The Spell of the Sensuous
February 2–March 24, 2024
Between February 2 and March 24, 2024, the 30th anniversary edition of the Biennial focuses on spectacular, multi-sensory cultural practices responding to the climate emergency and global geopolitics.
Inspired by The Spell of the Sensuous (1996) by the ecologist and philosopher David Abram, the Biennial evokes our rootedness in the larger ecology of earth beings. Taking place at various locations in Amsterdam such as Paradiso, Muziekgebouw, W139, Looiersgracht 60, Zone2Source, Oude Kerk, BIMHUIS, Stedelijk Museum, Eye Filmmuseum, Garage Noord, kanaal40, OT301, and Het HEM, the Biennial weaves together the cultural ecosystem of larger Amsterdam. Featuring more than 50 events in 15 locations across the city and hybridly, the Biennial takes the forms of an exhibition, a symposium, film screenings, immersive installations, a multichannel sound programme, club nights, sound and field walks, workshops, and more.
At W139 and Looiersgracht 60, tactile sculptures, video works, and large-scale installations by artists such as Pedro Matias, Natasha Tontey, Sasha Litvintseva and Beny Wagner, Annika Kappner, and Lukas Marxt will be on show. Illuminating the fluid, porous boundaries between the human and more-than-human, the exhibition embraces a multiplicity of ways of sensing and engaging with the thresholds of the flesh.
The symposium will take place at the Stedelijk Museum, where prominent theorists, artists, and researchers like Astrida Neimanis, Elvia Wilk, Denise Ferreira da Silva, Margarida Mendes, M Murphy, Solveig Qu Suess, Adriana Knouf, Arjuna Neuman, and Juan Arturo García will present enriching dialogues, lectures, and performative presentations. Throughout this gathering, disciplines will be thought across, emphasising embodied knowledges to respond to the urgency of the climate emergency.
At the Muziekgebouw, Sonic Acts welcomes Ina GRM director Kassel Jaeger who is joined by Eléonore Huisse, as well as Sarah Davachi and Ï Î (Lukas De Clerck & Victor Guaita Igual). Together with visual alchemist Sevi Iko Domochevsky, Aho Ssan recontextualises his latest album Rhizomes into an AV format. On the 31-notes-per-octave Fokker organ, Marcin Pietruszewski showcases his generative installation, and Hugo Esquinca and Russell Haswell present the fourth edition of Cadáver Exquisito, a work premised on the technique of collective assembly.
Throughout the Biennial at Zone2Source, audiences are invited to reflect on the rich legacy of Sonic Acts through the Spatial Sound Platform and the Listening Room—a programme of multi-channel listening sessions, where pieces by Felicity Mangan, KMRU, Slikback, Galen Tipton, Hugo Esquinca & Russell Haswell, and Mint Park will be diffused. Additionally, iconic recordings by artists such as Annea Lockwood, Hildegard Westerkamp, and Jana Winderen will be unearthed from the Sonic Acts archive and projected through the octophonic installation.
Diving deeper into archives, the Listening Through Touch concert and conversations at the Bimhuis investigate the legacy of Michel Waisvisz (1949–2008) as part of a long-term heritage project led by artist Tarek Atoui and Kristina Andersen. A pioneering composer, the late artistic director of STEIM invented intuitive, touch-sensitive synthesizers and electronic musical instruments that play with gesture and haptic sensibilities.
An ode to Sonic Acts’ longstanding and intensive interdisciplinary festival, the weekend of February 23 to 25 runs for a near non-stop 60 hours, featuring an expansive line-up of world-renowned musicians, DJs, thinkers, and artists.
With many more Biennial events already announced, the complete programme will be released on the 2024 Biennial website on January 15. The official opening of the Biennial and exhibition will take place on February 2 at W139. For more programme information and tickets, please visit here.
About Sonic Acts
Founded in 1994 to present new developments in electronic and digital art forms, Sonic Acts has gained prominence with its international biennial—an extensive art, theory, and technology gathering motivated by changes in the ecological, political, technological, and social landscape. Sonic Acts is a leading platform for international projects, research, and the commissioning and co-production of new artworks, working together with local and international partners such as independent and institutional cultural incubators, universities, and kindred organisations.
