archive will be played out. A section of the programme is curated and executed in collaboration with Ina GRM, Paris, who present a number of their cornerstone productions. This seminal electroacoustic music is by legendary composers and artists such as Luc Ferrari, Iannis Xenakis, Beatriz Ferreyra, Flora Yin Wong, and François J. Bonnet.
Additionally, listeners can encounter new compositions, made by Anna Khvyl, Atte Elias Kantonen and Geneva Skeen in 2024, to mark Sonic Acts’s 30th anniversary.
The Listening Room project stretches back to 2021 when, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the organisation commissioned compositions by KMRU, Mint Park, and Felicity Mangan, among others. Intended to be diffused in a venue that could accommodate the 1.5-metre distancing rules, when lockdown restrictions tightened, the event could unfortunately not be realised. Since then, the works have resided in the archive – until now. Presented for the first time alongside recordings of Sonic Acts significant performances from over the years, the pieces speak both to that period, when much of the cultural world had closed down, as well as to bombastic moments in Sonic Acts’ 30-year-long history. These include performances by Annea Lockwood, Hildegard Westerkamp, Jana Winderen and many others.
Each Listening Room welcomes a small audience for attentive listening. We ask visitors to arrive ahead of time to secure a spot for their preferred session.
Listen Online
All multichannel works and live performances will be accessible via our online Spatial Sound Platform during the Biennial, (re)designed to stream via headphones or sound systems with spatial sound capabilities – an experimental player that we are creating as part of this long-term project.
