Sonic Acts Festival is a bi-annual event with a strong focus on contemporary and historical developments within art, music, science and technology. The 17th edition, titled The Noise of Being, takes place from 23 to 26 February 2017 at various locations in Amsterdam. The festival includes a conference, multiple exhibitions, concerts, performances and screenings, highlighting on a wide spectrum of contemporary practices.
The festival activities started with the opening of the exhibition The Noise of Being – at Arti et Amicitiae. Five international artists — Joey Holder, Justin Bennett, Kate Cooper, Pinar Yoldas and Zach Blas — have made site-specific and immersive installations that function as portals into parallel realities. For the upcoming festival we hereby announce the full programme.
The Noise of Being speculates about the strange and anxious state of being human: How can we deal with the noise that surrounds us in our rapidly changing world? What is at stake for humankind? What does it mean to be human in the present time? And will the introduction of more or advanced technology obscure our view, or help us to understand the world better?
Programme Highlights
The artworks and installations in the exhibition reflect on how climate change, rapid technological advances and post- contemporary anxiety affect society, politics and the human body; they speculate on the future of humanity with science fiction scenarios, amorphous blobs, biometric governmentality, queerness, artificial intelligences and synthetic biology. And at the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, Jana Winderen presents her new sound installation Spring Bloom in the Marginal Ice Zone, with recordings from the Arctic. Open now until the end of the festival.
Festival Opening at Paradiso
The opening evening of the festival premieres new audiovisual works and sound installations commissioned by Sonic Acts. Featured are four new 35mm Vertical Cinema films by Susan Schuppli, Karl Lemieux & BJ Nilsen, HC Gilje and Lukas Marxt, all presented with a custom-built projector in monumental vertical cinemascope. More dazzling sounds and images are offered by Roly Porter + MFO’s audiovisual performance Third Law and the algorithmic live performance of Rainer Kohlberger.
Stedelijk x Sonic Acts
Sonic Acts and Stedelijk have commissioned SUPREME CONNECTIONS, a group of Maryanne Amacher’s collaborators, to create a new interpretive, episodic iteration of Maryanne Amacher’s Mini Sound Series. Amacher (1938–2009) was a pioneering American composer known for impressive architecturally staged sound works and groundbreaking research-based acoustic art.
In addition, Dutch artists Gijs Gieskes, Geert-Jan Hobijn and Radboud Mens will present their new formation Ohm. Composer and vocalist Jennifer Walshe will perform solo and with the Arditti Quartet. The world’s first microtonal tuba ensemble Microtub will dig deeper into the sphere of just intonation, and Cilantro, the duo of Angélica Castelló and Billy Roisz, present a post-noise world full of enigmas.
Muziekgebouw & Bimhuis
A night of transcendent and ecstatic sensory experiences celebrating the noise of being. With Kara-Lis Coverdale, heralded as one of the most exciting young composers in North America, together with MFO; abstract ambient classical music by Christina Vantzou and ensemble; immersive field recordings and multi- projection landscapes by BJ Nilsen & Karl Lemieux; and experimental explorations of anxiety and serenity by Asher Levitas. Installations by Peter Burr and a live audiovisual performance by Matthew Biedermann & Pierce Warnecke dive deep into the intricacies of human perception. After midnight the programme continues in the Bimhuis with futuristic sounds from Kuedo + Werkflow, AZAADI, MSHR, Yeah You and Pure.
Sonic Acts is pleased to announce its completed programme of artists: Aïsha Devi, Amy Cimini, An Ni, Armen Avanessian, Asher Levitas, AZAADI (Ewa Justka, Poulomi Desai), Ben Russell, Bill Dietz, BJ Nilsen & Karl Lemieux, Christina Vantzou, Cilantro (Angélica Castelló & Billy Roisz), Coucou Chloé, Daniel Rourke, David Roden, DJ Earl, DJ Marfox, EISBEIN, Emptyset, Erika Balsom, Erica Scourti, Ernst Karel, Espen Sommer Eide & Signe Lidén, Evian Christ, Eyal Weizman, God Colony + Flohio, HC Gilje, Helen Verran, Ingrid Burrington, Jamon Van Den Hoek, Jana Winderen, Jennifer Lucy Allan, Jennifer Gabrys, Jennifer Walshe, JK Flesh, Joey Holder, John Palmesino, Joost Rekveld, Juha, Justin Bennett, Kabir Carter, Kamixlo, Kara-Lis Coverdale + MFO, Kate Cooper, Keiko Prince, Killavesi + Adamn Killa, Klein, Kuedo + Werkflow, Laurie Penny, Le1f, Lukas Marxt, Luke Fowler & Richard McMaster, Lyzza, Maryam Monalisa Gharavi, Matthew Biederman & Pierce Warnecke, Metahaven, Michael Oswell, Microtub (Robin Hayward, Peder Simonsen, Martin Taxt), MSHR, My Sword, Natasha Ginwala, Nick Axel, Nidia Minaj, Nina Power, Noortje Marres, OHM (Geert-Jan Hobijn + Gijs Gieskes + Radboud Mens), Organ Tapes, Peter Burr, Peter Frase, Pinar Yoldas, Puce Mary, Pure, Rainer Kohlberger, Rick Dolphijn, Roly Porter + MFO, Sam Rolfes, Sarah J. Whatmore, Sergei Tcherepnin, Stefan Tcherepnin, Susan Schuppli, The Arditti Quartet, Uli K, VIOLENCE, Wartone, Wendy Chun, Woody Sullender, Yeah You, Yon Eta, Ytasha L. Womack and Zach Blas.