Sonic Acts Festival is a bi-annual thematic event that focuses on developments in art, music and science. The 17th edition takes place from 23 to 26 February 2017 in Amsterdam; titled The Noise of Being, the festival explores what it means to be human. It includes an exhibition, conference, performances, film programme, workshops, masterclasses and club nights at Paradiso, Stedelijk Museum, Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, Bimhuis, De Brakke Grond, OT301 and Arti et Amicitiae. Sonic Acts has also commissioned a series of new audiovisual works and sound installations.

THE NOISE OF BEING
Every day, artists, thinkers, hackers, diseases, natural disasters, stock market crashes, media, commodities, and fascist oligarchs administer us with a brutal portion of noise. But while confusion and insecurity prevail, no one would dare to refer to these times as the heyday of noise. In a culture insidiously regulated by rules, arrays, functions, borders and resolutions, the natural fluidity and irrational essence of being is trapped in rigid datasets, filed by drop-down windows and stuck in checkboxes. There is more at stake than noise, namely, the noise of being itself. Sonic Acts Festival – The Noise of Being is a chance for participants and visitors to speculate about the strange and anxious state of what it means to be human.

FESTIVAL, 23 – 26 FEB 2017
The festival includes a three-day conference and numerous performances from local and international artists, plus an extended film programme, workshops and masterclasses at Paradiso, Stedelijk Museum, Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, Bimhuis, De Brakke Grond and OT301.

EXHIBITION, 1 – 26 FEB 2017
Running from 1 to 26 February at Arti et Amicitiae, the exhibition features artworks and installations by international artists such as Joey Holder, Justin Bennett, Pinar Yoldas and Zach Blas. The artworks and installations 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. The exhibition will be officially opened on 1 February. At the Muziekgebouw Jana Winderen will present her new sound installation Spring Bloom in the Marginal Ice Zone, with recordings from the Arctic.